10
DECEM
Finn
You’reAMiserableMiseraleMiserableExcuse, the voices hiss and I clench my teeth and draw around them, drawing faces and then scratching them out every time a voice says something. Before long, the page is covered in scribble.
Calla’s gone and I don’t know where she is, and for the first time in weeks, I’m alone.
I don’t like it.
I don’t like it.
A motor roars through the yard and I go to the window, looking down. The new guy stands on the edge of the grass. Calla stares up at him, her hand so close to the guy’s chest.
GetAwayFromHer.
GetAway.
I watch, enthralled, horrified as my sister smiles.
It’s like she knows him. Like she belongs there, smiling with him.
I’m alone and she’s there.
It’s wrong.
It’s wrong.
I grit my teeth again, because it’s not wrong. My sister is an adult and she can do what she wishes and obviously it’s normal for her to smile at a guy.
But not him, the voices protest, so many of them that I can’t tell them apart. There’s something about him, something wrong, something he’s hiding.
He’s hiding.
YouCan’tTellHerSheWon’tBelieveYou. For the first time, I agree with them. Calla would never believe me if I voiced this reservation, because I don’t have any proof.
All I have is a feeling.
And we all know I’m crazy.