The Girl at the End of the World Read Online Free PDF Page A

car filling with dust as the bulbs burst open. And my mom breathing them in.
    “I have to go,” I said.
    “To the hospital?”
    “I just have to go.”
    “Scarlett?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Just be okay. Okay?”
    “Okay,” I said and clicked off. The phone’s screen went dark, its picture of Jen blinking into blankness.
    I watched the press conference for a few more seconds, and then dialed my dad’s number. It was late, but someone should have answered. The phone just rang and rang, each ring seeming to make my heart jump a little in my chest as I listened for that slight change in the silence that would precede someone saying hello. It never came, not even the answering machine. They were probably on the phone and ignoring their call waiting, maybe even trying to call me at the same time I was calling them. I hung up and waited a few seconds before trying my dad’s cell. Voice mail kicked in almost right away.
    “Daddy, it’s me. I just wanted to make sure you were all right…you and the boys and…everybody. I’m okay. Just scared. There’s a lot of stuff on TV about what happened. It’s… Just call me back. Okay? Love you.”
    I stared at the phone for a few seconds, willing it to ring, but it stayed silent in my hand. So I clicked it back into life and called my mom’s phone downstairs. It rang twice before she picked up, and as it rang I walked to my bedroom door to twist the lock.
    “Scarlett?” my mom said, panic in her voice.
    “I’m okay, Mom.” I tried desperately to sound calm, and I think I pulled it off. “Are you still up?”
    “Yes. Why?” She sounded like she’d been crying and may still have been when the phone rang. Now she was pulling it together for me, but just barely.
    “You saw the press conference?”
    “We did.”
    “You should leave.”
    “What? No!” Now the panic rose again, and the tears, too.
    “Mom, you should leave,” I insisted. “You and Anna need to get in the car and go somewhere…go to a hotel or something.”
    “Absolutely not! We’re not leaving you alone. Not now.”
    “But they said anyone who’s been exposed should—”
    “I don’t care what they said! I’m not leaving you. We’re taking you to the doctor in the…no, we should take you now. Are you still dressed?”
    “I’m not going to the emergency room, Mom. I’m not. I don’t want you and Anna in danger.”
    “We’re not going to be in danger. Anna can stay here. Or…or I’ll call the paramedics! They’ll take you. You’ll be safe at the hospital.” Her every word was a plea, and I had a hard time listening to her sound so desperate. But I knew I was right, and wasn’t about to be talked out of it.
    I took a breath. “I’m not going, Mom. If I’ve…if I’ve got it…” Bravery could hold out only so long. My voice cracked. “If I’ve got it, then I’ve got it, and I don’t want anyone else to get it. Not you or Anna or some poor paramedic or doctor who never even met me.”
    We argued back and forth for a while. I expected at any moment to hear her pounding on my door, but she never did. I also worried that she might be writing instructions for my sister to use the other phone to call an ambulance, and I paced back and forth from the door to my window to listen for sirens or look for flashing lights, but none came.
    On my television, the news conference had ended, and the harried looking anchors at the news desk were re-stating what had already been said. Then I noticed a pause in what they were saying and stopped listening to my mom for a few seconds as I focused on the screen. Behind the newscaster, the words “Mystery Illness” had been displayed in bold red letters. Now they were replaced with “Another Death.”
    “Someone else died,” I said, cutting my mother off in mid-sentence.
    “What? Who?”
    “Just…just watch the news for a second, okay?”
    She remained silent as I turned up the volume.
    “—not yet confirmed, but this appears to be similar to