Page 10 of A Thousand Second Chances

“Tomorrow night,” I agree, starting toward the stairs. Not that I’m likely to be in a much better mood tomorrow after spending an entire day skirting around Percy, but that’s a problem for future me.

We grab a pair of keys for adjoining rooms from Oshkoff. I raise a brow at Quinn when she follows me up the stairs. “You’renot going to explore the town on your own? Scout out what sort of vibrant nightlife a tiny tourist trap of an island has to offer?”

She shrugs. “I can wait. It wouldn’t be any fun without you.”

Her honesty catches me off-guard, almost making me stumble. Thank God for Quinn. At least there’s one person in my life who genuinely wants me around—though sometimes, I can’t fathom why.

We reach the top of the stairs and find our rooms. Quinn hesitates outside her door, glancing over at me. “If you need to talk or anything, let me know. I’ll be right here.”

I swallow a sudden lump in my throat. “Sure. Thanks.”

The room is small—smaller even than a normal hotel room. I guess the Lindmans had to downsize in order to squeeze as many of them in as possible. Still, it’s nice and cozy, with a bed tucked in the back, an antique dresser, and a small table crammed by the door. Grabbing my journal, I eye the table before settling into the bed instead. Might as well make myself comfortable—I have a feeling this will take a while.

Other than my friendship with Quinn, writing was what had gotten me through the darkest days post-Percy. I used to jot down dumb stories and horrendously bad poetry all the time as a kid, but somewhere along the way, the habit had slipped away. Perhaps it had been yet another casualty of losing myself to the wrong guy.

Now, though, I take solace in the orderly way words combine despite my disorganized thoughts. Everything always works out so cleanly in a good story—action leading to reaction until an eventual resolution is reached. Clear cause and effect. You can shape reality any way you want with pen and paper, no matter how messed up things get in real life.

I work late into the night, first recording everything that had happened today until I’ve purged all the raw emotions from my brain, then brainstorming ideas for a new story. I’m thinkingan island massacre—a crazed killer who goes on a murderous rampage against a bunch of visiting college students. Maybe a bit too on the nose, but so what? They say to write what you know.

I’d originally intended the character standing in for me to heroically save the day and for Percy’s counterpart to suffer a gruesome death in Act 2. By the end, however, the story gets away from me. Percy’s death turns out to be a fake-out, and he reappears in the climax to help the hero defeat the murderer, the two of them sharing a triumphant reunion as the sun rises.

It’s past two AM when I toss my journal aside with an annoyed huff, switch off the lights, and crawl under the covers. God, even my attempts to literally write Percy out of my life somehow end up featuring him front and center. Too bad real life lacks the nice, ordered logic of stories. Because if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that there’s no happy ending in my and Percy’s future.

six

Percy

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Silencing the alarm on my phone, I stretch, cautiously optimistic for whatever today has in store. Sure, seeing Chris again sucked, especially when I’m already so raw about returning to Mackinac Island for the first time since starting college. But slaying monsters in RuneWorld Online last night helped recenter me, and despite my exhaustion from too little sleep, I’m ready to face a new day.

Mackinac Island was once one of my favorite places in the world, and there’s no reason it can’t be again. I’ll be damned if I waste the entire trip moping over things I can’t change.

I shower and dress before padding downstairs. Determined not to be late again after arriving last at the ferry, I’d set my alarm for 8:00 AM, so I have a good hour before I have to meet up with Professor Oshkoff. Plenty of time to grab some breakfast.

A handful of students mill about, but no one I recognize by name. I head for the cafe, unable to tell if the tight feeling in my chest is relief over avoiding another awkward run-in with Chris…or disappointment at missing him. I’m so distracted that I don’t notice the girl coming the other way until we collide.

I stumble, catching myself on the wall. She does the same, her eyes widening. “Oh god, I’m so sorry,” she stammers. “I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

She’s wearing a light blue sun dress with a pair of black tights that look perfect for exercise. Her wavy brown hair is tied back in a ponytail. Something about her jiggles my memory, but I can’t tell why.

I give her a polite smile. “No worries. I’m as much to blame as you are. I’m a little out of it until I have my morning dose of caffeine.”

She grins, hefting a coffee cup I hadn’t noticed. “Amen. I tried waiting for my boyfriend, but I couldn’t hold out any longer.”

Suddenly, it clicks. “Devon, right? I saw you two sitting together on the ferry ride over.”

She brightens. “Yeah. We’ve been dating for a couple of months now. Do you know him from school?”

“Not really.” I hesitate, my thoughts returning inevitably to Chris. “We used to share a mutual acquaintance.”

If the girl notices the drop in my mood, she doesn’t comment. She holds out her hand. “Well, now you share another. I’m Susie.”

“Percy.”

We shake, and she checks the time on her phone. “I’ve gotta go, but maybe I’ll see you around later?”

“Sure.”