Shadow Girl by Liana Liu

Author:Liana Liu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

5

WHEN I STUMBLE INTO THE LIVING ROOM THE NEXT MORNING, my brother takes one look at me, snickers, and says: “You’re so hungover.”

“For your information, I almost drowned last night.”

“Almost drowned in some vodka?”

“Actually . . . ,” I say. Then I remember that I don’t care what my brother thinks. Besides, I suppose it’s possible that my pounding head and dried-up mouth are symptoms of a hangover and not a near drowning. “Never mind. Where’s Mom?”

“She’s watching the kids while Auntie Jeanie goes shoe shopping,” he says.

I make a face. Andy makes a face. Here is something we can agree on, perhaps the only thing: Auntie Jeanie takes advantage of our mother’s kindness; our mother lets herself be taken advantage of by Auntie Jeanie’s bossiness.

A flood of dizziness overtakes me, and I nearly fall over a basket of magazines. I steady myself against the bookcase, but I lean too hard and set the shelves shuddering. “Why is there so much stuff in here?” I grumble.

“Don’t blame the stuff for the fact you’re hungover,” my brother says.

I try frowning at him, but my mouth spasms uncooperatively. I must look pretty bad, because Andy says, “Drink a bunch of water and eat something greasy. It may be hard to get down, but you’ll feel better afterward. It always works for me.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks.”

“How’d you like keeping Mom up all night worrying?”

“I didn’t keep her up all night!”

“You sure?” Andy smiles.

I stomp into the kitchen. I was fairly certain I had come home before midnight. But I can’t remember exactly when. Or how. In fact, I can’t remember most of the party. Except that I almost drowned. And that people were calling me Amber and I, for some unfathomable reason, responded. When I try to remember more, my head hammers in protest. So I stop trying.

I drink a glass of water and then another. I heat up the leftover rice noodles in the refrigerator and gag them down. I drink another glass of water. I almost throw up. I manage not to throw up.

Andy goes out to play basketball, or so he claims. He’s still laughing at me when he leaves. “Now who’s the bad one?” he says.

I ignore him and stumble back to the bedroom. I’m about to collapse into bed when I notice my bra and underwear on a hanger by the window. They’re dry but still smell of chlorine. I didn’t hang them there. I vaguely remember putting my soggy clothes in the laundry basket when I got home last night. So it must have been my mother.

I cringe. I hate that she had to pick up after me the way she always picks up after my brother . . . the way she always used to pick up after my father.

The front door creaks open. All I want to do is to collapse into bed. I go out to the living room. My mother’s face crinkles with concern when she sees me. “Nĭ zěnme yàng?”

“Hi, Mom! I’m great!” I smile broadly.

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.