The awe in her tone spilled over, filling up the confined space. I sat back down and handed over another glass as her story shook memories loose in my skull.
“I went up to the clearing and at first there wasn’t much. The grass was about up to my waist and the trees started up again 10 or so feet in front of me. The wind picked up so the field was twirling around and tickling at my stomach. It was nice for a little.”
Her head tilted up to the ceiling as if she were trying to bore through with her eyes. She paused for a moment for the first time, forcing something burdensome to the tip of her tongue.
“I don't remember much after that. The sky snapped open like you popped a hole in the lid of an airtight jar. There was something, um, flattening the stars and pulling up the grass in clumps. Like a hovering magnet reflecting my face back at me, but there was so much pressure coming off it threw me back and I hit my head. I think I went up with the dirt. I think there’s something wrong with me.”
The more she spoke the harder she gripped the table, her knuckles bloodless and white.

"Jess, I-"
“Just listen okay. Okay? There’s this scar on my belly but I didn’t just trip or something and I’m not going back out there to check around again, the wind comes so much faster now. Everything is too big and it's looking down on me.”
Her words turned exasperated and piled up in droves. They came faster than she could speak them, colliding in a traffic jam.
“I just don’t trust the sky no more. When I opened my eyes the next morning I was still in the clearing and the light felt like it was interrogating me. I went out the trees back to my house like a scared raccoon. It was about… mid morning so I saw my dad watching tv through the window. Half my shirt got bit open in this ragged checkerboard pattern and somebodies blood was smudged all up my side so what the fuck was i gonna say to him? I don’t wanna bring up what I saw, I look stupid. I talk to like three people in general, I just needed somebody… my age. I don’t know, sorry I bothered you. I think I’ll curl up on some dirt and turn into a bug."
I put my hand on hers reassuringly. I could feel a tremor roll up my arm. It was the first time I’d felt comfortable to touch someone my age, and my insides rolled over in protest.
"I got back to my room and I started to feel this itching all over. My shirt was clinging on my back, so were my pants and my socks and everything just felt smothering until I threw up. I’m not gonna feel like this the rest of my life am I?”
Her eyes moved back to rest against mine.
“There were all these people talking on the way here, I think they were looking at me or they noticed me or something. I could feel this searing pain on my neck and my back and my big ass forehead. The sun and their eyes twisted together and stabbed me over and over. I’m only feeling more and more every second. I don’t wanna get used to how this is, I just wanna… I can’t think anymore. I wish I could go back to not thinking at all. Like a baby or a sea urchin or a rock.”