Tonight I am on a mission. I'm going to Skype with a twenty-year-old NEET who lives in Blackpool, across the ocean. It's after four there but I know he'll be awake. I slip barefoot past my siblings' bedrooms. Count the steps on the way down. The twelfth one has a creak in it. my heart is pounding. I know every board. I reach the door in the kitchen, the furthest from my parents' room. I stand at it looking out over the field that surrounds my house, the neat line of trees on the horizon, the edge of the world. Carefully I wedge open the door. It takes over a minute but I can’t risk even a single creak. Suddenly, I'm free. I can breathe the cold air, feel the dew between my toes. The stars are beautiful tonight. A dome like a snow globe. It's so quiet. For the first time I stop and look back at it, my house, the field, the school-house, the barn, the goats. The door to the school-house swings open. I do not turn on the light. I'm still so nervous. Carefully I type in the password to the school computer. My mother changed it last week but I already have the new one figured out.  Barker tells me about the emperors of Rome, and Alexander the Great. We are living through each other, dreaming of each other's worlds.  I feel like he's the first person I ever knew. I have no idea what he looks like. Eventually it's morning in Blackpool. We have to say goodnight. I carefully retrace every step that I've taken. Log out of the computer, the door to the classroom, the field and the snow globe, the porch and the kitchen, the twelfth step, my bed.

Tonight I am on a mission. I'm going to Skype with a twenty-year-old NEET who lives in Blackpool, across the ocean. It's after four there but I know he'll be awake. I slip barefoot past my siblings' bedrooms. Count the steps on the way down. The twelfth one has a creak in it. my heart is pounding. I know every board. I reach the door in the kitchen, the furthest from my parents' room. I stand at it looking out over the field that surrounds my house, the neat line of trees on the horizon, the edge of the world. Carefully I wedge open the door. It takes over a minute but I can’t risk even a single creak. Suddenly, I'm free. I can breathe the cold air, feel the dew between my toes. The stars are beautiful tonight. A dome like a snow globe. It's so quiet. For the first time I stop and look back at it, my house, the field, the school-house, the barn, the goats. The door to the school-house swings open. I do not turn on the light. I'm still so nervous. Carefully I type in the password to the school computer. My mother changed it last week but I already have the new one figured out.  Barker tells me about the emperors of Rome, and Alexander the Great. We are living through each other, dreaming of each other's worlds.  I feel like he's the first person I ever knew. I have no idea what he looks like. Eventually it's morning in Blackpool. We have to say goodnight. I carefully retrace every step that I've taken. Log out of the computer, the door to the classroom, the field and the snow globe, the porch and the kitchen, the twelfth step, my bed.