One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt

Author:Lauren Barnholdt [Barnholdt, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2010-07-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

12:18 a.m.

My stomach jumps into my throat, and I look over at Marissa, whose eyes become wide with fear. Shit, shit, shit. I put my finger to my lips and then don’t move, hoping that whoever is at the top of the stairs is going to, you know, go away. Or at least decide they don’t need whatever it is they wanted from the basement.

But then the light flips on, and we hear footsteps shuffling down the stairs, and suddenly a little boy appears. He’s about six or seven, and he’s wearing a pair of pajamas with planes all over them.

He’s holding a book, and when he sees me and Marissa there, huddled over the box in the corner, he drops it on the ground.

“Oh, hi,” Marissa whispers. “Hi, honey.” She gives him a big smile. “We’re friends of your brother.”

The boy doesn’t say anything. He just stares at us, his eyes wide.

“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “We’re friends of Tyler’s, and I thought I forgot something here, but it turns out I didn’t.” Abandon plan! Abandon plan! Time to get the hell out of here.

Marissa and I are both moving back toward the window now, nodding as if that will make what we’re saying true. Tyler’s little brother (at least, I’m assuming that’s who it is unless Tyler has some other reason for a seven-year-old kid to be living with him) is just watching us.

I catch Marissa’s eye, and I can tell we’re thinking the same thing—just get the hell out of here, and then we can worry about everything else later. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the notebook, the most important thing is getting out of here without getting caught.

“So, um, we’ll see you around, little buddy,” Marissa says. She puts one foot on the chair and starts to climb up, but unfortunately, her upper body strength isn’t that great, and she’s unable to hoist herself back out the window. I guess Cooper forgot to take into account that we’re girls, and that his dumb football-playing friends are probably lifting every single day, while I haven’t lifted in … since … well, ever.

“Let me try,” I say, after Marissa has tried six times unsuccessfully to lift herself up onto the ledge. Tyler’s brother is still standing there, just staring at us.

But it’s the same thing for me. I can’t get up.

“Let me try to lift you,” I suggest. “Then once you get outside, you can pull me out.”

“Oooh, good idea,” she says. I put my arms around her waist and lift with all my might. Marissa hauls herself up onto the ledge, and for a second, it looks like she’s going to do it, she’s going to get out, and yes, we don’t have the notebook, but for a second it seems like we’re going to be free, free, free.

And then Tyler’s little brother takes a huge deep breath and screams bloody murder.

Tyler’s mom is the first one to get down to the basement, and when she sees us, she freaks out.

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.