Are You Hooked? #3

TITLE: The Girl Who Turned To Stone
GENRE: Contemporary YA written in verse

To cope with her rare terminal illness, seventeen-year-old Jenna Harrison imagines herself to be supernatural.

I'm a gargoyle,

born with toes that curve inward,

good for gripping ledges and rooftops.

I turned this way slowly,

over time.

A long,

long,

painful time.

I wish I knew the view from the top of Notre Dame.

Last summer,

in Paris with French Club,

Nick and I stood at the base of Notre Dame.

Out on the street,

where the gargoyles looked like ants,

we threw our heads back and gazed up,

up,

up.

"I'm home," I said.

"You're not." He squeezed my hand.

"I'm one of them. I belong up there."

"You're crazy."

"I'm not."

Nick tugged my arm,

pulled me to him.

"You're one beautiful gargoyle, Jenna Harrison."

That night,

we walked along the Seine,

our fingers laced together.

Notre Dame shined.

The Eiffel Tower stood tall and erect,

glowing like a skeleton on Halloween.

I felt them,

the gargoyles,

staring down,

down,

down on us.

I wasn't welcome there,

in their world,

on top of their church.

I was born with evil inside.

God would turn me into a pillar of salt,

if I were up atop Notre Dame.

Nobody was happier with my condition than my Dad.

He stood me on our roof.

I keep the geese from messing on our patio.

Here I stand.

Stiff,

erect,

skeletal.

Like the Eiffel Tower.

But I don't glow.

I glower.