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Back How to Disappear Completely Save as PDF
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. About the Author
  57. Back Ad
  58. About the Publisher

She hesitates for a moment. “Then I’ll take you to the office,” she says finally. “And you can call your parents to come get you.”

I nod, and let Ms. Singh lead me out of the bathroom and into the empty hall.

She waits while I call Mom from the office. I tell her I have a stomachache, and she says she’ll be here soon. Ms. Singh is frowning at me when I hang up. “A stomachache, huh?”

I shrug. I feel exhausted all of a sudden.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about what’s wrong?” she asks. “I could help.”

I shake my head. “Really, it’s okay, Ms. Singh. Thanks for letting me call my mom.”

“No problem, Emma. I hope you feel better.”

Shooting me one last look of concern, she turns and walks out the office door.

When Mom arrives, I have to fight the urge to run to her and wrap my arms around her and cry into her shoulder. Instead, I focus hard on making up answers to the questions she immediately starts asking. Do I feel nauseous? Have I thrown up? Do I have any other symptoms?

When we get home, she sends me to bed and brings up some ginger ale and crackers. Boomer follows her and jumps onto the bed. Mom sits next to me and runs her fingers across my back the way she used to when I was little and woke up from a nightmare.

Things were so much easier back then, when nightmares were only in dreams.

I wish so bad I could tell Mom what is really wrong. But if I do, she’ll stop rubbing my back. She’ll want to know every single thing that every kid said, and she’ll be horrified. Then she’ll start strategizing.

So when she asks me if there’s anything else she can do, I tell her I just want to sleep. Then I pull the covers up over my head and stay there the rest of the day.

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I stay in bed on Tuesday, too. I tell Mom I got sick in the night.

Fina calls and texts me about a thousand times, so I set my phone to silent. I know she wants to talk about what happened, but I just want to pretend it didn’t. Pretend that when I have to go back to school, things are going to be normal again.

The one person I do want to talk to about everything is Gram. I don’t think I’ve ever missed her so badly.