Wish You Were Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

bleary.
    “You were the last one to see Lucy,” he said, gazing steadily at me. “Did she say anything?”
    “Nothing that, you know, left any hint that she planned to do anything except go home.”
    Adam hung his head and ran his fingers through his hair. I’dknown him for as long as I’d known Lucy, and in many ways we’d been closer friends, something that had always bothered Lucy. Adam, she, and I had been in school together since kindergarten, but Lucy’s relentless competitiveness had always made her harder to trust. You could never be certain that she wouldn’t betray you if it meant winning something she wanted. Adam and I had always felt more naturally comfortable and easy together. We’d shared secrets.
    “Why would she run away? Where would she go? It doesn’t make sense.” The questions were rhetorical. No one was in a better position to answer them than Adam himself.
    “Is it true that about the police, not looking for her right away?”
    Adam shrugged. “They say that’s their policy if there’s no evidence of foul play.” He lowered his voice. “They don’t want every parent in town demanding a full investigation every time a kid decides to sleep at his girlfriend’s house and doesn’t call home. But the Cunninghams told the cops about the bipolar stuff and that all Lucy had on her was her cell phone and keys. No ID. She’d left her wallet home that night. No money or credit cards. No medications. Just the clothes she was wearing.” The anguish in his voice was palpable.
    I reached across the table and placed my hand over his. Adam blinked hard and looked away. After a moment he turned back. His eyes were watery and red-rimmed. I could not remember the last time I’d seen him with tears in his eyes. Certainly never after second grade.
    “Maybe there was something she said,” he almost pleaded. “Something that sounded totally innocent at the time.”
    “There wasn’t, Adam,” I said. “I wish I could say there was, but I’ve thought really hard about it, and there isn’t.”
    Adam pressed his lips into a hard, flat line. “I feel awful for her parents. This is the kind of thing they’ve probably been afraid of for years.”
    “She could still turn up at any moment,” I said. “For all we know, she just showed up at her front door.” I squeezed his hand reassuringly.
    At the same time, I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Courtney, a few tables away, watching us. When our eyes met, she quickly looked away. I turned back to Adam. “I heard there were some guys from FCC at the party?”
    Fairchester Community College wasn’t a place many kids from Soundview went to, unless they couldn’t get into a four-year school. The lines between Adam’s eyes wrinkled. “Yeah, but … I don’t think Lucy said a word to them. We were pretty much in sight of each other the whole night … I mean, until the argument.”
    I kept my hand firmly on his. Strangely, Adam was the one boy my age I felt completely comfortable with physically. Maybe because we’d always been friends and nothing more. “If I can do anything …”
    Adam nodded. “Thanks, Mads, I appreciate it.”
    Mads was his private nickname for me. I glanced again at Courtney. She was staring at my hand on Adam’s, a look of dismay on her face.
    *  *  *

Str-S-d #7
    At school today everyone was talking about how Lucy Cunningham has disappeared. Some people think Lucy ran away and some people think she was kidnapped. I just think, who cares? Good riddance. It’s a relief to walk down the hall without seeing her look at me like I don’t deserve to live. God, I hate her. I’m glad she’s gone and I hope she never comes back .

    4 Comments
Realgurl4013 said …
Luuucky you! I wish I could make some of the kids around heeere disappeeear.
IaMnEmEsIs said …
People get what they deserve.
Tony2theman said …
Why be sorry? She sounds like a real bee-ach.
ApRilzDay said …
Don’t you feel a little weird? I