“Two minutes, Clover. I’m just serving now,” she replied.
Ignoring him as best I could without making it obvious, I helped Rose and Poppy serve dinner. When I sat down, he stared at me. I sank down in the seat and pushed my food around the plate. I felt uncomfortable. Everyone had finished eating before I had even had half, but I couldn’t force anything else down.
“Are you not hungry, Lily?” Poppy asked.
“Not really. I’m a little tired actually.” I wasn’t tired, not physically anyway. I wanted to be anywhere but in his company. Whenever I looked at him, I saw him stabbing Jennifer.
“Let’s watch the movie now, and we can all relax,” Rose said as she quickly tidied up. If there were a world record for cleaning, Rose would easily hold it. Was that what three years here did to you?
Poppy poured the popcorn into a large plastic bowl and we all crammed on the sofa. It was large enough to fit four people, but because I wanted to be as far away from him as possible, I pressed my side into Poppy’s. He was sitting in between me and Rose—still too close to me. I held myself in such an awkward position my muscles started to ache.
I had watched The Notebook with Lewis. He complained through the whole thing. If there weren’t any cars, fights, or nudity, he really wasn’t that interested. I’d do anything to be back with him and listen to him whining about how boring it was.
Clover threw his arm over the back of the sofa and I cringed. My heart was racing and I couldn’t concentrate on the film anymore. About halfway through the film, his fingers brushed my hair so lightly I barely felt it. I seized up. No! Gulping, I looked down at my lap and closed my eyes, pretending I was anywhere but here. I tried to control my breathing—in for three seconds and out for three seconds—anything to take my mind off what was happening and calm my racing heart.
He stroked my hair until the film finished, and then he got up, said good night, and left. I rushed to the bedroom and dove under the cover. My skin felt like a million bugs were running all over it. I curled up and burst into tears, sobbing into the pillow and soaking it within seconds.
11
LEWIS
Saturday, July 31st (Present)
It had been seven days since Summer went missing, and I had barely slept at all. I took as little rest as I could survive on and spent the rest of the time searching. I looked awful and could see the worry on my family’s faces. Finding her seemed hopeless, but I wouldn’t ever stop. Although the search area had widened, there was still no trace.
Summer’s face was all over the local and national news every day, and people from all over had turned up to help look for her. I’d heard that the first few days were vital to find evidence of what had happened. I didn’t know what it meant for our chances that it had been a week. If there was something somewhere, fingerprints or DNA, then would it have washed away in the wind and rain? How long could it hang around? I desperately wanted to know, but I was too terrified to ask.
Someone must know something or have seen something. It was impossible to just vanish. Although we knew Summer must’ve been taken, there were no suspects, no real ones anyway. Time wasters had phoned in many times with their theories and suspicions, but none of them had led to anything.
I arrived back at Summer’s house, where I was meeting up with her family and mine for a quick, early dinner, and then I was going back out. Two days ago, I gave in and agreed to stop and go back to Summer’s house to eat, rather than grabbing something on the run. I felt guilty every time I stopped. What if I missed something because I turned back?
“Lewis,” Mum said, giving me a hug as I walked through the door. I hated being around them all. Not because I didn’t love them but because they seemed to cope better. They slept and ate, and I could barely breathe. “Honey, you need to sleep more.” She frowned, looking over the dark circles under my eyes. I looked like shit, but who wouldn’t in my situation?