I respond, thoughts dropping away, like pebbles plopping one by one in water, sinking down, down into dark oblivion.

You have my word. If you return with me, you won't be harmed. I'd die first.

After running for my life from hunters, a girl with too much lip gloss doesn't register on my fear radar.

It's unclear who moves first. We're in each other's arms, lips locked, melded, hotly fused. Our hands drag over each other, reacquainting, remembering, almost as if we're both verifying the other one is real flesh and blood.

Because I know what it feels like to be used, valued only for what you can do... not who you are, not who you want to be.

I am what everyone always thought. A killer.

Never forget that we are more than the genetic code. We can be more than labels applied to us. We can be more than what others whisper behind our backs. Free will exists. We need to choose to be the best we can be and we need to help others do the same. Believe in yourself.