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
At least ten times a day, I’ve thought about what I’ll do when I see Chloe again. Would just hugging her and kissing her be enough? Would I ever let her out of my sight? Would we be able to talk about everything she’d been through?
But it’s the cops who are here. Early. Earlier than most people are awake. My body slumps onto the bed, letting the mattress take my weight.
I struggle to put on my shoes and socks. So I just sit here, barefoot, shivering and getting colder. Is this how things end? On a random cold morning?
Mom died in the afternoon. But we knew she was going to die. For weeks, we’d been prepared as much as we could be. Still the moment seemed so random. We were in the hospital, and I looked out the window. A school bus went by. Kids were on their way home. To their families. Screaming and laughing. Happy.
Then my mother took her last breath. After it was over, Grandpa Phil, Mom’s dad, said something about how he had a craving for steak and insisted we all go to a chain restaurant where we watched him put away a giant ribeye. Odd. Random. The weird shit we remember. Is that what I’ll remember about Chloe—that the day they came to tell me she was dead, I had to pee? And then shook so much I couldn’t put on my socks?
Someone knocks on the bedroom door. Loud. Like thunder.
That’s the way Olivia knocks, like a drill instructor waking fresh recruits.
She comes in. She isn’t dressed, and her hair looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie. Dark and wild and tangled.
She sits next to me on the bed. “Are you okay?”
“I’m scared,” I say. “If I go down there, I’m going to find out something. And it might all be over.”
She rubs my back. “I’ll come down with you.”
“It’s okay. Dad told you to get ready. I’m okay.”
My hands still shake, but I force myself to put on my shoes and socks. When I’m finished, I stand up and take a deep breath.
Livvy stands, too.
“Okay,” I say. “I’m ready to go down.”
“If you need me, just call me and I’ll come down.”
“I know you have my back,” I say. “Thanks, brat.”
She looks genuinely moved. “Aww. You haven’t called me that in years. Hunter, seriously. Call me if you need anything.”
At the top of the stairs, I hear voices. One is unfamiliar and the other is Dad’s.