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
Years evaporate. I know exactly where I am—a hot summer day. The smell of dirt and grass. Daniel and I are nine, and we’re making a movie in his backyard. Plastic dinosaurs fighting it out for supremacy on a distant planet.
It all comes back when I open my eyes and watch. A T.Rex is the king of one group of plastic dinosaurs. A brontosaurus is the king of the other. The dinosaurs pile on top of one another, and you can totally see the strings we used to move them around. Even worse, you can see our hands moving into the frame from time to time when the strings didn’t work.
It’s the stupidest little movie ever. Also, the most amazing. Because Daniel is alive, right there on the screen. Alive the way I remember him: a smart, creative, energetic kid. And my best friend.
When those four minutes are up, tears blur my vision. Elizabeth sniffles next to me.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No, you didn’t. I’m so glad you showed me.”
I play it again. And again. I feel guilty over the way we drifted apart. And the way we fought that last night.
And I also want to roar along with it, because it feels so good to see Daniel again.
Sixty-Nine
Another hour passes, and my eyes are even blearier.
My neck is killing me, and now my back hurts, too.
A thought starts to take root—maybe there is nothing to find. If the cops haven’t found anything, why would Daniel?
Elizabeth comes back into the room. She and Kelcey have been in the kitchen talking and making plans for a trip to Florida. She places her hand on my shoulder. “Do you think I can help you figure out what you’re looking for?”
“I wish you could. But I don’t know what it is.” I tell Elizabeth about the shot in the parking lot, the way the camera drops as though it’s going to show the viewer something on the ground. “I just don’t know what could be on the ground that’s so important. And there’s so much footage to get through.”
“He wasn’t the most organized kid,” she says.
“Did he talk about the movie? Did he talk about…anything? Who he wanted to interview or what he still wanted to add?”
Elizabeth sits next to me. She has reading glasses pushed up on top of her head, resting in an unruly pile of her red hair. “He didn’t say much. One of my big regrets, Hunter, is that I had to work so much. Daniel spent a lot of time on his own, and when I came home from work, I was tired. That’s just the way it is as a single parent. Your dad is getting a taste of that.”