A Matter of Days by Kizer Amber

Author:Kizer, Amber [Kizer, Amber]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780375898259
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-06-11T05:00:00+00:00

DAY 70

A couple of meteors streaked overhead and stole my words. I inhaled, counting to four, exhaled for four. Why do I feel like I’m letting Zack down by thinking about leaving? “Yeah. I think so.”

“Well, I think you should stay.” Zack’s face was turned away from me and up at the sky. As if he couldn’t force himself to look at me and say it.

“We made a promise. I made a promise.” My voice barely carried from my mouth.

“To who? What?”

“My uncle, my mom. To take my brother to our grandfather.”

“Odds are he’s dead, you know? Right?”

“Maybe. Probably. But maybe not.” I couldn’t tell Zack about Bean’s research and the shots he gave us.

“You won’t stay, no matter what I say, will you?”

I shook my head. “If it was just me. I would. But I can’t decide differently for Rabbit and he’s too young to decide for himself. I promised.”

“You know there are people between here and there who might not be nice.”

“That’s an understatement.” My grimace turned to a laugh.

Zack touched my hand, quickly letting go. “I don’t want to scare you.”

“You can’t. I’m already petrified all the time.”

“Really? Never would have guessed.”

“I’m not that good an actress.” I shook my head.

“I say you are. What are you scared of right now?” he asked.

“Falling off the building trying to see a star.” I tried to defuse his question—it would be so much easier to tell him what I wasn’t afraid of.

He bumped his shoulder against mine. “What else?”

“The dog dying.” I held up one finger.

“I think he’ll be okay.”

I held up a second finger. “Leaving here for the unknown.”

“Then don’t leave.”

“Come with us?” I wanted to bite the words back as soon as they left my mouth. I dropped my hand to my lap.

“What?” Zack sounded shocked.

“I mean, I know it sounds stupid to leave your very own town to creep across the country with us, but …”

The silence was almost unbearable. “Where are we going?”

“Oh … I can’t tell you.”

Zack laughed. “What? You invite me to go and then you won’t tell me where?”

“I promised.”

“Give me a clue for God’s sake.” Frustration chewed Zack’s tone.

“Across the Mississippi?”

“That narrows it down to a million miles. You gotta give me more than that, Starbucks.”

“West Virginia.”

“What’s in West Virginia?”

“I can’t say more. Please. I already shouldn’t have told you that.”

“But you want me to come?”

“I do. I really, really do.” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to look convincing.

With a nod, Zack put his arm around me. His hand brushed my back pocket. “What is this?” He tapped it. “You carry it around all the time.”

I slid the little music player out of my pocket. It was scratched and beat-up and the screen was cracked. I didn’t bother with earbuds. I held it out to Zack, who took it carefully.

“Does it work?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It was my dad’s.”

“He liked music?”

I smiled. “Yeah, he’d put in a disc, or plug it in to the car, and he’d crank up these old-school songs and sing along at the top of his voice.

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