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Back She's Gone Save as PDF
Chapters (95)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Video #1
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Video #2
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Video #3
  73. Sixty-Six
  74. Sixty-Seven
  75. Sixty-Eight
  76. Sixty-Nine
  77. Seventy
  78. Seventy-One
  79. Seventy-Two
  80. Seventy-Three
  81. Seventy-Four
  82. Seventy-Five
  83. Seventy-Six
  84. Seventy-Seven
  85. Seventy-Eight
  86. Seventy-Nine
  87. Eighty
  88. Eighty-One
  89. Eighty-Two
  90. Eighty-Three
  91. The Final Video
  92. Acknowledgments
  93. About the Author
  95. Back Cover

I’ve seen the beginning already. But this time I’m not impatient or irritated. The poor quality and the clichés don’t bother me. Instead, I think about the time it must have taken him to put the video together. The way he clearly selected the best photos of Chloe, of me, of the two of us together. The way his words—while occasionally predictable—also seem to be chosen with care and spoken in a thoughtful, sensitive manner.

Daniel’s voice speaks to me from the past, summoning a million memories. Playing tag in our backyard until it grew dark. Eating frozen pizza on nights I slept at his house. The time we went trick-or-treating dressed as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Tears fill my eyes. I wipe them away just as the voice-over stops.

I think that’s the end, but when my vision clears, I see that the video is still going. The images look rough. Maybe this is the part Daniel hadn’t worked on as much as the rest.

He promised something would blow my mind, but it isn’t here. It’s just random images of town, the road, the accident site, and the memorial.

But then the images end, and the screen goes dark.

This time, I really do think it’s over. I’m about to put the phone down when the progress bar at the bottom tells me there are still five minutes to go.

Is it five minutes of black?

Curious, I keep watching. The screen flickers, and an image returns. It takes a minute. The image is dark and kind of grainy. It’s a shot of the night sky. Blackness and stars. A light post.

Then the camera levels, showing rows and rows of cars. And then a building.

I straighten. It’s the parking lot behind the school. At night. There are lots of cars. Streamers and balloons cover the entrance to the gym, lifting and bobbing in the wind.

Homecoming. The night of the accident. The night Chloe disappeared.

My spine is rigid. My hand grips the phone so tight, my knuckles hurt.

The shot lingers on the gym doors for a few long seconds. The counter on the bottom continues to turn. Is this it? Is anything else going to happen?

But then the doors are thrown open and it’s Chloe who emerges.

Forty

Her dress is light blue. Sleeveless.

Exactly as I remember it.

Her hair is pulled back. Two intentionally loose strands frame her face. The blue corsage is still on her wrist. It’s there when she brushes her hair out of her eyes. She walks briskly away from the door and stops after fifteen feet.

She crosses her arms. She looks unhappy. Beautiful, but unhappy.