Page 545 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

I’m going to be sick.

I don’t know what’s coming out first⁠—

vomit or tears.

I snatch my jacket off the ground.

I walk around him.

He grabs my arm, trying to stop me.

“Stop, please, I need you to fuckin’ stop.”

I rip my arm from his grip,

my hands shaking,

my vision filling with water.

“Fuck—Allison, no. No, no, no.

“Please, gimme a goddamn second!”

I don't.

I don't have a second.

Then from behind⁠—

“I’m fuckin’ beggin’ you not to leave⁠—

“Allison!”

I keep my foggy eyes on the ground.

Andrew says my name again.

Then he curses.

Then something cracks.

I take the stairs fast,

one hand on the rail,

my boots hitting concrete.

It feels like forever on the way down.

I don’t stop. I keep going.

Until the cold hits my face,

and I’m out the side door,

spilling into the alley.

My body lurches sideways,