Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

Author:Katie Dale [Dale, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-89972-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-02-14T06:00:00+00:00

Rosie

My words slice through the room, sharp and swift and brutal, leaving everyone deathly silent. Holly stares at me numbly, but I can’t meet her eyes.

“Holly—” Jack whispers. He takes her hand but she doesn’t move.

I stare at the floor, my cheeks burning. Now I know how Pandora felt.

“Sweetheart, it’s okay, it’s gonna be okay,” Jack soothes, stroking her hand.

“How?” She looks at him with the same blank expression. “It’s hereditary … I’m gonna die?”

“No,” Jack tells her, his eyes intense, his voice breaking. “No, you’re not—it’s not even definite you’ve inherited it—it’s just a chance.”

She stares at him. “What chance?”

Jack hesitates, swallows. “Fifty percent. Right, Rosie?” He looks at me.

I nod absently. I feel Holly’s eyes on me but I can’t look.

“That’s all, just fifty percent—you’re just as likely not to have it. Okay, Holly-berry?” he says, his voice infused with determined hope, with fear. “Okay?”

I squeeze my eyes shut tight, remembering those same words being said to me, feeling Holly’s pain as the realization sinks in. I was wrong—it’s not always best to know the truth. Ignorance is bliss, isn’t that what they say? And I’ve just shattered her ignorance, her bliss, her life, with this one foul sledgehammer of truth.

Holly’s right. I am selfish. If only I could have left well alone, walked away …

I scrape my chair back, shattering the silence.

“I’m sorry.” I stand up, my face hot as I stumble toward the door. “I’m so sorry. I’ll get out of your way, I’ll—”

“Rosie …” Jack’s voice is gentle but still stings.

“I’m so sorry.” I flee quickly through the door, running as I hit the steps, the raindrops spitting at my face.

She had to know, I tell myself, blinking hard, trying to block out the image of her face—blanched with shock, staring wide-eyed as I ripped her world apart. She had to know …

Didn’t she?

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