Lynn Vandestine  He wraps a towel around his lower naked body, stepping out from the shower, then looks at the mirror ummindfully.  "What kind of a freak showers at noon?" He suddenly hears a low voice behind him. Lynn turns, then notices his brother lying on his bed, holding a wine bottle in his hand. "Only your brother does," he chuckles, lightly shaking his wet hair, then pulls out a blue shirt from the wardrobe. "Are you drunk?" "Of course not," Mahone sits up idly, looking with sleepy eyes. "Wait." Lynn turns to him, "What?" Mahone puts the bottle down, then walks to him, feeling horrified. "Lynn, the scars in your back look....more. What happened to you?" Lynn turns away from him, buttoning his shirt quickly. No, he didn't want to remember the three months when he was starving in a basement, being tortured and beaten up, w

Samlin Greenham  "When is our competition gonna start?" I ask a girl from our team, Ally and sit on a bench. "Boys team first. Then us," she replies.       Today is the competition, I've been worrying about. It's not a big deal, just the selection for a captain. But somehow it feels a big deal to me, I'm not ready to hand my title to a new swimmer, when I've been the captain for three years.  Five hundred yards freestyle.  A crowd has already formed around the pool. The captain of the boys team is Brian Hardy. I usually don't consider people who aren't my friends, but if you asked me how his character was, I'd say he was nosy and clingy. Well, now he's coming. I look away.  "Hey, Sam." He shows a stupid grin, then turns to Ally, "Hey, Sis. How's my mother?" Brian is her elder br