Destroy Me by Mafi Tahereh

[Page 2] DESTROY ME TAHEREH MAFI [Page 3] Contents Cover Title Page Prologue One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty-One Twenty-Two Twenty-Three Excerpt from Unravel Me One Two Excerpt from Warner’s Files [Page 4] Log: Day 1 About the Author Also by Tahereh Mafi Back Ads Copyright About the Publisher [Page 5] Prologue I’ve been shot. And, as it turns out, a bullet wound is even more uncomfortable than I had imagined. My skin is cold and clammy; I’m making a herculean effort to breathe. Torture is roaring through my right arm and making it difficult for me to focus. I have to squeeze my eyes shut, grit my teeth, and force myself to pay attention. The chaos is unbearable. Several people are shouting and too many of them are touching me, and I want their hands surgically removed. They keep shouting “Sir!” as if they’re still waiting for me to give them orders, as if they have no idea what to do without my instruction. The realization exhausts me. “Sir, can you hear me?” Another cry. But this time, a voice I don’t detest. “Sir, please, can you hear me—” “I’ve been shot, Delalieu,” I manage to say. I open my eyes. Look into his watery ones. “I haven’t gone deaf.” All at once the noise disappears. The soldiers shut up. Delalieu looks at me. Worried. I sigh. “Take me back,” I tell him, shifting, just a little. The world tilts and steadies all at once. “Alert the medics and have my bed