The Silver Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page A

she told herself; the room that has always been here, and always will; the room that hasn’t changed. I am five, she pretended. Mom is in the kitchen making an early dinner. They are going out tonight to aparty, and Sarah is coming over to baby-sit. I’ll go and play with my dollhouse soon.
    But it wouldn’t last, so she opened her eyes and stretched. Her fingers touched the sleek cheapness of newsprint. The morning paper was still spread on the couch. She glanced at it with little interest, but the headline glared: MOTHER OF Two FOUND DEAD . Her stomach lurched. Everyone’s mother found dead, she thought bitterly. Why not everyone’s? But she couldn’t help reading the next few lines. Throat slashed, the article said, drained dry of blood.
    â€œThat’s absurd,” she said aloud. Her fingers tightened in disgust, crumpling the page. “What is this—the
National Enquirer?”
She tossed the paper away, wrenched herself to her feet, and headed for her room.
    But the phone rang before she reached the stairs. She flinched but darted for the hall extension and picked it up. It was a familiar voice, but not her father’s.
    â€œZoë, it’s horrible.” Lorraine, her best friend, wailed across the phone lines with typical drama. It should have been comforting.
    â€œWhat’s horrible?” Zoë gasped with pounding heart. Had the hospital phoned Lorraine’s house because she wasn’t home?
    â€œWe’re moving.”
    â€œWhat?” A moment’s confusion.
    â€œDad got that job in Oregon.”
    â€œOregon? My God, Lorraine. Venus.”
    â€œAlmost.”
    Zoë sat down in the straight-backed chair beside the phone table. It wasn’t her father. It wasn’t death calling, but … “When?” she asked.
    â€œTwo weeks.”
    â€œSo soon?” Zoë wrapped and unwrapped the phone cord around her fist. This isn’t happening, she thought.
    â€œThey want him right away. He’s flying out tonight. Can you believe it? He’s going to look for a house when he gets there. I got home and Diane was calling up moving companies.”
    â€œBut you said he wasn’t serious.”
    â€œShows how much he tells me, doesn’t it? Diane knew.”
    Zoë grasped for something to say. Couldn’t something stop this? “Isn’t she freaked at the rush?”
    â€œOh,
she
thinks it’s great. It’s a place nuclear fallout will miss, and she can grow lots of zucchini.”
    â€œWhat about your mom?”
    â€œShe wouldn’t care if he moved to Australia. But she’s pretty pissed that he’s taking me.”
    â€œCan’t you stay with her?” Please, please, Zoë begged silently.
    â€œOh, you know. That’s a lost battle. Cramp her style.”
    â€œLorraine! She’s not that bad.”
    â€œShe moved out, didn’t she?”
    No use fighting that argument again, Zoë thought. “Oregon.” She sighed.
    Lorraine groaned. “Yeah! This is hideous. It’s the wilderness or something. I’m not ready for the great trek. I could stay with you,” she added hopefully.
    â€œI’ll ask,” Zoë said, although there wasn’t a chance. They both knew that was impossible right now.
    â€œNah!”
    What will I do? Zoë thought. “You can visit.” It seemed a pathetic suggestion.
    â€œBig deal!”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œCan you come over?” Lorraine asked.
    â€œNo. I better stay here for now.”
    â€œUh-oh! Something wrong?”
    â€œShe’s in the hospital again.”
    â€œOh, hell.”
    This is where Lorraine shuts down, Zoë thought. Why can’t she talk to me about it? Why does she have to back off every time? She’s my best friend, damn it, not like those nerds at school who are too embarrassed even to look at me anymore. She searched for what she wanted to say. Something to keep Lorraine