Between Read Online Free PDF Page B

put her in her late twenties here, and she’s beautiful. She has long blond hair, almost exactly the same shade as mine. She’s tall at nearly six feet. She gives the other woman a nervous smile. I never remembered that much about my mom, even when I was alive, but I do remember my father telling me she was always very shy around strangers.
    “I’m Lisa,” my mom says, “and this is Elizabeth. My husband and I just moved from the far side of Mystic into his father’s old place, on High Street.”
    “Oh! You’re our new neighbors!” The other woman is not nearly as shy, not around strangers or anyone else. “I knew I recognized you. I’m Amy Wilson. This is my little boy, Richie.”
    For an instant, I see Amy’s gaze flicker down the length of my mother’s body. Despite her height, she can’t be more than a hundred and twenty pounds. Her hip bones are visible through her shorts. And even though she’s smiling, obviously happy to have met a neighbor, there is something sad about my mother’s gaze. She looks tired; there are dark half-moons beneath her eyes. She looks hungry.
    Already, Richie and I are friends. I smile as I stare at us, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. We hold hands as we swing. He has dark curly hair and full red lips. Someday they’ll be my first kiss, when we’re both four years old. And then again, when we’re both twelve—he’ll be my first real kiss. The only person I’ve ever kissed like that. As I stand there watching the four of us, I realize that I don’t remember everything about Richie and me, especially anything too recent. But I remember enough to know that I loved him. I’m sure of that.
    “Liz? Hey—are you there?” It’s Alex’s voice. Like before, I feel the sensation of being sucked through a vacuum. As quickly as it began, the memory is over.
    “I saw him,” I say, breathless. “And I saw my mom, and Richie’s mom. We were toddlers.”
    Alex doesn’t seem surprised. Again, he’s blasé. “Really? You saw all that?”
    I nod. I’m still crying. It feels like I’m never going to stop. My breath is ragged; I’m overwhelmed with emotions that are coming so quickly I barely have time to process them. It’s all too much for one girl to comprehend, on what would have been such a lovely summer morning. “I was looking at Richie, thinking about him, and all of a sudden there I was. It was the first time we met, on the playground.”
    “Oh.” Alex blinks. “How nice for you.” But then he pauses. “They won’t all be good memories, Liz. You know that, right?”
    I cross my arms. “Why would you say something like that? I was happy for a second, and you had to go and ruin it.” I feel defensive, even though I’m not sure why. All I know is that Alex Berg is not turning out to be my favorite person on this plane of existence. “What’s wrong with you? I’m dead , Alex. It’s already a pretty bad day.”
    “All right, don’t have a conniption.” His tone is annoyingly light, like this is all just a distraction to him. “I wanted you to be prepared. That’s all.”
    I shrug. It doesn’t really matter; I’ve just seen my mom again! And she was so young, so … alive. She was touching me, taking care of me. Loving me. Her only little girl.
    “What did I look like?” I ask Alex. “You know, when I spaced out just now?” The feeling of intense coldness has returned. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.
    Alex only shrugs. “It was nothing weird. You were just kind of staring at him. At Richie, I mean.”
    “Oh.” I pause. “For how long?”
    “A few minutes.”
    “Really?” I ask. It didn’t feel like that long. “What did I miss?”
    “Well, they sent Mera up to your house to look for you.”
    The words are barely out of his mouth when we hear a very loud scream coming from outside.
    All of my friends sit up straighter. They look scared. For a moment I study their faces, trying to figure out if any one of them looks