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One

If I'm going to start this off right, I'll have to start with Monday, June 13, 1983. My friend, Katrina, had been going on and on for weeks about how I should get out more, so I agreed to go to the library with her. I actually went to the library frequently, but it was the smaller one that was closer to my house. She wanted me to go to the big one, where I would come into contact with more than two people.

She didn't tell me that we were going with Sam. She knew that I wouldn't want to go if Sam was coming, so she just excluded that *small* piece of information. So, you can imagine my surprise when I had to get in the backseat, because Sam was sitting in the front.

"Hey Frank!" Kat said enthusiastically, as I settled into my seat, "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I mutter, directing my attention to the passenger seat, "Hello Sam".

"Hello."

Sam looked super confused and hurt, so I'm willing to guess that Kat didn't tell her that I was coming either. It only took Kat 38 seconds of uncomfortable silence to realize there was a problem.

"They're having an art thing in the teen section today and I thought it might be interesting to go to," she says absently as she began to drive.

Neither of us responded. At this point, I hope Kat was feeling at least a little remorse. If she was , she was doing a great job of hiding it.

Meanwhile, my heart felt like it was about to explode and my head was pounding. I tried to focus on breathing

We were half way there before everything went to shit. Then Kat mentioned that one of her friends was going through a break up. I stayed very quiet, which is something I'm proud of, because I really wanted to scream at her. I felt like I was going to cry.

Then she looked at me through her rear view mirror and said; "Yeah, it really reminds me of what happened with you guys." I almost slapped her. Instead I asked her to stop the car. I got out and started walking in the direction we had come from.

As I looked back I saw Sam say something to Kat and then look back at me. I felt tears come to my eyes and I continued walking.

...

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