Chapters (34)
- Author biography
- Title page
- Dedication
- Prologue
- The Day Of
- The Night Of
- Day 1, Daylight
- Day 1, Afternoon
- Day 1, Twilight
- Day 1, Night
- Day 1, Midnight
- Day 2, Daylight
- Day 2, Afternoon
- Day 2, Twilight
- Day 2, Night
- Day 2, Midnight
- Day 3, Daylight
- Day 3, Afternoon
- Day 3, Twilight
- Day 3, Night
- Day 3, Midnight
- Day 4, Daylight
- Day 4, Afternoon
- Day 4, Twilight
- Day 4, Midnight
- Day 5, Daylight
- Day 5, Afternoon
- Day 5, Twilight
- Day 5, Night
- Day 6, Daylight
- A Few Days Later
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Imprint page
I glare at the cocky moron, who has the balls to smile at me. Lip raised in a sneer I make it to the front door in time to bar Laney from leaving.
‘Givin up on sneakin round?’
She rolls her eyes and shoves me. ‘I forgot somethin. Now get out of the road before someone sees us.’
I stay where I am for a moment, trying to get her to look at me. She’s out of her uniform in shorts and a t-shirt, but she won’t meet my eyes. She just keeps right on shoving. In the end I have to back off. It isn’t like I have a choice, I can’t force her to tell me, especially on a gut feeling. Watching her run outside, something bothers me. It’s only after she drives off that I realise she hadn’t been carrying anything.
The churning inside worsens and for no reason I can explain I go and stare into Laney’s room. Aside from the usual mess with her port and discarded uniform now resting on top, there isn’t anything to see. But something feels wrong. Shaking my head at my imagination, I go to my room to change out of my sweaty clothes.
The Night Of
The Night Of
Turns out there isn’t any need for a cover – Mum pulls another double shift at the hospital so I get to be on my own. I don’t mind the alone bit, but I’m always worrying over Mum. The hospital is understaffed, staff underpaid and fast turning into an old people’s home without the long-term care facilities. Mum is one of just two Assistants-in-Nursing in the town, and she always says with two teenage girls to support she has to take what she can get. It is better pay than what she’d get out on the orchards, but not by much. Some weeks, if a new nurse is in town, Mum barely gets any shifts.
If Mum knew how much Laney was off with Troy she would crack, but her crazy shifts mean she isn’t around enough to notice. Mum has always been strict. We are the only kids our age with a curfew; some of the younger kids stay out later than us. Uncle Joe stepped in last year and talked her into loosening the reins a bit. At least now we’re allowed out on the weekends, up till midnight anyway. Weeknights we’re supposed to be home before full dark, homework done and early to bed. Even with the extra freedom Laney keeps pushing the boundaries; it’s been worse since she got with Troy.