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“I’m sorry, honey.” My mom suddenly appears in the dream.
“Mommy.” I start to sob as I throw my arms around her.
“Shh … It’s going to be okay.” She hugs me tightly.
“No, it’s not,” I sob. “Everything’s broken without you here.”
She hugs me tighter. “I know.”
“Will you …? Will you please come back?” I move back to look at her, but she starts to fade away. “Mom!”
She vanishes.
Then I’m suddenly standing near the street with a river flowing on the other side, car engines filling the air. I hear tires skidding, followed by a loud splash.
“No!” my dad shouts from beside me. Then he rushes toward the river, leaving me behind in a mob of bystanders.
I start to run after him, but my stomach clenches as someone screams and I’m—
“Hadley!”
My eyes pop open, and I bolt upright, my cheek throbbing in pain, my skin drenched in sweat. It takes a couple of panicked breaths to get my bearings, to realize I’m not at the scene of my mom’s accident. That I’m sitting up in my sleeping bag that’s spread across the floor of my new home, sunlight trickling in through the grimy windows. On one side of me is Payton’s sleeping bag, and on the other is Londyn’s. Bailey is kneeling beside my feet, already dressed in a pair of black jeans and a matching shirt, her hair pulled into a ponytail, and worry written on her face.
“What time is it?” I ask, rubbing my sleepy eyes and trying to rub away the lingering images of the accident.
“Almost ten o’clock.” She continues to observe me in concern.
My hands fall to my lap. “Why didn’t my alarm go off?”
She wavers. “It did, but we turned it off.”
“Why?”
“Well, mostly because we were trying to figure out what to do.”
I comb my fingers through my tangled hair. “With Dad?”
“No.” Her gaze zeroes in on my cheek. “Your cheek looks really gnarly.”
“Don’t change the subject.” I throw the sleeping bag off me and rise to my feet. “What happened? And where’s Payton and Londyn?”
Bailey chews on her bottom lip. “Outside … looking at the damage.”
Worry instantly rushes through me. “The damage to what?”
When she doesn’t answer, I dash out of the room. I don’t bother changing out of my plaid pajama shorts and tank top as I barrel out the door and into the warm August air of Honeyton.
We arrived late enough last night that I didn’t get a good look at the neighborhood. Part of me was hoping that perhaps it’d look better in the daylight. If anything, it looks worse. The entire street is covered with dilapidated two-story houses, yellowing front yards, and the occasional junkyard. But we’ve lived in places equally as bad before.
“Great pick, Dad,” I mutter as I jog toward my car where Londyn and Payton are huddled together. “What’re you guys doing?”
They jump away from each other, Londyn pressing her hand against her chest and Payton gasping.
“Holy crap, are you part ninja or something?” Payton jokes nervously as she works to catch her breath.
I stop in front of them, my gaze dancing back and forth between them. “Why are you guys acting so twitchy? Bailey said something about something being damaged.”
Bailey moves up beside me, and the three of them exchange worried looks. It’s unusual for me to be the outsider, but I totally feel like one right now.
