Chapters (95)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Video #1
- 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
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Video #2
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Video #3
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- The Final Video
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
I lie on the floor in the dark, my chest rising and falling. When my breathing finally slows, I get up.
And then it hits me. I’m standing in Chloe’s room. I’m standing in Chloe’s room, but no one knows where she is.
Everything is so familiar. The white comforter, the yellow striped pillows, the gray walls. The novels she’s read and loved: Eleanor and Park, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Fault in Our Stars. A photo of her parents on their wedding day. A photo of us at the lake, the one on my phone. A pair of black Converse sneakers by her closet door. The familiar scent that can’t be found anywhere else in the house. Something soft, almost fruity. Something that let me know I was in Chloe’s room with Chloe.
But nothing is the same. Not by a long shot.
I want to soak it all in. Get in the bed, pull the blankets and pillows around me, and pretend she’s there with me like so many times before. The space holds so many memories. The word “shrine” jumps into my head, but I push it away. No shrines. No memorials. Those are for dead people.
And Chloe isn’t dead.
I tell myself to focus and get to work. Time is short, and I can’t just stand around in a house I’ve basically broken into.
Okay, I think. The secret hiding place.
It can’t be in the closet, under the bed, or in one the drawers. Those places are all obvious, and the cops would have turned them inside out right away. It has to be someplace else, someplace more obscure.
I spin in a slow circle, searching. It’s dark, but my eyes are beginning to adjust. I’ve spent enough time in this room to know nearly every inch of it. But that doesn’t mean I can discover a hiding place that’s meant to be hard to find.
Could it be hidden under the floorboards? The room is carpeted from wall to wall. I go to the corner to see if the carpet comes up, but it doesn’t move. I try the other three corners with no luck.
I drop down on all fours and look under the bed, the flashlight on my phone shining at the underside of the mattress. Maybe Chloe tucked it under there. There’s nothing besides dust balls and a lone yellow sock.
It all seems hopeless. A terrible idea I never should have tried. I curse myself for not remembering more about the accident, for not coming up with a better plan than to break into Chloe’s house and try to find something that may not even be there.
But then it gets worse.
Much, much worse.
I’m still under the bed, cursing myself, when my phone vibrates.
A text from Olivia.