All This Time

Sam assures Kyle that the incident with Kimberly’s phone was nothing but a dream. Sam confronts Kyle about his lack of concern for how Sam is doing, given that Sam is also mourning Kimberly’s death. Sam wants to stay close to Kyle because they can help each other through mutual grief.

Kyle gets a haircut, which reveals the scar on his forehead. When Marley touches the scar, Kyle feels “strange, like my body is waking up” (100). Marley believes in the power of storytelling; stories have the potential to reach and connect with an audience. Kyle tells Marley the story of his relationship with Kim. They were a cliché because he was a football player and she was a cheerleader, but everyone admired them. He admits that they fought as well. Kyle realizes: “Something about telling the whole story makes all the tiny cracks more visible” (103).

Kyle acknowledges that as idyllic as his relationship with Kim was on the surface, he often felt out of control. Marley suggests that Kim’s haunting of Kyle is another way of Kyle practicing control.