Lost on Brier Island Read Online Free Page B

her.”
    â€œWho? Rachel?”
    â€œI don’t like her.”
    Aunt Sophie sat on the edge of the couch. “She’s a nice girl. And she’s close to your age. I was hoping you two would hit it off.”
    â€œOh yeah, best friends.”
    â€œYou can’t spend all your time alone, Alex. It’s not good for you.”
    Alex scowled.
    â€œBottling up your emotions isn’t good either,” Aunt Sophie continued. “It’s eating you up.”
    â€œYou don’t know how I feel.”
    â€œAlex, I was there…before Adam died. When you weren’t at the hospital, you were locked away in his bedroom. You didn’t talk to anyone for days at a time. Colleen told me that you were even worse after the funeral. That’s why your parents wanted you to come here—to get away from that. They were worried.”
    â€œSure they were!” Alex could feel her head starting to throb.
    â€œI’m not your enemy, Alex. I’m trying to help you.”
    â€œIt doesn’t seem like it. You sound just like my parents.” Alex sprang to her feet and began pacing as her aunt had done. “They think it was my fault!”
    Aunt Sophie’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not true!”
    â€œIt is true. You weren’t there. You didn’t see the way they looked at me.” Alex could hear her voice shaking. “That’s why they got rid of me.”
    â€œGot rid of you? You’re wrong. There are other things going on, things you don’t understand. Your mom and dad—”
    â€œStop it!” Alex choked. She couldn’t take it anymore. “You promised you wouldn’t talk about it.”
    â€œOkay, I’m sorry. You’re right, I did promise.”
    â€œI’m going to my room.” How normal she sounded. It didn’t match at all the voice screaming inside her head.
    â€œWait, I’ll make some dinner.”
    â€œNo thanks.”
    â€œAlex…”
    â€œJust leave me alone!” Alex ran up the stairs and slammed her door. She flopped on the bed and jammed on her headphones. Music blared from her MP3 player as she lay back on one of the pillows. She clutched the other pillow in her arms and held it tightly to her chest. Her heart jackhammered against her ribs.
    Alex felt like a hamster that had been running on a wheel for months without stopping. She was so tired. Her body ached all over—even her eye sockets felt bruised. The music was calming. She listened to her whole playlist, two hours’ worth, lying perfectly still.
    By the end of the last tune, she had memorized every detail of the ceiling, including the brown water stain in the far corner, the sliver of mismatched blue paint around the edge of the light fixture, and the thin gossamer strand of a spider web clinging to an old brass hook screwed into the plaster. It swayed gently on the faint breeze drifting in from the open window.
    Reaching under the pillow behind her head, Alex pulled out the photograph she kept tucked away. It was a picture of her and Adam at their eleventh birthday party three years ago. Alex let her mind drift back. The cake had been the best one ever. Her mom had decorated half of it green and blue with a skateboarder and the other half purple with a figure skater.
    A figure skater, which didn’t mean Alex was one. Not like Adam, who loved to skateboard. Not that he was allowed to have one back then. But he’d always wanted one, finally getting his wish at thirteen. Alex liked to watch figure skating on television and go see the skating shows at the Metro Centre. That was her—the watcher.
    She ran her fingertip gently over Adam’s laughing face. “I miss you,” she whispered.
    Alex rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. Her last thought was of Daredevil as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Eight
    â€œ Good morning, sweetie.” Eva’s eyes twinkled at her from behind the