Seven Days Read Online Free PDF Page A

because you couldn’t hang, Carrie. I mean, I never would’ve passed AP Biology without your help. You deserve more than this. Don’t you want a career of your own?” she probed.
    “I used to,” my eyes shut for a moment and exhaustion rolled over me in a thick wave. I couldn’t sleep yet. It was too fucking soon. I needed one more day, or at least, sixteen more hours. I’d be able to crash after my morning shift, since I wasn’t working another double.
    “What did you want to be?” her voice sounded like it was coming from inside a tunnel.
    “A social worker, before mom died. I had a friend that was put into foster care when I was in seventh grade. They split up her and her brother,” I explained. “It’s why I worked so hard to keep us together. I mean, I wanted to be able to keep that sort of thing from happening to other kids.”
    “You would be good at that,” my sister nodded, her eyes starting to droop, too.
    “Doesn’t matter now,” I mumbled.
    “There’s always time to choose a better path, Carrie,” she grabbed my wrists and made me look her in the eye.
    “Maybe,” I shrugged, trying to roll over again, but Britton shot up from my bed and looked down on me, her green eyes wide.
    “I’ll take care of things here. You go and act your age for once in your life, Carrie. When we move, I know you are going to have to work constantly to keep us going, so take this last opportunity you are going to have for a while and pretend you were born to better parents. Pretend that you don’t have to come back to a nightmare every night,” she encouraged, her face twisted into a maniacal smile. “That’s what I want for you. I think this guy could be right for you.”
    “I don’t know him,” I rejected. “If he knew me, he wouldn’t want to spend time with me.”
    “You aren’t defined by what you have to do when you aren’t truly given a choice,” Britton said, firmly, her eyes cloudy with repressed anger.
    “Only in a perfect world,” I whispered, trying to turn away from her determination.
    “You have to go, Carrie,” her words were fierce, begging me to pay attention and give her what she was asking. With a deep sigh, I decided conceding was the only way I’d be able to get past this moment. The only way she’d truly let it go. I couldn’t move to a different state with her and have this hanging over our heads.
    “I will, but only if you promise to stay as far away as you can from this place while I’m gone. I will get you a number where you can reach me in case of an emergency,” I insisted. “I can’t do this knowing something might happen to you while I’m gone. Knowing that we are leaving at the end of this week is the only thing I have to look forward to right now.”
    “Okay, I promise” she agreed, but the way she wouldn’t look at me told me that she was hiding something in her pledge. I should’ve pushed her for a more convincing vow, but I knew it was the best I was going to get.

Chapter 3
    Ryan
     
    “ Red hair, green eyes, Irish features, son. That’s the dream.”
    That’s something my grandpa used to say when I was growing up. He was a devout Irish Catholic who made sure to take me to every catechism class until my first communion so that I’d be safe in the hands of the church. At least that was the reason he gave me every time I whined about missing out on hanging out with my friends after school.
    “ It’s been but a dream to the Kelly men of the last two generations, son. But I feel like it’s your turn. You’re going to get the girl with those features. And if you find her, do whatever it takes to make her yours. Whatever. It. Takes.”
    He always wanted me to settle down and have lots of Irish children, never mind the fact that he was third generation American himself. I’d always waved him off and told him he couldn’t possibly see that type of future for me. Most of the red haired, green eyed girls I knew also came with a face full of