Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 163387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 654(@250wpm)___ 545(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 654(@250wpm)___ 545(@300wpm)
Mom was next on my list, but by the time I got off the phone with her, I was starting to doubt my own mind. Cody was no help since he seemed not in the least bit affected as he laughed and joked around with our friends in the dining hall at lunch, and no one seemed to care one way or another.
Even the sisters were unaffected, including her so-called friends. The way everyone spoke, it was as if they were glad to be rid of her, which I kinda felt bad about now that she was gone. I’d wanted her out of my life, but not like this. I figured after her time in prison, I wouldn’t have to see or deal with her ever again, and now all I can think about is what a waste she’d made with all that she’d had.
I didn’t see Jeff in any of the classes we usually share, which only made my suspicions grow, but I had nothing to go on but my own suspicious mind where my family was concerned. It was the fact that Jess and Alexis seemed so unaffected that led me to think I was on the wrong track. Surely, they’d have given something away with their actions if they had anything to do with it or knew anything about Susie’s apparent suicide.
By evening when everyone gathered at the apartment once again, I, too, had given up looking for shadows around every corner. My family can be a bit much, but it was almost disrespectful of me to suspect them of such a thing as murder. “What are you thinking about so hard, baby?” Cody dropped down beside me on the couch, where I was watching the antics of the others as they played video games.
“Nothing now, but you don’t want to know what I’ve been thinking all day.”
“Try me!” Oh no, I don’t want to scare you into leaving me because I’m sure just my suspicions alone are enough to send a sane person running hard in the opposite direction.
“I didn’t see Jeff in class today.”
“Who cares? I hope he fell in a ditch somewhere and drowned.” I’m not sure why but his nonchalance helped to put me more at ease, and I made up my mind to stop worrying about either of them and just move on with my life.
If Cody seemed a bit more distracted than usual himself, I put that down to the fact that he’d be meeting with scouts in the coming weeks, which had my mind going off on another tangent. It won’t be long now before he goes off to the pros leaving me here to finish school. Bummer!
EPILOGUE
LISA
Four months later
“Again? Are you sure you shouldn’t get that checked out? It can’t be the draft because that’s over with, and you got the team you wanted, so why do you keep getting sick every morning?” I stood over Cody in our bathroom with a wet towel waiting for him to stand after throwing up for the third time this week.
“I think it’s something I ate.”
“I don’t think so, not this long. I’m calling the doctor.”
“Go ahead, but I have to get a complete physical in a couple of weeks anyway. Besides, it doesn’t last long; once I throw up, I feel fine.” I looked at him skeptically, but he’s right. Each time he does this, he seems fine minutes later.
Still, I was worried. When it first started happening, I thought it was just nerves, but he’d already been through the draft not long ago and was still getting sick to the point that even certain scents could send him running to the bathroom to throw up and his appetite seemed a bit off lately as well.
Meanwhile, I was having the opposite problem, eating everything that wasn’t nailed down sometimes at all hours of the night. Though I know what my problem stems from. It’s my first real bout of freedom and like any caged bird, once released, I’ve spread my wings in all directions, it looks like.
It started one day in the dining hall when the scent of fried chicken smelled like the best thing I’d ever smelt in my life. When Cody saw me eyeing the breast on Steve’s plate, he’d stolen it for me with a questioning look as he put it on my plate. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but that looks really good.”
I was afraid to touch it since I hadn’t eaten meat since I saw a documentary at seven that showed the poor treatment of animals on commercial farms, but that day I dug into that thing like my life depended on it and had at least one every day since.
When it wasn’t the chicken, it was burgers and anything on four legs. It got so bad the guys started teasing me about my vegan days until Cody threatened to pound them into dust. He was only too happy that we could now eat at his favorite Italian place, so he didn’t question me too much about my newfound love for meat.