All We Can Do Is Wait by Richard Lawson

Author:Richard Lawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: 2018-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Scott

ON THE FEW occasions that Scott had scored a goal during a soccer game—a few perfect fall afternoons when things had gone just right—there had been a moment when everything slowed. When the world distilled, and there was only Scott and the space of grass between him and the net, the movements of the goalie and the defenders becoming almost predictable, as if Scott had tapped into the Matrix and could see it all laid out so clearly in front of him, ones and zeroes streaming down in green. But weirdly they were also quick, these moments of excitement and frenzy, gone before they really had a chance to register.

Scott felt some version of that sensation—the world narrowing, both slowing down and flashing by—as he watched Mary Oakes and a woman who looked to be a doctor walk toward him. Was this it, the moment when he found out? That Aimee was dead, that Aimee was alive? He felt anxious, his insides tight. The doctor had spiky short gray hair and little glasses, and her mouth was tight with—what was it? Concern? Pity? Scott braced himself, stood up taller and clenched his jaw, as the doctor approached.

But then she and Mary Oakes walked past him and over toward Alexa and Skyler, both girls looking up, then standing up, a flutter of hesitation, of fear that they were about to hear the worst. The news wasn’t for him. Scott felt a rush of relief quickly followed by another stab of fear. He still knew nothing, and now, from the looks of it, someone else was about to have their world cave in.

Scott assumed the doctor was there to speak to Alexa. He wasn’t sure why, and it made him feel terrible to think it, but he had some dark intuition that Alexa and Jason’s parents weren’t going to be O.K. That they had been crushed or drowned or whatever else, and these two kids, so dark and worldly seeming, would be orphans. They could handle it, though. They’d figure it out. They had money, they had each other, even if Jason was an asshole. That meant something. They could bear the news somehow.

Mary Oakes, though, had turned to Skyler, was pointing at the doctor, who nodded and put her hand on Skyler’s shoulder. Skyler flinched at her touch and looked, panicked, at Alexa, and then to Mary Oakes, and then back to the doctor. Slowed down, sped up, all of this happening in the tick of seconds, but seeming to take forever. Now the doctor was turning, walking back toward the swinging doors, and Skyler was following her, nervously, taking halting steps, eyes wide and teary.

Alexa trailed after her until she reached Scott, grabbing his arm and staring off toward the doors.

“What happened? What did they say?” Scott asked. Alexa shook her head.

“I—I don’t know. They just said that they had to talk to her, about her sister, and they said that they wanted to talk somewhere quiet. That can’t be good, right? That’s got to be bad news .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.