The Reunion That Broke Me

room, if it could even be call

window at a gray Vermont

an. Not

e. Kevin Lee

's "fr

. Her heart hammer

t broke out

oom t

Please,

cold and knowing. "Well

the sight of their fac

ears. But the terror

sch

back then, had

ges, quiet, intens

d money and sprawling estates, so different fr

art class. He was talent

agement about his charcoal sketches.

to emerge from his sh

ould touch his lips w

r her after class, walk

t art, about boo

und endearing. She felt like she was seeing the real Ju

ree by the football field, he'd lo

e a little rough. "I... I

ad done a l

ing to you t

s neck. "Off-campus. Friday. My friends are going...

ht and warm. A real da

o," she'd s

. He'd pick her u

ay n

ited. An

me and went. Sev

owed. He ne

f disappointment, t

rection, a big house a few blocks from the school, t

rough the wooded edge

en they f

, Kevi

Ju

rom behind the trees

d, eyes bright and crue

?" Marcus

sharp, pierce

, to run, but the

her deeper in

humiliation, and terror. Their hands

rough a blur of tears

li

e trees, near the road. Si

ust... w

. It was dark, sh

d, a desperate, broken

them – Marcus, Kevin, Dave – she saw them all pile in

to them. That was the only ex

he clinic room, Julian wa

at them.

Thanks fo

. He knew them. He w

destroyed a pa

uided, somehow a victim of a misunde

m. He had always

ng, their easy camaraderie,

ost terrifying fear: he had

her, a sickening, p

ian, Mia?" he taunted, h

"Yeah, 'Julian, h

hroat. They remembered. Th

nt of

ulian did nothi

ered, fractured further. Th