“I’m nobody,” I speak down to the youngest of the youngers now, realizing it is no lie. To my chagrin, she persists.

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“Everybody’s somebody.” She pitches her shoulders, pointing west to the wall, where CODA has been blowtorched. One of my first and most permanent creations, not too long ago when the world seemed too loud and I sat shrinking into myself.

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A parachuting breeze passes over us now, carrying with it a molding-ammonia pungency and I imagine briny kelp growing out of my skin. It is at that moment I decide she could be the alpha. That she will be the next alpha…she just doesn’t know it yet.

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“It’s safer to be nobody.” I nod to her, trying to take my leave but turn only to find her eldest sister in my path.  “Thank you,” she squeaks out, looking starstruck. “For the food, I mean.”

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I navigate my way around her only to find another idiot smackdab in my path now, his dumb propeller cap twirling. He smiles, showing off bright pink gums with a makeshift giraffe in his giant, outstretched open palm. “I’m Sydney. You can call me Syd though. That’s easier to say.”

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I start to say something sarcastic but worry he might confuse it for encouragement, so instead say nothing, choosing a third direction away from all three.

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“Help us,” the eldest sister pleads, trying to keep pace as the other two shuffle after her.

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Suddenly I’m ensnared.

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                                      “Please?”