Questions not to ask while in juvie:
What you in here for?
Do I know you?
Who did that to you?
You a’ight, man? I ask Kadon
a few days later when I see him
in the mess hall
He’s smaller now
as if whatever happened to him—
whatever they did to him—
pressed down on him so hard
that he’s half the boy he used to be
I sit up taller for both of us
until I have to leave him there
but it feels like I lost him
and I won’t be able to find him anymore
Kadon was wrong
You can lose something, everything, in here
