Abandon - Meg Cabot [31]
And that was that his weren’t the soft, smooth hands of other people our age, most of whom had known no other labor than texting or moving a video game stick.
John’s were hands that had seen work — real, arduous work. The hands of a fighter.
But not just a fighter, I realized, as they gripped me. His were hands that had killed.
A part of me must have known this all along. But it hadn’t really sunk in until tonight.
And by then, of course, it was far, far too late.
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
DANTE ALIGHIERI, Inferno, Canto I
When I got home, Mom said, “Oh, hi, honey. I’m glad you made it back before the storm. It looks like it’s about to pour any minute. Did you have a nice ride?”
“Yeah,” I said. I turned around and locked the door. I used the dead bolt and the lock inside the doorknob.
Then I hit the STAY button on the alarm and entered our code. Our code is our initials, plus the years Mom’s alma mater won the NCAA championship. Mom’s handling the disappointment that I probably won’t be getting into any four-year colleges, let alone the one where she and Dad met, pretty well.
“Uh, honey,” Mom said, a funny look on her face. “What are you doing?”
“Safety,” I said. My heart was still ricocheting off the walls of my chest. As soon as I’d gotten back onto my bike, I’d ridden flat out for home. I hadn’t even stopped outside to lock up my bike or turn off its lights, I realized now as I lifted the curtain in one of the foyer windows to peek outside to see if he’d followed me. “Safety first.”
“Well, honey,” Mom said, pressing the off button on the alarm, then putting the code back in. “Some of our guests are still here. So how about we wait to put the alarm on until after they leave? Okay?”
I nodded, still peering out the foyer window. I was not going back out there to turn off my bike lights. They could blink on and off all night, for all I cared. I’d just buy new lights if they burned out. It would be worth it. If the bike got stolen, so what? I’d just make Dad buy me a new one. This whole thing was his fault, anyway. That’s what Mom thinks.
I was never going back outside again.
Not so long as he was out there.
“Honey?” Mom asked. “Are you all right?”
“Sure, Mom,” I said, letting the curtain drop. “I’m great. Having a nice time at your party?”
“It’s your party, honey,” she said, smiling. “And I’m having a great time. It’s so good to see everyone again. I think even your uncle Chris enjoyed himself—”
“Great, Mom,” I interrupted. “Look, I’m really tired. I’m going to go to bed.” I was going to pull the covers up over my head and never come out.
“Oh,” Mom said, looking disappointed. “Don’t you want to say good night to everyone? Your uncle Chris waited especially to see you before he and Grandma and Alex head for home. And I think Alex wants to make sure you don’t have any more questions about starting school tomorrow. I thought that was awfully sweet of him.”
Just the reminder that school was starting tomorrow made me want to bite off all my fingernails. But Mom had taken me for a special back-to-school mani-pedi yesterday, so I knew I had to keep them out of my mouth.
“You know what,” I said. “I’m really beat. Must be all the lastminute excitement with the party. Just tell Alex thanks, but I’ll see him tomorrow morning when he comes to pick me up for school. Good night, Mom.”
I rushed up the stairs before she could say anything more.
He’d destroyed the gates to the cemetery.
He’d crushed the lock with a single vicious kick from one of those heavy black boots. Then, when the gates crashed violently open, he’d pushed me through them.
“Get out,” he’d warned in his devil-deep voice. “Do you hear me, Pierce? Get out and don’t ever come back. It’s not safe for you here. Not unless you really do want to end up dead. Forever this time.”
A huge