“No, of course not.” I lift my head high, my chin jutted out. “Not only will I go into the bedroom but to prove that I did I will also get something out of my mom’s jewelry box.”
“Ooooh, the stakes are high.” He rubs his hands together. “I’ll be waiting here for you.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long. I’ll be back in no time wearing my mom’s pearl necklace.” I smirk, confident as can be. Vance rolls his eyes at me, obviously not believing me, which only makes me want to prove him wrong more.
There’s a knot in my belly as I climb back down the wooden ladder, making my way through the yard and into the house I snuck out of a few minutes ago. My pulse rises and my breathing speeds up as I tiptoe up the stairs missing all the creaking spots. I don’t know why I’m so nervous about this. So what if my mom wakes up?
I could always tell her that I had a bad dream or something and even if she doesn’t believe me, what’s the worst thing that could happen? Focusing on my thoughts, I miss the last creaking spot at the top of the stairs, my foot pressing against the squeaky floorboard, the sound bouncing off the walls and down the hall. Freezing, I hold my breath, my ears perking up while my heart thuds so hard inside my chest, I worry it might explode.
The sound of whispering meets my ears a second later…
There are two voices, but the only one I can make out is my mother’s.
Why is she whispering? Who is she talking to? Vance’s mom is at the hospital for her nightshift as a nurse and his father’s room is downstairs, he shouldn’t be here.
For a moment, I consider turning back around and crawling into my bed, leaving Vance and his stupid dare alone for the night, but I can’t. I want to prove him wrong, that I’m not a chicken.
Tiptoeing down the hall, I get closer to my parents’ bedroom. The whispers get louder, and my eyes widen when I hear who my mother is talking to. The words I hear are ones I’ll never be able to forget. Ones that I’ll never be able to let go of.
This was the night that changed my life forever.
Chapter One
Ava
Picking at the pink polish on my nails, I wonder how I got to this point. How I managed to find my way back to North Woods after five long years of being gone. Five years, that’s how long I spent away from my childhood home town. A place I had grown up, a place that I missed more and more every single day that I was gone. It wasn’t the friends I had made or known my whole life, or even the house that I missed, it was the physicality, of knowing a place, of having grown up in it. I had nothing to fear in this town. It was my world.
After that night of Truth or Dare with Vance, my father kicked out Vance’s family, leaving them homeless. Then he took my mother and me and moved us across state lines. We just left, we didn’t even get to take all of our stuff. My parents sold the house not even a month later and I knew we would never come back. I’d cried, begged and pleaded with my father but it did me no good. We still moved, my whole life flipping completely upside down and all because of one secret. Gritting my teeth, I shove the memory away and into the darkest crevices of my mind.
My parents stayed married for two years after that, even though I think they knew they would have been better off getting a divorce. Those two years were ones that I didn’t really care to remember. Full of fighting, of anger and blame. Every day I saw their hate for one another grow. Then it finally happened, they got divorced and I stayed with my dad.
My mom moved away shortly after things ended, claiming she couldn’t find a job as a secretary where we were living and my dad of course was not willing to move, nor was I. High school was hard enough without having to move to a brand new school and I wasn’t about to pack up my life again and start over wherever the hell it was that my mother wanted to move. That, and a part of me was still angry with her. Angry for ruining my life, her life, my dad’s life. It was because of her selfishness that we left in the first place.
When she moved back to North Woods, I didn’t really think anything of it. That was until she called me last Christmas.