The Perks of Being a Freak (Editing)

16. I Guess You Don't Know Anybody Until You're Inside Their Head

Daddy hits me, Emily sounded almost… lucid. In reality, she was rocking back and forth in their cell, eyes huge. Hits me, calls me names. Mommy doesn’t care. Mommy is afraid. Scared of the big bad wolf, howling outside the window. Howling in the storm.

Emily’s father standing over her, face contorted with fury.

Emily, with a blackened eye and an angry mass of bruising across her neck, holding her little sister tightly. The chocolate-haired girl was sobbing.

Emily staring down the stairs at her mother as she is shoved to the ground. Emotionless.

Run little red riding hood. Run back to where you belong. Run from the storm. Run from the anger.

Two adoption certificates. Emily Olivia Thompson and Jane Marie Thompson.

The school. Sixth grade. Emily slamming into a tall girl in class. Eighth grader. Nonono she’ll kill me!

Emily walking beside the tall girl whose vibrant braid swung behind her all the way to the small of her back. Two other girls flanked them. One had short, spiky golden brown hair, and the other was tall and serene-looking.

I didn’t feel alone and weak anymore. Emily admitted. I stood up for myself at home. I called the police. Daddy’s gone now. Locked away forever and ever and ever. No more hurricane. No more hurting.

Did you know about this? Benny demanded at the same time that Emily said to Raj, I don’t have a daddy either.

I only found out when I first saw her memories, that first day. I said, feeling almost a little betrayed. Hadn’t Emily trusted me enough to tell me? 

But that betrayal went both ways. I should have trusted Emily enough to tell her about how I felt about my brothers and my parents. She should have told me that she was being abused, and I should have told her about how I felt completely alone.

Sometimes you really don’t know your best friend until you’re inside her head. Benny said.

I guess that you really don’t know anybody until you’re inside their head.