738 Days: A Novel Read Online Free

738 Days: A Novel
Book: 738 Days: A Novel Read Online Free
Author: Stacey Kade
Pages:
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leaves littering the sidewalk. “Did you know that?”
    The shock of her announcement jerks me out of my impending panic attack, dumping me firmly into the present. “No,” I manage.
    “Just a party at Sammy’s, no big deal.” She shrugs.
    “Sammy who?” It clicks an instant after I ask. “Sammy Lareau?”
    She gives me an odd look. “Yeah, Jude’s brother.”
    “But Sammy’s my age,” I say. What I don’t say: Why is he holding parties that high school girls attend? “What’s he still doing here?”
    “Throwing good parties?” She makes an impatient noise. “Who cares? The point is, Dad caught me coming back in. He’s sleeping on the family room couch most nights, I guess, if you didn’t know.” She shoots an accusing glance at me.
    Stung, I pause for a step. No, I didn’t know that, but that’s because someone would have to actually talk to me for that to happen. And my dad, much like Liza, doesn’t seem to know what to say to me or even how to be in the same room with me for more than a few minutes.
    “He woke Mom up. And when they both finished yelling at me for being ‘irresponsible and foolish,’ do you know the first thing Mom said to me?” Mia doesn’t wait for me to try to guess. “‘What if Amanda had woken up and found you gone?’” She gives a bitter laugh. “It’s like, ‘Do whatever you want, Mia, as long as it doesn’t affect Amanda.’ But everything affects you.”
    The pure venom in her words burns like acid. This from my sister. The one who once followed me around everywhere, begging to be included in whatever I was doing because Liza was ignoring her, or pleading with me to play Don’t Break the Ice because Liza had declared it to be babyish.
    Like I want it to be this way? I want to shout. Like I would ever choose to be afraid forever? I set my teeth against the urge to grab Mia by the shoulders and shake her.
    “It’s not fair, you know?” she continues. “And I can’t even get angry about it without looking like a shitty person. I mean, who gets mad at the girl who was … gone for two years?”
    Gone. That’s the polite euphemism everyone seems to prefer. Like I was on vacation or at sleep-away camp or something.
    A fresh burst of frustration blooms in my chest, at Mia, my malfunctioning brain, and Jonathon Jakes for continuing to mess up my life even two years after his death.
    But I keep my mouth shut. Because Mia’s right. It’s not fair. And if her yelling at me makes her look like a shitty person, then my being angry at the quality (or lack thereof) of my life “after” makes me look like an ungrateful one. I mean, I’m the “Miracle Girl,” according to the newspapers; I survived. The two girls they dug up from Jakes’s backyard were not so lucky.
    So I understand a little better than Mia gives me credit for. Not that I can say that. Not that I can say anything to make it better. We are all just … stuck.
    Right as we pass the car, it revs up and pulls away from the curb.
    I stop, every muscle in my body screaming with tension, my hands and feet tingling, and spots flashing in my vision.
    But the vehicle moves past us without hesitation.
    After a moment, Mia turns around, realizing that I’m no longer with her. When she sees me, her expression softens with pity, which I hate almost as much as, well, her hatred.
    “Just because something bad happened once before doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again, Amma,” she says, taking my arm and tugging me forward gently. She sounds weary and world-wise, older than sixteen. “Past performance is no guarantee of future events, right?” She waves her free hand in a breezy gesture.
    I wonder if she knows she’s quoting a stock fund commercial instead of some sage philosopher. That is very Mia. She’s the ultimate mimic with little care for her source material.
    But I just nod and take a breath, trying to force my lungs to accept oxygen by sheer force of will. That’s easier than trying to
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