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Back When the Light Went Out Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. July 11
  8. 2
  9. July 11
  10. 3
  11. July 11
  12. 4
  13. July 11
  14. 5
  15. July 11
  16. 6
  17. July 11
  18. 7
  19. Part Two
  20. 8
  21. July 11
  22. 9
  23. July 11
  24. 10
  25. July 11
  26. 11
  27. July 11
  28. 12
  29. July 11
  30. 13
  31. July 11
  32. 14
  33. July 11
  34. 15
  35. Part Three
  36. 16
  37. 17
  38. 18
  39. 19
  40. 20
  41. 21
  42. Acknowledgments
  43. Excerpt from What You Left Me
  44. About the Author
  46. Back Cover

Did you feel weird doing that? What did you say? I bet you went, “C’mon,” and you shrugged a little. But you smiled that beautiful smile, because you’re a beautiful person. That’s right. I called you beautiful. Now you’re really blushing, aren’t you?

Having you around is the greatest gift. You are kind and patient. You never get too upset. Just the right amount. An amount that makes people listen to you and respect what you have to say. I used to do annoying things to see how long you’d let me get away with it. It always went so far that it wasn’t even fun for me anymore, because you never broke.

What was wrong with me? Why was that fun in the first place? And why did I want you to break anyway? I’m sorry. I hate that this is a world that wants to snap people in half and hide the pieces. I hate that I’m a part of that.

Say it out loud.

“I, Xander Bigs Campbell III, will not let the world take away what is so special about me, no matter how the world may try.”

Are you doing any of this? Or are you reading this and rolling your eyes? Maybe this is the one true time in your life you’ve been annoyed. Have I done it? Leave it to me. I never know when to let something be.

It’s because I love you so much. Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but you’ve always been the one everyone loves the biggest. Bigs the biggest. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Your gentle heart grounds us. We lean on you when we’re not strong enough to hold ourselves up. What I don’t think you know, or you’re afraid to see, is that you can lean back.

Together, we can hold you too.

Take a chance and let us try. Share something no one knows but you.

Love always,

Marley

July 11

Five Years Prior

Marley’s last words became a nursery rhyme that played against the tune of sirens in the distance. Pull the trigger. Nothing’s gonna happen. Over and over the songs battled as the sirens grew closer. Sirens meant police. Police meant questions. Questions meant answers. Answers were Nick’s to give.

The Brickets’ screen door had a slab of concrete in front of it with a path that led to the pool and a path that led to a barn-style toolshed. The shed was an excellent hide-and-seek spot if you weren’t worried about spiders, but Marley had declared it off limits the summer before with zero explanation. Like good soldiers, we didn’t question our leader.

Nick’s bloody footprints went toward the shed’s entrance. I followed until I met the heavy rusted doors, and I tugged with all my might. Hard ground bruised my bottom as the left door awoke.