Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Another big mistake? Leaving Peter all alone here and only coming back for his funeral.
I stare at the silhouette of a cat tattooed on my wrist. It’s always felt like my connection to Peter, my link to my home.
But now it doesn’t only remind me of Peter. It reminds me of the mistake I made one night five years ago when I got my first tattoo and had my first one-night-stand.
Like any teenager, I wanted to rebel and do reckless things. Some reckless things that teenagers do are permanent, but I made the mistake of doing two reckless permanent things at once: I got inked, and I unknowingly set things in motion that have somehow led me here.
I wonder what Peter would do if he were here and he knew what’s going on.
Would he have told me to stay away from Luca? Would he and Luca have gotten into a fight over this?
If only Peter were here, I’d have someone on my side.
Even though I’d spent a few years in the city after my graduation, I knew I wanted to come back here one day. Because Peter was here, Ashbourne was the one place in the world that felt like home to me.
But now that I’m here, ironically, it feels like a hostile alien world.
Luca
Where’s Sarah?
I called her cell phone, but she didn’t pick up. I called the clinic, but Brian told me Sarah had already left.
I was supposed to close up shop an hour ago, but I can’t lock up now. What if she shows up?
I thought we’d be having dinner by now. Instead, I’ve been waiting here, playing on my phone while my nerves frazzle me. The good restaurants are closing soon.
But it doesn’t matter. I’m having this talk with her as soon as I see her, and I don’t care if we can do it in a nice place.
I’ve been waiting since this afternoon to have this talk with her. It’s been torture. I don’t think I can stand waiting until tomorrow night to have the talk over a nice dinner.
I turn off the lights. Maybe Sarah changed her mind about the piercing and went home to my place.
It still doesn’t explain why her phone’s off, though. If she’s home, it’s unlikely that she’d let her battery run out.
But I can’t wait here any longer.
If she’s not home, I’ll comb through all the streets in Ashbourne to find her.
Adrenaline pumps into my bloodstream, sending my heart racing.
I’m pretty sure she’s okay—she hasn’t been involved in an accident or something—because otherwise, I would’ve heard some news from the sheriff. At this point, the whole nosey town knows she’s been living with me, after all.
Still, I can’t help but feel uneasy.
Something’s off. And I don’t know what it is.
This is the last place I can think of.
If she’s not here, I’m going to call the cops and file a missing person report.
My heart hammers as my car turns onto the dirt road. My headlights cast two distinct rays of artificial light into the thick, syrupy darkness. Insects sing their ancient songs, giving the air an eerie feel.
I squint at the edge of the cliff. A black figure sits there.
That honey-brown hair. Those delicate shoulders. Could it be her?
She must’ve heard the hum of my engine because she turns around and stares straight at me. She squints.
I turn off my headlights and park my car beside her brother’s piece-of-junk sedan.
Of course she’d be here.
This explains why her phone’s been off. She must need some time alone, probably to think about Peter.
I don’t know what’s brought on this act of self-reflection, but this is a good thing, right?
As I step out of the car, my eyes gradually grows accustomed to the darkness.
Sarah scoots backward and pulls her feet up.
“Where are you going?” I ask as I approach her. My shoes crush the little rocks on the ground, making them crash against one another.
“What are you doing here?” she asks me back. She doesn’t sound upset. In fact, the lack of emotions in her voice worries me.
“I was looking for you everywhere. You said you were going to meet me back at the tattoo parlor, remember?”
I only have the moonlight to see by. The town of Ashbourne is miles away, and its lights are just little yellow and white dots in the distance.
Sarah gets up to her feet and pats the dirt off her clothes. “Oh. Right. I forgot,” she says flatly. As I get closer, I can make out her facial expression, but I still don’t see any clues as to how she’s feeling.
“Are you okay?” I put one hand on Sarah’s shoulder.
“Yeah. I wasn’t about to jump off, if that’s what you were worried about.” She stares at the town in the distance, her eyes serene but blank—so different from how they are usually.