Dead and Beloved Read Online Free PDF

are focused on the screen, but in my mind I see Jessica. I see her breath curling in the night. The nightgown. Her hair. Her eyes. I can even feel her cool touch again. Everything about her is angelic, and now I have a voice to match the words she's written me.
    When the bell rings, I skirt out of class and rush to Biology, determined to get through today without detention.
    That afternoon, someone named Paige sends me an email telling me that Jessica has gone out of town for the weekend. I still open a chat session that night, hoping for the best, but the screen stays blank. I get a good workout and start filling out the required forms for Stanford.
    Weekends aren't terrible at the hospital. Well, they're not great either. I run a lot on the overhead track in our gym and the basketball pickup games on Saturdays calm me more than my assigned punching routines. I'm not allowed on the school team, another compromise for school admission, so Saturdays are my only chance to play the sport I've always loved.
    I think a lot about my friend Andre while I'm playing basketball. We were hot shots, once upon a time. Our sophomore team at Viewmont took first in the region. Andre and I got to dress Varsity for the playoffs that year. But that was before all the trouble, before the Virus. Andre is gone now and so are our carefree days of balling. Now when I play, I wear his old number four jersey to remember what living used to be like.
    On Monday, I'm eager to hear from Jessica. I'm early to every class and don't even mind when Mr. Heaps focuses his lesson on Breytazine. Everyone sounds excited for a possible cure and talk of the doctor who discovered it fills the blather in the hall that day.
    I'm barely into our chat session that night when Jessica's first message appears on the screen. “Hi Ryan.”
    I smile as a memory of her voice accompanies the words. “I missed you,” I answer.
    “Better days?” she asks.
    “Yes.”
    “Passed Bountiful on Friday. Thought of you.”
    I feel my face warming. “When can I see you again?” I ask. “Tonight?”
    “Not tonight. I have a better idea.”
    There's a smiley face at the end that makes my heart jump. What could be better than seeing each other in a few hours? “???”
    “Alta plays at Viewmont this Friday. Can you go?”
    I almost fall out of my chair. “Basketball?”
    “You said you love basketball.”
    “I do.” My words type faster than I can think them. “A date?”
    “Yes,” she answers. “I'll meet you there.”
    I stop breathing long enough to gasp for air. Jessica wasn't kidding—this is better than sneaking out to see her at home. I feel my forehead sweat and I'm having trouble thinking of what to say. “I'll be there,” I answer, trying to contain the excitement in my shaking fingers. “You know what I look like.”
    She answers with another smiley face.
    “Do we get to chat between now and then?” I ask.
    “I'll try.” There's a pause, then more. “Don't be mad if I can't. K?”
    I could never be angry with Jessica. Not ever. She's so perfect. “No worries.” I add a smiley face, though it's not my style. The little icon looks strange and foreign coming from me. What is she doing to me?
    “See you Friday. <3”
    My stomach twists and turns all over again. A heart. A heart. I'm weightless inside as I stare at the screen.
    “Ryan?”
    “I'm here,” I respond. I'm here. “See you Friday.”
    “Sweet dreams.”
    It's like I'm standing in her backyard all over again. She's wonderful tonight, still perfect. I stare at the words from our chat and read them over and over, examining them for some unknown meaning. Words and memories are all I have of her, and they are wonderful. All of them. I leave the screen on and stare at it until tonight's prescription puts me to sleep.
     
    ~ O ~
     
    The week doesn't go by fast enough. I open a chat session every night, but Jessica never comes. I'm not worried, though. I repeat her words from Monday over and over