The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy

Author:Alexandra Sirowy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

– 19 –

They found Ford,” Josh tells me over the phone. His usually rich, bouncy voice is flat this morning.

“Oh?” I say, trying to mask my disappointment. I wasn’t hoping for bad news about Ford per se, I just didn’t want good news, either. The enchanted island in my mind punishes people like Maggie and Ford. I switch off the water I was running over a basket of blackberries in the sink and dump the berries into a cereal bowl. It’s midmorning, and Dad is either out running errands or at his office downtown. Basel is meowing at my feet, trying to persuade me to give him a second breakfast. I usually give in.

“Can I just come over to tell you?” Josh asks abruptly after a weirdly long break.

I place the honey back on the shelf after squeezing a golden thread on the berries. “Sure,” I say. My stomach’s instantly fluttery. Josh and I have been alone only a handful of times since the first night he drove me home from Marmalade’s. “Are we still going to meet at Becca’s later to finish planning Ben’s prank?” I add. I pop a berry between my teeth. Honey, blackberry juice, and Ben’s prank have me feeling bright and weightless. The prank is business Ben left unfinished, and now I’m going to finish it for him.

“Uh, yeah,” Josh answers, distracted. “We need to talk about everything,” he ends intensely, and the sweetness of honey is diminished on my tongue.

Josh arrives just as my cell is buzzing with a call from Willa. I answer her after I’ve opened the door for him. “Josh just got here. Lemme call you back soon,” I tell her before hitting end.

We settle in the kitchen. I lean on the counter and watch as Josh stands from crouching over Basel. I grip the counter at my waist as I see his face. “What’s wrong?”

His shoulders are stooped forward as he braces himself on the kitchen island. “They found Ford.”

I nod. “Okay, that’s good, right? He’s your friend.”

“He wasn’t alive,” Josh says. He looks to the ceiling, blinking to clear tears, and continues. “His parents found him early this morning, before the sun came up. The police had stopped searching because of that activity on Ford’s bank card. His parents worried Ford had been attacked and robbed. The attacker might be using the card in Seattle. They were with some other parents, walking the woods all night along the road where that junior spotted him. They got home, and their German shepherd was going crazy in the house. He’d tried to claw through the back door. Mr. Holland let the dog out and he raced into the trees. Ford’s dad ran after him.” Josh’s features distort to make a crying face without the tears.

I am motionless and quiet. I’m listening, but what’s disturbing is that it isn’t Josh I’m waiting to hear from. We’re the only two people in the room, and yet my ears are straining for Ben’s voice: Bullies don’t get to win.

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