Trishna Pardan has had enough. She's new to the school, not to life. Pretending to be a dead girl just to prank her isn't going to get them anywhere, it's not funny and it has to stop. Her brother is an asshole, and her friends more so. She's tired and drunk on five red bulls and her term paper is carving a hole in her brain, she doesn't have time to act scared for the enjoyment of her friends who are, frankly, doing much better than her in life.
...she was a sister, an older sister.
This isn't a prank, but Trish doesn't know it yet. The only one who does is Tshering Dolkar and fat lot of good that does, because Tshering doesn't like people and Tshering doesn't like people like Trish. She knows the type, fumbling but confident, prudent but enigmatic. Annoying, most of all, so annoying when they're on a trail.
Before she was Winter Woods—
But the letters won't stop, won't let her go, let her breathe. The letters, and then the messages and then the pictures. They won't fucking stop and now Trish is scared. She is so, so scared. Because the letters won't stop, and the messages won't stop, and the pictures are red red red and the blood — its everywhere.
—she was alive.
epigraph
imagine this: you're driving. the sky is bright. you look great. in a word, in a phrase, it's a movie, you're the star. so smile for the camera, it's your big scene, you know your lines. i'm the director. i'm in a helicopter. i have a megaphone and you play along, because you want to die for love, you always have.
imagine this: you're pulling the car over. somebody's waiting. you're going to die in your best friend's arms. and you play along because it's funny, because it's written down, you've memorized it, it's all you know. i say the phrases that keep it all going, and everybody plays along.
imagine: someone's pulling a gun, and you're jumping into the middle of it. you didn't think it'd feel this way. there's a gun in your hand. it feels hot. it feels oily. i'm the director and i'm screaming at you, i'm waving my arms in the sky, and everyone's watching, everyone's curious, everyone's holding their breath.
planet of love. richard siken.
characters
trishna pardan
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