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Chapter 1
I’ve always had a pretty normal life. Well, except for maybe the fact that my emotions tend to cause … strange things to happen. Despite that, my life hasn’t been too terrible. Is it perfect? No, not at all. But, is anything really perfect?
Still, imperfections and all, saying goodbye to the life I lived for the last seventeen years hasn’t been easy. I’m not ready to let go yet, not ready to accept what everyone keeps telling me. That my parents are gone. That no one has a clue as to where they disappeared. That they might not come back.
I’ve heard rumors around town that they could be dead. That maybe they got into trouble with the wrong people and were murdered. That they overdosed on drugs. I refuse to accept any of those theories, even though my parents did have a knack for getting in trouble.
They’ll be fine. I know they will.
I’m not going to say goodbye yet.
This is only temporary. Your parents will either be found or come back. Don’t freak out, Sky.
Just stay calm.
Reach a state of Zen.
If you don’t, bad things will happen.
Unfortunately, my friends are freaking out, which is complicating my attempt at reaching a state of Zen.
We’re parked at the town park with the windows rolled down, although the temperature is pushing below freezing. But it’s either freeze our asses off or let Nina, my best friend since grade school, get grounded for stinking up her mom’s car with cigarette smoke. Again.
“This fucking sucks.” Nina takes a drag off her cigarette. Wisps of her short, blonde hair blow in her face as she balances the cigarette between her lips while zipping up her jacket. “Can’t you just keep living in your house or something? You’re a senior in high school, for fuck’s sake—you’re old enough to take care of yourself.”
Gage, my other BFF, rolls his eyes then tugs his beanie lower onto his head. “That’s not how it works, hon. They have laws and shit.” He leans over the console and steals the cigarette from her.
Gage doesn’t consider himself a smoker because he never lights up or buys packs, always bumming off half-lit ones from other people. But if he actually took the time to add up all those half cigarettes he inhales, it’d probably tally up to more than Nina’s half a pack a day. Telling him that is a moot point, though.
Gage thinks what he thinks, and there’s no changing his mind. I like that about him. He does what he wants, speaks his opinions, and doesn’t care what other people think. Part of me wishes I could be like him—more outspoken, bolder, less self-conscious. Unfortunately, I don’t usually speak up when I’m surrounded by more than a couple of people. I blame this partly on being an only child. I never really learned how to deal with large groups and the chaos that comes with it. Then again, Nina is an only child, too, and she’s about as blunt as they come, so maybe it’s just me.
Or maybe it’s the fact that being surrounded by people means I have less control over my emotions, which can lead to very bad things.
Very, very bad things.
“Maybe if you talk to a lawyer, you can figure out a way to get guardianship of yourself,” Nina suggests while restlessly flicking her lighter on and off.
“It’s called emancipation.” Gage relaxes back in the seat with the cigarette between his fingers. “And Sky might’ve been able to do that if her parents didn’t have a will that gave guardianship over her to someone else. But they do, so …” He frowns.
The two of them have been bummed out for a few days now, ever since I announced the news that I had to move to another town to live with some family that my dad was apparently close to, although I’ve never met them.
I’m not thrilled about the relocation, but the lawyer in charge of my parents’ will made it pretty clear that I don’t have a choice. Even if I did, I can’t afford the rent to keep living at my parents’ house. So, not only am I moving, but I have to pack up the house and put everything in a storage unit. The real shitty part is my parents have only been missing for a couple of weeks, and I’m supposed to just what? Pack up and move to a town over three hours away? How can I keep searching for them if I’m not here in Honeyton? Plus, this is where I grew up. Honeyton is all I know and leaving it behind is freaking me out. But, in typical Skylin fashion, I’ve kept a lot of my worry bottled up.
