Free Unveiling The Sky by Jeannine Allison Page A

doesn’t mean we’re incapable of it,” I said.
    A myriad of emotions flashed across her face. Sadness. Pain. Anger. Fear. Longing. Love. Hope. Joy. Each one left as quickly as it came, until she settled on very forced humor.
    “ We’re in the same boat?” she asked with a laugh.
    Frowning, I looked over at Naomi, only to discover her laughing. Okay, maybe it didn’t look forced to everyone…
    But I knew a forced smile. I had perfected the forced smile. However, as I continued to stare at Sherry, I saw a pleading in her eyes I didn’t even think she was aware of, so I let it go.
    “Well, we’re at least docked in the same harbor.” I shrugged as the three of us started laughing. Naomi abruptly stopped and leaned over me again.
    “Wait… when did this even happen? I thought you were off hooking up with my brother?”
    “Nah, he bought me that drink, but then we went our separate ways. Believe it or not, I don’t like pissing you off. At least not all the time.”
    “You could have fooled me,” Naomi said right as the cab pulled up to our complex.
    We all filed out and silently made our way into the apartment. The threshold seemed to be a switch for our exhaustion, because within ten minutes, we were all in our pajamas with our makeup only haphazardly taken off and dragging our pillows and blankets into the living room. Sherry got her stuff out of the hall closet as we all made ourselves comfortable on the floor in the common area, just like we always did when Sherry stayed over.
    “Hey, guys?” I asked tentatively.
    “Yeah?” Sherry asked around a yawn.
    “Thanks for making me go out tonight.” I paused, surprised by how much I meant it, especially since I ended the night bruised and on the floor, before shifting around to face them. “I think I had a good time,” I ended on a whisper.
    “Well, of course you did,” Sherry said before she lightly started snoring.
    Naomi simply looked at me with a smile that was sad, worried, hopeful, happy, and relieved all at once.
    Minutes later, I drifted off to sleep.

    …

    I woke up to a bear dying right next to my ear. Okay, not really. But that’s what a snoring Sherry sounded like. God help her future husband.
    When I turned my head, I felt a kink in my neck, and I groaned as I stretched it out, but as I moved, I became aware of the other physical pains I’d forgotten about. I lifted my shirt to reveal a decent-sized bruise on my hip from where it hit the floor last night. A few other parts were sore, but at least there were no other visible marks—
    Oh .
    I sighed as I looked down at the wrist pulling my shirt back down, and frowned at the finger-shaped bruises forming. I threw the blanket off me and padded to the kitchen, grabbing some water before glancing at the clock. It read just after 8:00 a.m.  
    “You’re up.” I turned around to see Naomi leaning against the entryway to the kitchen, a piece of paper in one hand and her glasses in the other.
    “Yeah, how come we always forget how freaking loud she is?” I asked as I looked toward the wall that separated us from Sherry.
    Naomi laughed as she entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter opposite me.
    “I guess we just remember what we want to remember.” She gave me a sad smile that had my eyebrows bunching together.
    “Are you okay?” I asked. “Because if this is about last night, I’m fine.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but that only seemed to make her frown deepen.
    She gripped the paper in her hand before holding it out to me. Cautiously, I took it, noting the jagged edge where it had been ripped out of a binder before smoothing it out. When I looked down, I was grateful I had put my water on the counter behind me, because if I hadn’t, I surely would have dropped it.
    Scrawled in familiar black handwriting was:

    There’s a crack in my mind,
    That I don’t know how to heal.
    There are demons in my head,
    People tell me are not real.

    The voices are my