The words on the pages of the textbook in front of me grow blurry and I stare out the window at the sky. The pine trees on the hill opposite my house are slowly beginning to drop their needles, a thick brown carpet on the ground beneath the tree
branches. After a long, wet winter, spring has been completely skipped, the rains bridging straight into a hot, dry summer. The
sky beyond the trees is unbelievably blue, the sky clear and cloudless. A beautiful, 81 degree day.

“A good day for a swim, isn’t it?” I look over at my bed where a slim, mocha-skinned girl has appeared. She reclines against
the headboard. Her legs are stretched out, ankles crossed, as she holds a book up to her eyes. Her body is delicately formed;
her eyes are a beautiful, luminous brown. Her shoulder-length black hair fans out against the white pillowcase.

“Why are you here?” I ask her, trying to turn my focus back to the book on my desk. Something powerful tugs at me and I am
compelled to look at her. I force myself to concentrate, struggling to wrap my mind around the pointless blither blather of
Chemistry and thermodynamics and equilibrium and K of blah blah blah and what the hell is the point... I clench my jaw and
rub at my eyes with the heels of my hands. Focus! Focus!

“Go away, Sin,” I say as through gritted teeth. She laughed a rich, unabated laugh that was reminiscent of buttery sunlight and
yellow-centered, white-petal daisies. Through my peripheral, I see her put the book aside and get up off the bed. She walks
towards where I sit at my desk. I imagine her rosebud lips forming a smile as she pulls out the pencil that holds my hair in a
knot at the base of my head. My hair tumbles down, over my shoulders and to my mid-back. A few tendrils blow onto my face and I tuck them behind my ear, still trying to concentrate on my chemistry reading.

“Go away? Now why would I want to do that?” She reaches around me and her slim fingers wrap around the corner of my textbook cover. She flips it closed with a solid thump. I feel myself slowly slipping further and I blink rapidly, trying to stay lucid as she works her spells on me.

“I just want to help you relax,” she says sweetly. Her fingertips slip under my chin and she turns my face so that I am looking right into her eyes. I struggle, trying to avert my gaze…but there is no hope. I am caught fast in her net of illusions. Today, she is wearing an orange halter top with a pair of kaki shorts that end mid-thigh. She is a sandal-clad, sunglasses-wearing vision. She dangles my car keys in front of my face.

“Come on! You owe it to yourself. Take a little trip to the beach! It’s not that far away…” She takes my hand and folds my fingers over the keys as she places them in my palm. I tighten my grip on the key bunch. Images of the beach flash into my mind. I see a sun shining bright, a bright blue sea, warm sand…

I open my hand, look at the keys. The temptation is so strong, the urge so great. I long to drop everything and run out to my car. To just go without specific destination. To run away from everything. Slowly, I get out of my chair and stand up. Sin smiles widely and holds out her hand. I ponder it for a moment. It is a soft, beautiful hand with pink-polished nails. I again look up at her, at her cranberry lips and doe-like eyes. Her flawless skin and high cheekbones; her arched eyebrows and triple-pierced ears.

Without warning, I draw back my arm and sock her full-on in that perfect face of hers. She lets out a cry of surprise, then melts into the air around her. I toss my keys back onto my bed and sit down at my desk again. There are footsteps on the staircase and I quickly flip open the chem. textbook. My mother walks in through the door.

“What happened? I thought I heard you shout.” I turn and look at her over my left shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, Mom. I just…figured something out.” She shrugs and leaves and I turn back to the book. Suddenly, everything makes sense. I grin and look once more out the window.

“Better luck next time, Sin.”