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Silent as the Grave

Zoe Aarsen
Contents (23)
  1. CHAPTER 1
  2. CHAPTER 2
  3. CHAPTER 3
  4. CHAPTER 4
  5. CHAPTER 5
  6. CHAPTER 6
  7. CHAPTER 7
  8. CHAPTER 8
  9. CHAPTER 9
  10. CHAPTER 10
  11. CHAPTER 11
  12. CHAPTER 12
  13. CHAPTER 13
  14. CHAPTER 14
  15. CHAPTER 15
  16. CHAPTER 16
  17. CHAPTER 17
  18. CHAPTER 18
  19. CHAPTER 19
  20. CHAPTER 20
  21. 10 YEARS LATER
  22. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  23. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cover: Silent as the Grave, by Zoe Aarsen

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Silent as the Grave by Zoe Aarsen, Simon Pulse

FOR DEBORAH WOLF

CHAPTER 1

IT WAS HOT IN TAMPA, even in April.

No one else seemed to notice the heat, but every morning when I put on shorts and a T-shirt for school, it struck me as odd. If I were at home in Willow, I’d still be wearing sweaters at that time of year. Possibly even a winter coat. Whenever my thoughts drifted toward life back in Wisconsin, my throat grew tight, and I had to blink away tears. Being a new student with no friends in an unfamiliar town wasn’t at all how I’d imagined my junior year of high school back in September. Although I did my best to hide my disappointment about my circumstances, I walked around Florida feeling like an anvil in my chest was weighing me down.

So it was better for everyone—mostly me—not to think about things happening outside of the neighborhood where I’d been sent to live with my dad and his wife. And it was definitely for the best that I not allow myself to get caught up in imaginary scenarios about what might be unfolding in my hometown. There wasn’t much I could do about it, and the little I could do, I’d already done.

Aside from my constant discomfort from the unrelenting humidity, I’d become accustomed enough to my routine in Florida that sometimes—just for a minute or two—I’d forget everything that had led me there. I’d be focused on trying to determine the value of a cosine, or join in on a discussion in my Federal Government class and forget all about Olivia Richmond’s birthday party back in September. The game, Violet, all of the death—everything would drop from my thoughts as if it had never happened.

But then, with a jolt, it would come back to me. A familiar sensation of dread would rush in, and my heart would ache at the thought of how much I’d left behind. My mom. Our little house on Martha Road. The friends I’d known since I was born. Trey… When I thought about how much time had passed since I’d last seen him, and how much more would pass before I’d see him again, it felt like a knife slicing through my heart. My daily existence was like having a nightmare about knowing I was supposed to be somewhere else, doing urgent other things, except I was awake.