He drove me to the treehouse in the middle of the woods without speaking, but he hardly liked speaking to me in the first place.
Dean opens his door and does not invite me to follow him. I'm three steps behind him the whole way.
The tree has CQ+D scribbled and carved in hearts all over the trunk, and I smell Carmine before I see her. Dean is crying before I even make it to the top of the rope ladder to climb inside the childhood memento.
Once I reach the top I see Dean holding Carmine Quinn as he always does, her name bearing the scar of his name. Her razor blade necklace is no longer fastened around her neck and she looks paler than normal, but she still remains beautiful with her face stained with tears and dried blood caked under her nails. A lapse of judgment allows me to smile at her, her own lips having been smiling at me the whole time, eyes fixed on the ceiling.
Dean's gasping for air as if he's the one lying breathless on the floor.
The first time he tells her he loves her she cannot say it back.
YOU ARE READING
Outside Looking In
Ifjúsági irodalomHis name is Dean, hers Carmine Quinn. Most people just call her Carmine; Dean thinks both names fit her best. Dean and Carmine didn't fall in love, if you were wondering.
