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Learning to Fall: run.
As I lifted my foot up over the threshold of the broken sliding glass door, taking that first step onto the full shag carpet of Ms. Harriet's bedroom, I wondered why I was going inside and not calling the cops or my parents or the principal, somebody.
I watched the green suede of my Pro-Keds sneaker sink almost full into the bright orange carpet and it made me think of Halloween and how much fun Terry and I had dressed up as Gene Simmons and Ace Freely from KISS. He was a tiny Gene Simmons, but with the rubber tongue that squirted blood and the platform shoes we borrowed from Jillian and painted silver and black, Momma called him "formidable".
To get by the grill jammed halfway through the one door, I rubbed up against it and the top half of the broken pane came slicing down on the carpet right next to my foot. I froze still, sweating more than I should've been considering it's not even summer yet.
"RUN!"
Terry came haulin' ass around the corner of the bed, running full speed from somewhere down the hall. He had that crazy look in his eyes like right after Gill had kissed him or when Alex just teased that his dad and my uncle Jacob might be butt pirates together. His face was streaked with dirt and tears. He had a knife in one hand and a hammer in the other. He kinda' looked like he was laughing, though.
"RUN!"
He screamed it this time, hitting me hard in the shoulder as he passed by, grabbing my broken, healing wing and pulling hard enough to jerk my shoulder out of the socket with a pop. I fell backwards onto the cement stoop and that's the last I remember before the lights went out. I fainted.
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