A. M. Hughes 
Etched in Lies 

It looked like a paper cut, but sixteen-year-old Dylan Lord is discovering just how painful lies can be. Every lie she tells or hears causes physical pain. It isnt coincidence this started with Jack. He’s there to teach her to be a ‘;Fide’; to feel and heal lies. She wants to believe nothing is happening. A letter opener sliced her hand, not her mother’s ‘;I love you.’ The cuts opening on her arms as she walks through her high school were already there, but it’s not working. Every wound she suffers Jack does too. When a lie rips open across Dylan’s stomach, she must admit she isnt fine. She never asked for this. She doesnt want to be a walking lie detector, but not all lies can be covered with Band-Aids. The lies she hasnt fixed are spreading across her body, and she isnt the only one suffering. Jack is growing weaker. She has to hear the truth to heal. If she doesnt hear the truth soon, someone is going to die.