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
“Be careful out there,” she says.
Seventy
My eyes snap open.
Dreams. The images come back to me.
Chloe.
Right before my eyes. We were walking down one of the hallways at school, except it wasn’t really our school. It was some school I’d never been in before, with giant ceilings and palm trees growing out of the lockers.
Chloe walked ahead of me. She kept looking back at me over her shoulder. And smiling.
And when I rushed to catch up to her, to reach out and touch her, she kept slipping away. Farther and farther away…
My T-shirt sticks to my back. My surroundings come back to me. My laptop sits at the foot of my bed. The lamp burns on my desk. I fell asleep looking through Daniel’s additional files, using the password Elizabeth gave me. I searched and searched and still didn’t find anything.
It’s 6:17. Dad is always up by six, brewing coffee in the kitchen, showering and shaving, and then preparing for class. Olivia will still be asleep. A cannon could be fired through her bedroom, and she’d snooze right through it.
Something sticks in my head, something about the movie. I’ve already seen the rough cut dozens of times, so I reach for my phone and pull it up once again.
While it starts, and I see the same familiar footage, I think about Ron. It’s weird to me that he said he didn’t know Daniel. Could Ron just have forgotten? Maybe. Ron’s been teaching for thirty years and had a lot of students. Maybe he saw Daniel as a budding artist, a filmmaker instead of someone goofing around on social media. But it’s still weird to me. And weird that Chloe is the one who introduced them.
Is that just a coincidence?
I know exactly the section of the movie I want to see. It’s the end. Where the camera does that weird, blurry drop.
Once again, Chloe and I get into the car. The car drives off, red taillights glowing.
The other car right behind us out of the parking lot.
And then the camera drops, and I hit pause.
Too far. I rewind, then hit play again.
The camera drops, and I hit pause.
Daniel stood behind a row of cars while he filmed. The cars parked closest to the gym. In other words, where the faculty parks in their assigned spots.
The grainy image remains frozen on the screen. There’s a car on the left—Mr. Feltz’s ancient Volvo. On the right, Mr. Haggerty’s minivan. Gray and with a Berea College sticker in the back window.
In between those two vehicles—nothing.
That space is empty. The space where Daniel focused the camera.
I know whose car is supposed to be there.
Seventy-One
I’m pacing behind the school at seven thirty.