Days Like This Read Online Free Page A

from the woods.
    Fuck.
    “Mrs. H!” I
yelled, and took off in a sprint toward Cassie’s house. I raced over there. It
felt like I wasn’t moving at all, like I was running through water. I jumped
over the half-broken fence between our backyards, and rounded toward the
backdoor of her house. I could see the flames and the smoke thick in the air.
    The door was
locked so I pounded on it, calling her name. I made out the top of her head
from where she was curled up in a ball on the couch. I grabbed a rock from the
ground and smashed in the window on the door. Glass crackled against the tile
floor, and I yelled her name as I crossed into the house. Smoke stung my eyes,
a grey haze that draped over everything.
    Mrs. H was
sitting on the couch, and she was bawling. “It’s so small in here. Too small.”
    Shit. The whole wall where she wanted the
window was engulfed in flames. We had to get the fuck out.
    “I know. Let’s
go outside where it’s not small,” I said.
    I tried to get
her up, but Mrs. H fought against me. Her arms thrashed in the air and I wasn’t
sure what the hell I was supposed to do. She wouldn’t stand up. She kept throwing
herself on the ground.
    “I want
Cassie! Where’s Cassie? It’s too small here, but it’s bigger now. Cassie!”
    I bent down
and titled her face up to mine. “Cassie isn’t here. She’s at my house, Mrs. H.”
    Her eyes widened
like I was Santa. “Your house?”
     “Come on, you
can see her.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but I knew I was really yelling. I
had to get us out of there. Lying seemed like the only option. I’d seen her
before like this, and it’s what Cass always did. Lied to her.
    Mrs. H started
to stand, so I swooped her up and carried her out of the house. We collapsed in
the backyard.
    I dialed 911,
out of breath and tired, and beside me Mrs. H was still crying. I didn’t know
what to do to calm her down. So again I did what Cassie would have done and
started humming while we waited. Mrs. H was still crying on the ground, legs to
her chest, so I sat down beside her and watched the smoke trail up from the
house.
    “Sometimes,” I
whispered, trying to sing. Singing wasn’t my thing, but I sang “ Angel” the best I could. I knew the words as if
it was my favorite song, but I hated that song. I would hate it forever.
    Mrs. H rested
her hand on my arm. “Where’s Cassie?”
    I didn’t
answer. It was hard to believe that this happened and Cassie was nowhere
around. Did I miss the signs? I knew them. I learned them four years ago when
Mrs. H was diagnosed as bipolar.
    I’d realized something
was wrong when I was twelve, and I’d found them in the snowstorm, but I’d kept
it a secret. I’d been there when Cassie put Mrs. H to bed, or ran guys out of
their house, or cried herself to sleep, or disappeared for days. Cassie didn’t
talk about it much, even to me, and I’d never pressed her. She was the type who closed up tighter
and recoiled if I ’d tried to force her into something.
Instead, I’d been there for her. I’d signed that emergency contact form when I
turned eighteen because they wouldn’t let Cassie sign it yet. I did anything I
could for her, and yet...
    “Where’s my
Cassie?”
    She left.
    The sirens blared around us, and
firefighters worked to put out the flames. A medic wrapped a blanket around
Mrs. H. “Where’s Cassie?” Mrs. H asked again. I didn’t want to hear her name. Not
when it was the one that started all of this. Not when it was her who should’ve
been here instead of me. And especially
not when that fire meant I had to fucking call her after all this time.

5.
Cassie
    JUNE PLOPPED DOWN next to me and
sighed dramatically. I didn’t give her attention because that would mean the
end of studying. The first time we met she’d made the exact same entrance, told
me to smile, said I looked boy-sick, and then called me badass for being named
after a rock legend when I told her my name.
    “I’m June.
Country