EVAN: Did you know, only 8% of the world’s currency is physical money, the rest only exists on computers?
I smile as I read it. I’ve had this cell for a week now, and every day he sends me a random fact, either about computers or clothes.
LEXI: I didn’t know that. But rest assured that if anyone asks me, I’ll be able to answer them correctly.
It takes me what feels like half an hour to text back yet his reply is mere seconds later.
EVAN: Good. I just wanted to part my awesome wisdom on someone. ;)
I snort out loud and then slap my hand over my mouth and nose before whipping my head up and seeing five pairs of eyes zoned in on me.
“I’m just… I’m…” I clear my throat, standing up and pushing the chair back. “I’m heading inside.”
No one says a word as I practically run inside and to my bedroom where I flop down on my bed and start typing him another message.
LEXI: Tell me a random fact about you.
I bite my bottom lip as my thumb hovers over the send button, but ultimately I decide to click it and then wait with bated breath for his reply.
EVAN: The scar on my arm? It’s from a dog bite.
LEXI: Ouch. Was it a family dog?
There’s no reply for several minutes and I worry that I may have asked too much. Although, asking if it was a family dog surely can’t be pushing too far, right?
EVAN: You could say that. It was the dog my birth mother had guard me when she locked me up.
My head reels back and my eyes widen as a gasp leaves my mouth. I read the message again, and again, and again. Not quite believing or understanding what he’s saying.
LEXI: I don’t understand? :(
EVAN: Forget I said anything.
My thumbs fly over the keyboard—fly is a relative word, it’s more of a dawdle—before another message comes through.
EVAN: Family meal is at six on Tuesday, I’ll pick you up at five thirty.
LEXI: Evan?
EVAN: Lex?
LEXI: You know you can talk to me, right?
Those three dots that signal he’s writing a reply flash on and off the screen for a couple of minutes while I sit here with my heart in my throat at the tidbit of information he gave me.
EVAN: I know. I gotta go. See you tomorrow. E x
I curse myself over and over again on the way to pick up Lexi. I don’t know why I said what I did yesterday; the words flew out of my fingers without me realizing until it was too late.
I knew that there was no way she could have known what I was saying, but that didn’t stop her from asking the innocent question of if it was a family dog. My scar tingles as I think about it; as I think about that day, the day that finally someone took notice.
I remember like it was yesterday. My birth mother wouldn’t take me to the hospital even though I’d been bleeding for three hours. She had sat there and laughed, tears streaming down her face, thinking it was funny that her guard dog had bit me because I wanted to escape to find something to eat. She said it was my own fault for being greedy.
I can still feel the hunger pangs in my stomach as I remember how starving I was: not that she cared.
Watching her until she finally fell asleep, her dog sprawled across her lap—that was when I looked down at my arm: at the fresh blood mixed in with the dried blood and the dirt that coated my skin.
My heart beats hard in my chest as I turn into Lexi’s road, the same way it did when I took a step toward the outside world. The sun beating down on my face, the bright rays warming my skin and blinding me for a second.