Poem
they call me put-together
like the pieces
didn't take twelve years
to glue back
they call me quiet
like the noise inside
isn't a marching band
they call me perfect
like the word
doesn't taste
like swallowed glass
— Ghost Girl
Character Hub
Raeni LeBeau
"The perfect girl nobody actually sees."
- Age
- 16
- School
- L'Eau High
- Lives
- Gentilly, NOLA
- Style
- Urban, coordinated
- Carries
- A journal, always
- Friend
- Chat the calico
Born Fighting
Her pain. Her power.
- Day one
Born premature. Father walks out of the hospital. She fights for breath before she fights for anything else.
- Twelve
The first kiss that wasn't. Stolen, not given. The word for what happened is one she's still learning to say out loud.
- Now
Mom Sonia is battling breast cancer. The abandonment anxiety screams back. Depression sits at the foot of her bed.
- The discovery
The night her tears hit the page and the ink started to glow. Emotional alchemy. Pain → power. Words → light.
Emotional Alchemy
Her magic powers
Power
Glowing ink
Words literally glow when she writes honestly about her pain.
Power
Protective light bubbles
Her poetry can wrap other tender hearts in soft, golden shields.
Power
Sadness absorption
She can pull sadness out of a room and write it into something usable.
Power
Healing tears
Her tears become healing droplets when they hit the page.
The Magical Guardian
Chat (French for cat)
Ninety-five percent guardian energy. Three colors that map exactly to Raeni's journey: orange for the warrior, black for the trauma she's still moving through, white for what gets to come next.
- · Sees Raeni's pain before anyone else
- · Hisses at toxic boys on cue
- · Purrs the panic attacks down to manageable
- · Leads Raeni to the hidden rooftop when the noise gets loud
The Poetry Vault
From the notebook
Poem
my mother taught me
to fold the fitted sheet
and to fold myself
smaller
smaller
until i fit
in the space
he left
— Inheritance
Poem
i wrote the worst thing
that ever happened to me
on a page
and the page
started
to glow
— Alchemy