Chapters (61)
- Cover
- Praise
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- From the Journal of Candace Swain
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Letter Found in the Journal of Candace Swain
- Forty-Eight
- Acknowledgments
- Booklist
- Excerpt
I wish I could have escaped, but I couldn’t leave Chrissy there, alone, to deal with the mess of our parents’ lives.
Chrissy called me early, saying she wanted to be picked up now, that her friends were doing drugs, and she didn’t want any part of that and they were calling her a party pooper and a baby. I said, “I’ll try.” I didn’t want to cut my date short just because Chrissy couldn’t wait.
My sister said, “Do, or do not, Candace.”
She only called me Candace when she was really mad at me.
I did pick her up, asking my boyfriend to come with me. He was actually pretty cool about it. Chrissy was crying, and though she never told me what really happened at the party, it had to be worse than her friends getting high.
I’ve thought a lot about that quote, especially over the last three years. Three years of wanting to do the right thing...then doubting I even knew what the right thing was. I had to make a stand. I had to do, not just try.
Even if by doing meant I would be sacrificing everything I have worked for, everything I have achieved. Because as time passes, I wake up feeling less human, less real...just less.
Thirteen
Three Years Ago
Sunday night, April 12
Candace sat in her car in the middle of the parking lot, crying.
Pathetic, but she couldn’t stop.
No one would help her.
She didn’t blame Alexa. She had so much to deal with right now, Candace didn’t blame her for not coming back and helping her convince Taylor to do the right thing. But she’d hoped. She’d really, really hoped they could present a united front and Taylor would change her mind.
The entire day she’d just driven around, trying to figure out what to do, and she came back to campus planning to forget everything. Just finish college and graduate and leave all these people. They weren’t her friends, they weren’t her sisters, not like she thought.
She was just one person, how could she do this all alone?
Maybe Taylor was right. That if they came forward with the truth, it wouldn’t matter in the long run, and they would destroy their future for no real reason. Because what would change if they said anything?
She pounded the steering wheel. She didn’t know what to do!
She pulled out her phone and considered calling Chrissy. Tell her everything, ask her advice. But Chrissy was preparing for a major swim competition at the end of the week. How could she put this burden on her?
No, this was Candace’s burden to bear.
And she didn’t want to disappoint her sister.