lane as a child was always eerie enough to spook people out — the way her eyes would flash the brightest blue when she was upset, there and gone and brief enough to make you think you'd imagined it; the way her veins struck out beneath her skin, almost thrumming with energy. the raw, rough tang of her voice when she spoke, her words disjointed, gaze unfocused and glazed, the gray of her eyes giving way to blue to golden to gray again — the way she'd shake sometimes, uncontrollably, and the words coming from her mouth made no sense.
and she herself understood none of it; only, she knew that hollow feeling inside her sometimes vanished, and all her thoughts went quiet, and she found herself observing her own body from a bird's eye point of view — like a puppet being yanked at, a marionette with her strings tugged. like something out of control.
then the moment passed, and the icy blue faded to gray, and she was herself again, surrounded by people looking at her with nothing but fear.














