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Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. Thirty
  38. Thirty-One
  39. Thirty-Two
  40. Thirty-Three
  41. Thirty-Four
  42. From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. Thirty-Six
  45. Thirty-Seven
  46. Thirty-Eight
  47. From the Journal of Candace Swain
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Letter Found in the Journal of Candace Swain
  58. Forty-Eight
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Booklist
  61. 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.