Scholastic Art and Writing 2022 Central and Southern Indiana

being in good company at long last.

Because Bellamy no longer worked at the [airport]. No longer lived at her [apartment]. No longer knew a [Milo].

This life, like so many of her other lives, couldn’t be allowed to exist anymore, or they would all come tumbling down down [down] on top of her, pressing against her chest until breath was a distant memory. Bellamy’s mind was the library of Alexandria, vast and beautiful and aflame, ashes fluttering around her eyes and lips.

But it was okay, really, she reminded herself. This happened a lot, this outburst-relocation-repeat song and dance. Right now, she had to focus on her escape.

Bellamy reached for her [phone] [keys] and added the company-issued [laptop] to her bag for later. While the other workers struggled to register what had just happened—Bellamy, quiet, vacant-eyed [Bellamy]!

Did harm to the only person who could draw her out of her shell, the only person to whom she ever spoke!—she was dashing for the [door], getting herself thoroughly lost in the bustling crowd of travelers.

She looked around for a [ticket] to anywhere —Baltimore, Philadelphia, the sunken city of Atlantis for all Bellamy cared—and spotted one in no time. She slipped it out of its owner’s jeans pocket, skipped [security] in an awkward maneuver that involved someone’s hot latte and some quick thinking, and was on the [plane] before the ticket was even missed.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 54321. It wasn’t working. Bellamy was only grounded by the familiar, the things that were supposed to exist, but this sudden exit was new and unexpected. Her eyes became glassy, her expression vague. When the flight attendant offered her a refreshment, she nearly attacked him too.

Bellamy was a fugitive now. A runaway. Her eyes brimmed with distrust. No one dared sit next to her, and it was a good thing, too. She might have hurt them just like she hurt … well, you know.

Unfortunately, she still had a few hours of her [flight] left before her destination would enter the world. So Bellamy looked out her [window] as she forced her mind blank and admired the view from above. Watched the [land] below, exploding into vibrant being and then flickering out as Bellamy’s [plane] passed by.