The sun is high and hot. The young man is hanging around with the running backs and receivers. Brian is new to the team—tall, bulging biceps, and a tattoo, all as an eighth grader.
“Dude, what’s up with your wrists?” says Javier.
“Oh, I got a super sharp knife and I cut myself.”
“On purpose?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I was hanging with a friend and he started cutting himself. I told him to stop, and he wouldn’t. So I took out my knife and started cutting myself and said, ‘I’m gonna keep cutting as long as you do.’ After a while, he finally stopped.”
“Dude, that’s messed up.”
“He’s a good friend.”
The Living and the Dead, by Gordon Laws 