The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight

The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight

Author:Kimberly McCreight [McCreight, Kimberly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-03-28T22:00:00+00:00


“Wylie? Are you okay?” A voice. I don’t know whose.

I try to open my eyes but they are sealed shut. My mouth is, too. Is my jaw broken? No, it’s just the insides of my mouth pasted together. Water. I need water. But when I move, pain slices through the side of my head. Squinting my eyes open makes it even worse.

It’s dark still. Nighttime, but not pitch black. Pale-gray light comes from the window. Moonlight, maybe. Scratchy fabric under my hands. I’m lying on a couch—dusty, mildewed, lumpy. The cabin, Camp Colestah, Cassie—it all snaps back to me. Her underwear here. Her somewhere else.

“You blacked out.” It’s Jasper. When I push myself up on my elbow, my head sings. Jasper is sitting on the floor a couple of feet away, back against the wall. He’s staring at me. Worried. No, worse than worried. He looks scared. “You hit your head on the side of the bureau.” He points to a big piece of furniture not far from the door. “I tried to grab you, but I didn’t make it in time. Are you okay?”

“I pass out sometimes when I get really stressed,” I say, trying to make it sound like no big deal. “It hasn’t happened in a while. Sorry, didn’t mean to freak you out.”

“Oh.” He glances down, away. “I don’t think you cut your head or anything.” He points to his own scalp. “I, um, checked. But there’s a big bump.”

My cheeks feel hot thinking of Jasper lifting me onto the couch, his hands inspecting my head. It’s humiliating. And, yes, also sweet.

“Okay, thanks,” I say, wincing through the throbbing in my head as I roll up to sitting. “Wait, where’s the—” I look around. I can’t remember his name. I wonder for a minute how bad I hurt my head. “The police guy.”

“I don’t know,” Jasper says quietly. In the pale light, I see him turn toward the door. “As I was running to you, there was this loud sound behind us. And then the door slammed shut. I guess someone could have maybe grabbed him or—”

“Grabbed him?” The pain in my head is worse with each word. “He’s a police officer.” Like that alone means nothing bad could ever happen to him. Then I remember Officer Kendall’s stutter, how it vanished. I think about telling Jasper this, but I’m afraid saying it aloud will wind me up again. And maybe it was the rush of adrenaline that smoothed out his voice. Officer Kendall could be like me: better in an actual emergency. Except that seems the opposite of likely.

“Maybe they’re so high they didn’t even realize he was a cop?” Jasper offers, but not like he believes that. Frightening, too, that this is our best option: people so high they can’t see straight.

“I think maybe the stuttering was an act,” I say. “Did you notice? He stopped right before we came into the cabin.”

“Are you sure?” Jasper asks, and like he actually thinks maybe I imagined it.



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