Diary of the Gone Read Free Page B

wider grin at me, her
eyes screaming, “Gotcha!”
    “ You should knock before
you enter. D’you know it’s polite?” I glared at her.
    “ Oh, I just wanted to make
sure you’re not dead.” Bev’s lips curved down, as if she was
annoyed to find me still breathing. “You know Mom’s been calling
you?”
    “ Yeah, I’m not deaf, thank
you. Will you leave me alone now?”
    She lifted her neatly plucked
eyebrows, giving me her usual you’re-totally-mental look, then
turned on her heel and left, her hair streaming in her
wake.
    To call us cat and dog would be such
an understatement. Not only were we different in appearance—I had
blue eyes and fair hair while she had Mom’s dark-brown eyes and
black hair—but we also could hardly bear each other’s presence for
five minutes.
    Back in Phoenix I’d had a hard time
tormented by Shadows at least once a week. Bev didn’t try to make
me feel better. With each year my ‘nightmares’ got worse, and
doctors suggested that we move to a less stressful environment.
That was the time I’d found the old diary. Whereas it helped me not
to see Shadows for some time, Bev did her best to make my existence
a living hell.
    Well, I was the reason she had to be
away from her friends. Unlike her, I didn’t have any, so I was all
for moving from Phoenix, no longer paying attention to her sulking
and sending silent curses my way whenever she saw me.
    Putting my diary into the bag, I went
downstairs and took my usual seat, opposite Bev. “What’s for
breakfast, Mom?” I asked, ignoring my sister’s scathing
look.
    “ Bacon and eggs,
sweetheart.” Mom was fussing in the kitchen while we were sitting
in the adjacent room. The divine smell of bacon reached my
nostrils, and I took a long breath.
    “ Any plans for today?” Bev
asked me.
    “ Since when do you care?”
I said as Mom entered with two steaming platefuls that she put in
front of us.
    “ Thank you,” Bev and I
chanted in unison.
    After Mom left the
room, Bev said, “I just want to make sure you’re not going to use
my make-up … again .” She tilted her head and drummed on the table with her long
well-manicured nails.
    “ You’ll never let it go,
will you? An’one’s ’llowed one m’ssake,” I said,
chewing.
    “ One mistake? What about my shampoos
and lotions?” she nearly screeched but kept her voice low for Mom
not to hear.
    All right, I always wanted to know
what it felt like to be a girl. Curiosity got the better of me. Now
I knew it was no good: no good could come from borrowing my
sister’s make-up and using her lipstick when she came in and found
it smeared all over my face.
    “ You know, I’m not even
sure if I should use my bath sponges anymore,” she said. “Have you
tested those too?”
    I nearly choked on the bacon and had
to gulp it without chewing. “You’ve got to be kidding
me.”
    “ Hmm, let me think. Have I
ever even seen you with a girl?” She hit me below the
belt.
    “ Nope. That’s ’cause
you’re hanging out with that jerkface Terry Haubert all the time!”
I knew her weak spot and it was high time to sting her.
    “ No, I’m not!” she hissed.
“And if you ever call him jerkface again …” Her eyes narrowed and
glinted with hatred.
    “ Then what? What will you
do?”
    She leaned in to me. “I’ll tell Mom
you go outside at night,” she said very quietly, venom seeping
through her voice.
    She got up, went to the kitchen and
returned with a plate of pancakes. She didn’t sit down at the
table, but went upstairs instead.
    “ Leaving already?” I
chanted.
    Bev answered by banging the door real
hard. I did get under her skin this time.
    My good mood was tainted when I
spotted today’s paper on the kitchen counter.
    I came to take it, then leafed through
and found what I thought I would find. The picture of the missing
boy. Greg Thornby.
    It was the same boy that I’d seen in
the Shadow.
     
    *
     
    Though I hated school, I knew I’d
better go today,