Rewind Read Online Free PDF

empty.
    “Where’s my videocamera?” Adam demanded.
    Ripley reached down and pulled it out from a pile of clothes on the floor. “Here.”
    “What’s it doing out of the bag?”
    “We were just looking at it.”
    Adam grabbed the camera, turned it on, and looked through the viewfinder.
    Edgar’s room came into focus. Adam sighed with relief.
    Then he spotted Edgar, off to the left, laughing hysterically. His mom was sitting on the windowsill, also laughing.
    Mrs. Hall.
    Adam felt a tug in his chest. He missed her, too.
    He remembered what she looked like after Edgar’s death. Gray. Haggard. As if she’d never smile again.
    And now here she was, content. Young-looking. Full of beauty and hope. Not suspecting a thing.
    She and Edgar were both looking at something off to the left, something that was making them laugh. Adam swung the camera around to see what it was.
    “Adam?” Lianna said.
    But Adam wasn’t paying attention to her.
    He saw a boy dancing around in a baggy Santa Claus suit with the hat pulled down over his head—the outfit Edgar’s dad used to wear at the department store during Christmas.
    The boy took off his hat and bowed.
    It was Adam. Age ten.
    Shaking, Adam put down the camera.
    “What?” Lianna asked.
    “Nothing,” Adam replied. “I just saw me, that’s all.”
    “Whoa,” Ripley said. “This is, like, so X-Files. ”
    Memories of that day were seeping into his brain—the Santa costume, followed by an evening of sledding in the moonlight.
    He smiled.
    He felt like crying.
    Everything would be so much better if he were alive.
    “I—I have to go,” Adam said. “Ride around or something.”
    “I’ll hold on to the camera for you,” Ripley volunteered.
    Lianna gave him a suspicious glance. “ I will. Don’t worry, Adam. I’ll kill him if he touches it.”
    “No, thanks.” Adam dropped the camera into the backpack.
    “Really, it’s no problem,” Lianna said. “I can give it back to you tonight.”
    Ripley’s face fell. “ Tonight? You two have plans?”
    Adam bolted before another argument could start.
    That evening, Adam barely touched his dinner.
    “Are you feeling all right?” Mrs. Sarno asked.
    “Fine,” Adam lied.
    “Something’s wrong if you’re leaving food on the plate,” his dad said with a concerned smile.
    Adam pushed around his mashed potatoes with a fork. “When Edgar died, how did his parents take it?”
    Mr. and Mrs. Sarno exchanged a glance.
    “They were devastated, naturally,” Mr. Sarno replied. “Why?”
    “That must be the worst thing—losing your child,” Adam said. “You’d probably give up everything in the world to get him back, wouldn’t you?”
    “Get him back?” Adam’s dad said warily.
    “I mean, what if I died? And what if someone told you it was possible to change the past? To go back and prevent that death from happening—”
    “Adam, please,” Mrs. Sarno interrupted.
    “Just tell me! What if all that happened, Mom? And even though logically it made no sense, even though you might be risking your life if you followed through, you believed—you really believed—this crazy idea had a chance. Would you do it?”
    “Frankly, Adam, I couldn’t allow myself to imagine it,” Mrs. Sarno said. “Can we change the subject?”
    “Then pretend you’re Mrs. Hall. Would you? ”
    Mrs. Sarno looked uncomfortably at her husband. “Yes,” she said. “I suppose in her situation, hypothetically, I would.”
    “I wouldn’t,” Mr. Sarno said. “As painful as it would seem. You can never bring back what you’ve lost. It’s the natural order of things.”
    Adam nodded.
    His heart told him his mom was right.
    His mind told him his dad was right.
    He had to choose one.
Twenty hours.

10
    A DAM SAID HE’D BE at Lianna’s by 7:00. And it was already 6:50.
    He took a deep breath and looked out his bedroom window, toward the Frazers’ house.
    Their front door opened. Lianna emerged, frowning. Arms folded, she paced across