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
“What?” I ask. “I just want to get out of the house and hang out with an old friend.”
“I know. It’s just…look, someone might have hurt Chloe. And if that person is still out there, I don’t want you or Livvy wandering around in the dark alone. Plus…people are clearly unhappy with us. I can drive you or…”
“Okay, I’ll drive myself. It’s a ten-minute walk on a nice night, but I’ll drive.”
Dad looks relieved, like the pain had miraculously evaporated. “Thanks,” he says.
“Sure.”
“And text me when you get there,” he says.
“I’m not twelve.”
“I know that. If you were twelve, I wouldn’t let you leave the house at all.”
He pushes his glasses down and goes back to grading.
Twenty
Daniel lives one neighborhood over from us. Even when we were kids, I understood the differences between our families. Daniel’s father left when Daniel was five. And he pretty much never came back or had anything to do with Daniel. Maybe that’s why Daniel was so sympathetic when Mom died. He’d already lost a parent. He’d already been though all those emotions.
Daniel’s mom, Elizabeth, is a nurse. She worked a lot of nights, because those shifts pay better. My mom always admired the way Elizabeth kept it together after her husband left. But Daniel spent a lot of time alone, and he definitely had more freedom to come and go than I ever did. What do they call that? A free-range kid?
The familiar boxy ranch house looks a little dingier than I remember. Daniel greets me at the door, wearing basketball shorts and a hoodie. After five years, everything inside looks the same and smells the same, right down to their now ancient cat, Roscoe, who yawns from his perch on the end of the couch. The feeling of déjà vu is so intense, it’s like stepping into a time machine.
“Roscoe’s still alive?” I say.
“He’s sixteen. We think he’s immortal.”
“Almost as old as we are.”
Daniel leads me down the hall to his bedroom, the last door on the right. There’s one change—Daniel has a slick new laptop open on his desk. An expensive camera sits in the middle of a tangle of wires, and it looks like Daniel could run his own TV studio.
“Nice laptop,” I say.
“My grandparents got it for me.”
“Sweet.”
“My grandpa died six months ago. There was decent life insurance or something…”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“It’s cool.” Daniel starts fiddling with the laptop, tapping keys and minimizing windows. He speaks to me over his shoulder. “If you want something to drink, you know where it is.”
He says this like I was just there yesterday.
“I’m okay.”