Widow Falls by Kiersten Modglin

Author:Kiersten Modglin [Modglin, Kiersten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kiersten Modglin
Published: 2021-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sloane

I was still a giggling, dopey mess when we made it back home, but the feeling immediately washed away with a sickening sensation when I saw my bedsheet had been stripped.

“What’s going on?” I asked, a petrified lump swelling in my throat as my gaze landed on the green journal at the end of Claudia’s bed.

“The guys were horsing around and they bumped your bed,” Kayla said softly, almost hesitant to speak the words. “This fell out.”

“What is it?” Gabe asked from behind me, still using his T-shirt to dry his hair.

“We weren’t going to read it, but I recognized her handwriting.”

“I can explain—” I started, but the truth was that I couldn’t. There was no way to explain what I’d done or why I’d done it.

“Whose handwriting?” Gabe asked, stepping forward.

“It’s Landry’s. She had Landry’s journal.”

“What? Why?” He shoved past me, taking it from her outstretched hand. He flipped through it, skimming over passages, then looked up at me, betrayal in his eyes. “Is this true? How long have you had this?”

My body was ice cold. I wanted to tell him it was a mistake, that they had it all wrong, but I couldn’t bring myself to do more than mumble. It was as if my brain had completely short-circuited. “I, um, I mean, I… It’s not exactly—I, um— ”

“How long, Sloane?” Kayla repeated the question.

“Not long. I just found it. It wasn’t like I was planning to keep it, I just—”

“Why didn’t you give it to us?” Claudia demanded, cutting me off. “It wasn’t yours to keep.”

“It wasn’t yours either,” I argued, finding my voice finally. “I opened it to see who it belonged to, what it was, and I saw that message.” I gestured toward the journal. “I didn’t know what to do at that point. I didn’t feel like I could give it to you without reading it.”

“So, you did read it?” Claudia asked. They were angry, and with good reason. I’d betrayed them. I’d lied to them. Hidden things from them. From Gabe especially. It was mortifying.

“Not all of it, no. Just the first few entries.”

“You have half the journal marked with folded pages,” Claudia pointed out.

“That wasn’t me,” I lied. “It was already like that. She must’ve been doing it as she went. I don’t know…” I couldn’t tell if they believed me and, honestly, I couldn’t think of a reason why they would.

“So, that’s why you asked so many questions about her?” Gabe asked, the journal still open in his hands. “What? Were you comparing notes? Testing me?”

“No, it’s not like that at all.” But it was. I was lying, and everyone knew it. What had I done? “I just wanted to understand. I mean, can you honestly blame me for reading it after seeing that message? It was wrong, of course, but it seemed important. I couldn’t just ignore it.”

“And what did you find out?” Claudia asked. “What was so special in there, hm? You didn’t even know her, and you invaded her privacy.

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