Total pages in book: 189
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
Devon and his mother left. He dropped her off, then went to his part-time job at the grocery store. He was stocking canned corn when the manager told him his mother had called and it was important he called her back.
He dialed the number and held the receiver with a sweaty hand. Devon heard her crying on the other end the moment she answered.
“Mom?”
“Devon … it’s Riley and Eric … they’ve been found.”
Devon couldn’t understand the words coming from his mother because she was crying so hard.
Dropping the phone, he ran out of the manager’s office. His chest was heaving by the time he was able to get behind the wheel. He squealed out of the parking lot and was driving home when he changed his mind. Doing a U-turn in the middle of the road, he drove to the house his brother and sister had been living in.
He jerked to a stop when he came upon a police car blocking entry into the neighborhood, quickly got out of the car, and tried to run past the yellow tape, but a police officer caught his arm.
“Stay back. You can’t go this way. You’ll have to move your car.”
“My brother and sister live down there!” he yelled, trying to break away.
“Let him go.” The officer he had spoken with at the station got out of a car sitting at the curb.
The officer released him, and Devon walked over to Officer Campbell. “Where are Riley and Eric?” Looking away from policewoman’s grim visage, Devon glanced toward the house that had police cars sitting out front while officers came and went from the backyard.
“Devon, I’m going to call your mother and have her come here.”
He shook his head. “Don’t. She’s too upset to drive. Just tell me. If they’re hurt, I want to be with them,” he started to beg.
She stared at him sympathetically. “There isn’t anything you can do for them, Devon. There isn’t anything any of us can do for them anymore. I’m so sorry.”
Devon felt as if a switch had been flicked inside of him. A darkness encased him in such a deep coldness that he was surprised his body didn’t break into a thousand pieces when the policewoman laid a hand on his shoulder.
“I’ll have one of the officers drive you home.”
“Are they in the ambulance?”
Frowning at him, she stared where he was looking. “Yes, they are about to be taken to the coroner’s office.”
Devon stared at the ambulance containing his little brother and sister with deadly calm. “I want to ride with them.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible.”
He nodded. “I understand. I’ll follow behind them in my car, then.”
“Go home, Devon. There is nothing you can do.”
Without arguing, he got back in his car, moved it to face the other way then pulled up to the curb to wait. When the ambulance drove past, he pulled out to follow.
As they drove through town, he fixedly stared at the ambulance door and stopped a few feet from the vehicle when it arrived at a large building. Watching as the driver went into a garage until the automatic door closed behind them, he still felt eerily emotionless.
While he hadn’t seen them more than six times over the last two years, he had taken the part-time job at the grocery store to pay for their cell phone so he could talk to them every night before going to bed. He remembered the last time he talked to them. He had promised to be at all of Eric’s baseball games when they started in a month and read a bedtime story to Riley despite having an English paper due the next morning. After he finished, he’d ended the call the same way he always did.
“Love you. I miss you.”
“Love you back,” they had told him sleepily.
Hearing their voices in his head, Devon felt as if the switch inside of him had been turned back on, bringing with it a rush of emotions that had his shoulders shaking as the painful sense of loss struck him. He didn’t know how long he sat there, crying, his head on the steering wheel, before he could gather himself and drive home, leaving the tender part of him behind that had been ripped from him.
At home, his mother hugged him, crying out her grief into his arms. He made no attempt to hug her back, making an excuse to go to his room, where he sat on the side of the bed and stared out the window, the moon shining down on him.
Envying the moon being untouchable from the cruelty people could commit on each other, he promised himself never to let anyone take anyone he loved from him again.
A Year and Two Months Later…
Devon took another glance around his bedroom, making sure he hadn’t missed anything. Then he picked up his duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder before heading into the living room, where his mother was sitting on the couch.