Harrison sped up to reach for Aidy’s hand. She grabbed on, lifting their tightly balled palms to her mouth for a gentle kiss, creating a little more space for their Marley to one day sneak out.

Harrison smiled the widest smile I’d ever seen, his teeth glowing against the dark.

The night was his.

Aidy walked proudly at the tip of the V, wearing a striped bow-neck shirt and her favorite high-waisted black shorts. Her hair was pulled into a neat ponytail that was high enough to create a waving waterfall down the sides of her head. With her unlinked hand, she held the box of Marley like she sometimes held me, willing it to be okay.

The night was hers.

Ruby leaned into my side, her hand in mine like always, ready to go wherever I needed her. Even in the dark, her wine-tipped hair was distinct against her warm skin and painted lips. A long, black tank swished against her leggings. Her eyes were all around us, taking in every moment as I tried to, another memento we both wished to keep. She picked up a rock instead, twirling it between her fingers. It was an item to tuck away in our box of trinkets, looking mundane but so full of significance, something physical to remember the untouchable. She pressed it to her chest.

The night was hers.

And on the other side of the street, diagonal from Ruby and me, filling in the Nick-shaped space that had shadowed my life for five whole years, walked the impossible boy himself, towering over his old outline. He twisted time in his white tee and jeans, changed and unchanging, his cheeks as bashful but his eyes no longer cheerful; instead, weary and cautious and still somehow hopeful, the curse of the life of people such as us. He looked over his shoulder, passing me a glance that burst into flames.

The night was his.

Then there was me, of course, little Olivia Stanton in Marley’s sky-blue denim romper, a cardigan tied around my waist. Dirty tennis shoes on my feet. Always dressed for possibility. Maybe I’d need to run. Maybe it would be cold. Maybe I’d need to look nice. Maybe Everything was Something.

The night was mine.

Once we passed the first intersection, we entered the block that belonged to Ruby and the Campbells. Ruby stopped inside her house to grab something, slinking in and out without turning on a single light, no comment toward what she’d taken, only that it was necessary.

“Anything else?” Aidy asked when Ruby came back, the first words spoken aloud since we’d left.

“Shovels,” Bigs said. When we got to his house, he opened the garage and grabbed two. He held one in each hand, waiting to hear what else we needed.