At the end of the hall was the largest bedroom with a dresser and a few more boxes resting on a floral accent rug. The headboard and footboard of a disassembled bed were stacked against a wall, along with the accompanying mattress. Deven crossed into the room and kneeled down by one of the boxes. Her arm was killing her and the tiny cut from the glass had a nagging tingling sensation searing her hand. Plus, she’d wasted a lot of time. No Kennedy, no clues. She needed to just get out of there because there was no telling where Erika was.

Deven peered absently into the box, not expecting much of anything but some last-minute junk from an apparent move. The pictures caught her eye first, a bunch of different candids of a much younger Erika and Keith on vacations. Deven shifted those to the side and picked up one of a family opening presents on Christmas Day. This time, it was Erika and Kennedy and another girl who Deven didn’t recognize. But seeing Kennedy’s face had a gasp escaping her lips. She looked to be twelve, so Deven wondered if this was their first Christmas together after she moved in. All three of them wore matching holiday pajamas with Santa hats, each holding up a wrapped present. A skimpy tree had been squeezed in the background.

Deven pushed through more pictures of Kennedy and her new family, though none of the subsequent images were as lively as that Christmas photo. Kennedy’s eyes had begun to look sad and haunting and as the pictures picked up her aging, so had it picked up her decrease in weight and joy. She looked downright miserable with her sunken features and baggy clothes. In fact, the other girl too, whoever she was, with her glasses and short hair that had been snatched back into a gel ponytail. Erika, on the other hand, was always fashionably dressed and smiling like she had won the lottery.

A peak of lilac purple had Deven’s eyes rounding, and she stuck her hand in the bottom of the box to pull the diary into view. Kennedy’s diary. Her fingers trembled over the cover and the broken heart-shaped lock. She had been right. Erika knew what was going on. Otherwise, why would she have her sister’s diary?

Deven opened the book to a random page and sat down with legs crossed to read, her sister’s words chilling her to the bone.