Strange in Skin Read Free

relaxing. I quickly took off all of my jewelry and
placed them each carefully into their specific spot in the cherry jewelry box perched upon my dresser.
I changed into my flannel pajamas and looked in the mirror to pull back my hair. I pressed my lips
together tightly and then released them. I turned my head from side to side inspecting every angle of
my face. This is stupid, I thought after a few minutes. Why should I care what I look like? I have
never cared much before.
I sat down on my bed. A feeling of guilt rushed over me. Why was I feeling like I was hiding
something from my parents? Nothing really happened today.
    I closed my eyes in the darkness quickly and then reopened them. A sliver of moonlight came in
from my window, making shadows appear on the adjacent wall. I closed my eyes again and tried to
relax. I did feel tired. This day was exhausting in so many ways. It was nothing at all like I had
expected it to be.
    I knew that the world was generally bad. I knew that bad people existed out there and that terrible
things happened to many different people on many different levels. However, I had never really come
into contact with any of it. Nothing ever bad had happened in my family. My parents didn’t really
fight. Sometimes someone from the church would leave and go to another church or move away, but
that wasn’t so horrible. At that jail today, those men stunk of impurity, of sin. They weren’t the type of
people I was used to being around, which were proper, well-behaved Christians. Seneca’s crime rate
was pretty low. Every once in a while you’d hear of a kid getting into trouble with drugs at the local
high school or someone had too much to drink and drove home a little tipsy getting a DUI, but that was
about it. No one was ever murdered. Were those men murderers? What had they done to get such a
punishment as being locked up behind bars? There were bad people right here in Seneca, I realized.
They weren’t acting out obviously because of where they were, but they were still here right in the
middle of our little nested, secure town.
    The realization made me shiver. I pulled a side of the comforter up and swaddled myself in it.
Shutting my eyes again, I took a deep breath and listened to myself exhale. The wind was beginning to
pick up outside. Rain again maybe?
    My mind began to drift again. I was beginning to fall asleep, and then I saw his face. Emry Logan. I
repeated the name multiple times in my mind. I pictured his beautiful face as if he was standing in
front of me again. His head was bent downwards toward the floor, his rusty brown hair falling into
his face. I pictured his arms, his biceps protruding even underneath the bright orange jumpsuit and
how slowly he stood up, so tall and lean, almost graceful.
    I realized how much I had been thinking about this particular inmate all day. Of course I was upset
by Buck’s reaction and now my father’s. They made me feel as if I had done something wrong,
something very wrong. I kept going back trying to uncover exactly what it was I said or may have
done that would necessitate such strong reactions. So I had told him I was the pastor’s daughter. So
what? Buck had been the one to actually say my name, not me. And my father, well, I thought I was
just doing what he had wanted me to do. I had no idea he hadn’t known I was going down there, but I
still felt bad about it nevertheless. Amongst all these thoughts that drifted through my head all day,
Emry Logan was still right there in the midst of them all, the most centered thought.
    I wondered why he was in jail. He was so young, younger than me for sure. The other prisoners
actually looked like bad people to me. They had a rough look about them that screamed ‘I’m
dangerous’ out to everyone who looked in their direction, but Emry Logan, he looked … perfect. He
looked as if he could walk into the church with that orange jumpsuit on and nobody would even
consider him dangerous at all. And he