Burn by Monica Hesse

left me in the middle of campus with no warning.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œYou
know
?”
    She pushed past him. Everything seemed pixelated. Everything seemed fuzzier than the sharp lines and pure colors of her dream. She needed to stay in reality. She needed to keep touching real things. She went to the kitchen, pouring a glass of water, making herself concentrate on the feeling of the liquid as it slid down her throat and all the way into her intestines. “You
know
.” He pressed. “That’s your excuse? Where
were
you?”
    â€œI told you. I left you a message.”
Breathe. Feel the water on the back of your tongue
. “I was going to Talia’s.”
    â€œIs Talia okay? Are
you
okay?”
    â€œTalia’s fine,” she managed.
    â€œThen what happened?” She stalled, setting the glass on the countertop and watching the circle of water pool around the bottom. Wasn’t that the essential question?
What was happening to her?
“Lona?” he asked again. “What’s going on?”
    It should be so easy to tell him. But none of this seemed easy.
    â€œ
Lona?
”
    â€œI don’t want to talk about it.”
    â€œYou don’t—”
    â€œ
Stop it.
Stop asking me.” She watched the words fly out her mouth and couldn’t take them back. “I’m sorry that I left you, I’m sorry you were waiting for me, I’m sorry I don’t want to talk about it, but I don’t. I don’t want to talk about any of it!”
    â€œThen what do you want to do?” he asked.
    â€œI want you to leave me alone!”
    Fenn hadn’t said or done anything wrong. She knew that. It was the questions she didn’t know how to answer, and the panic that thinking about them prompted. Fenn’s face – she could barely stand to look at the hurt and confusion in it, especially knowing that she’d caused it.
    Back when Lona first left the Path, they’d had a few arguments. Times when she wondered whether the boy she’d grown up with had completely disappeared. They hadn’t in a while, though. Not since the Path was shut down. Not since they were supposed to be normal. They had left the Julian Path and they had been cured, or if not cured, then better. This was their first real fight, she realized.
    â€œFenn, I didn’t mean—” she started, but he waved at her not to bother.
    â€œYou don’t need to,” he said stiffly. “You don’t have to explain where you were. I don’t have to know everything about you.”
    â€œWait, that’s not what I meant,” she said. She wanted him to know everything about her. That’s how it had always been. She just didn’t know how to fix this.
    â€œIt’s fine, Lona. It’s fine.” He turned and disappeared; a few minutes later she heard the sound of his door closing.
    The water had helped. She could feel steadiness returning to her stomach. She could feel herself becoming herself again. Or becoming whatever terrible person she was turning into.

12
    â€œWarren, look! Lona’s back again today. A visitor twice in one week!”
    He looked up from the area rug in the middle of his room, the toes of his stockinged feet curling into the carpet.
    â€œShoes off.” He pointed to where his Velcro sneakers sat by the side of the rug.
    â€œMaybe you can show Lona what you mean.” Rowena nodded encouragingly, before muttering an explanation to Lona. “He learned last night, all on his own. It’s all he’s been doing all morning long. Shoes on. Shoes off.”
    â€œIs that impressive?”
    â€œDon’t know. We’ve never had a case like this. But it’s not like he’s brain damaged. He’s just an infant. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to learn things over again.”
    â€œLike, about his previous life?” Lona picked a loose thread from the headrest of the