Going Dark Read Online Free

Walmart. They were nothing fancy, but she didn’t have a lot of money, and I didn’t complain.
    â€œDid you have to buy a new uniform?” I asked, looking at the Luxor Hotel RealityFlux logo on her shirt.
    â€œUgh, yes,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Can you believe this awful shirt costs thirty-five dollars? And do you think they cared that my house had burned down, and it wasn’t my fault that my other shirts went up in flames? Not a bit.”
    Guilt raged inside me, but I tamped it down. I didn’t know what to say. “You should find a new job.”
    â€œIt’s not that bad. It’s air-conditioned, and the pay is decent—better than I could get as a waitress—and I’m not really qualified for anything else. I get to watch the magic show every night—I’m six months into the job and still haven’t figured out how he does anything.”
    â€œIt’s magic,” I said with a nervous smile.
    â€œYeah, right,” she said, leaning back in the rocking chair in the guest room. “Your face doesn’t look as awful.”
    â€œOh, thanks so much,” I groaned.
    She giggled. “I mean it. In this light, it just looks like you have dark circles under your eyes, like you haven’t slept well.”
    â€œIn this light,” I said. “I don’t think the fluorescent bulbs at school will be as flattering. Plus I have this stupid brace taped to my nose. I’m going to be the hottest girl in high school.”
    â€œHigh school isn’t all people make it out to be.”
    I sighed and flopped back onto the bed. “I love how people who aren’t in high school always brush it off like it’s no big deal.”
    â€œIt just seems like it while you’re there.”
    â€œOh, you’re so wise, Celia,” I mocked. “Share more of your wisdom.”
    She laughed and threw a pillow at me.
    I had the sudden sensation I’d had at the rock, a brief flash of that something inside me that wanted to get out.
    â€œCan I ask you something?” My stomach was churning with nervous energy.
    â€œWhat?” she asked, pulling a shirt from the Walmart bag and holding it up.
    All this time I’d been waiting to tell her, but no. I couldn’t. It was too stupid—too crazy—to explain. Crazy Krezi—that’s what Celia used to call me. It had been a joke for years, but I started to wonder if it was true. Was the fire inspector right? Was the fire in my hand all a figment of my imagination? Was the broken boulder just a hallucination from a high fever and a concussion?
    â€œWhat is it?” Celia asked, folding the shirt and setting it on the bed.
    â€œCan you do me a favor?” I asked, and dug in my pocket. “Can you get me a new thermometer when you go to the store? Mama doesn’t trust this one.”
    She smiled. “Already trying to fake sick to get out of school?”
    â€œWhatever. Can you do it? I swear, my fever has been through the roof.”
    Celia stood and put her hand on my forehead and then my cheek. “You feel hot to me. Maybe you shouldn’t have walked all the way to the house when you’re sick.”
    â€œI’ll be more careful.”

FIVE
    TWO DAYS LATER I MOVED back in with my family.
    We had an apartment now. Just a little place, with hardly any furniture, but at least the family was together again.
    â€œFinish your cereal,” Mama told me as I was rushing through my meal. “You’re still healing.”
    I didn’t know what Froot Loops were going to do to help my broken nose, or the never-ending bruises under my eyes, but I tried to eat anyway.
    I must have lost at least five pounds since the car accident. I didn’t know if it was the concussion or the fever, but I always felt like I was on the verge of throwing up. Of course, all of me felt like something wasn’t right—it wasn’t just my stomach.
    Mama