Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland Read Free Book Online Page B

mention it, I suppose it makes sense.”
    â€œBehind the fence is the last steam train station in the city. It’s been permanently closed to the public for decades.”
    â€œThen why are we here?”
    Grace kept an entirely straight face as she put her loaf of bread down at her feet, held her cane in her right hand like a javelin, and launched it over the hedge.
    â€œOops. I’d better go get that,” she said. Then she stepped up onto the fence with her good leg and hauled herself up.
    â€œWhat are you
doing
?” I said.
    â€œTrespassing, obviously. C’mon.”
    â€œWhat if someone calls the police?”
    â€œI’ll tell them I lured you here and seduced you into breaking the law.”
    â€œYeah. Like that’s gonna work.”
    â€œC’mon, Henry. You have shiny hair and dimples and I dress like Aileen Wuornos.” She paused to take a breath as she climbed. “The cops
will
believe you. Have you never broken a law before?”
    â€œI’ve jaywalked once or twice in my time.”
    â€œSo badass.”
    â€œAnd I’ve been involved in at least three incidences of underage drinking.”
    With a final grunt and wince of pain as she put weight on her bad leg, Grace straddled the top of the fence. She’d done this before. “Henry.”
    â€œI really want to go to college.”
    â€œClimb the fence.”
    â€œYou know I’ve made it through seventeen years of my life without being peer pressured? My parents warned me about it in elementary school, but I never experienced it. I was starting to believe it was a myth.”
    â€œHenry Page. Climb. The. Fence.”
    â€œAnd, like, it’s a really accurate description of what it is. I’m feeling very pressured by my peer right now.”
    â€œHenry, haul me that goddamn loaf of bread and then get your ass up here right now!”
    â€œFine!” I threw the bread over, then wrapped my hands around the iron bars and pulled myself up, which was difficult, because I could no longer feel my legs due to what I assumed was an impending panic attack. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” I said over and over again as I climbed. Grace disappeared on the other side of the hedge. “I’m going to be arrested. I’m never going to college. I’m going to be a felon. My parents are going to kill me.”
    Once I reached the top of the iron bars, it became clear that there was no easy way to climb down the other side, so I kind of straddled the hedge and then rolled. It did not go well. I hit the ground, hard, lost my balance, and ended up on my knees. Grace’s cold laugh could only accurately be described as a cackle, this kind of raucous clucking more befitting of a crow than a human being.
    â€œYou sound like a Disney villain,” I said as I stood andbrushed the dirt from my clothes, which only made Grace cackle more.
    â€œI warn you, child. If I lose my temper, you lose your head! Understand?!” Grace said. “Congratulations, Henry. You’re officially trespassing.”
    I looked around. Apart from a few trees stripped naked from the cold—or possibly long dead—there appeared to be little more on this side than an empty field.
    â€œWhere is this mysterious train station you speak of?”
    Grace pointed with her cane and set off in front of me. “Just down the hill.”
    And it was. Not ten seconds after we’d started walking, a small, sodium-lit building came into view, nestled away in the blackness.
    â€œIt looks like a crypt,” I said.
    â€œWell, it is a crypt. In the philosophical sense. All old buildings become crypts the moment they’re finished. A shrine to a time that’s already dead.”
    â€œYou are very weird, Grace Town.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œI don’t mind it.”
    â€œI know.”
    When we reached the building, we came to a tall gate made in the same elaborate