be refrigerated versus what did not. “Thank God. What a glorious day.” The smile she placed on me was full of both appreciation and pride. “You did it, Lorelei. You’re amazing.”
I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t done anything. And her words just brought that to the forefront of my thoughts once again. I hadn’t done anything but watch my friends die, only to meet them in heaven that wasn’t really a heaven so much as a topsy-turvy version of my old world.
But I couldn’t tell her that. She was so … grateful. So I nodded and offered her my best Sunday smile instead.
“Do you know where Grandma and Granddad are?”
“Oh—” She looked around. “—I sure don’t. But I bet they’ll be right back. In fact, they’re probably at the church, firing up the grills. You know how your grandfather likes to get a jump start on these things. On a day like today, who can blame him?”
She literally squeaked in excitement and pinched one of my cheeks softly.
I laughed with her, feeling more lost than ever, and said, “Then I’m going upstairs for a minute.”
Her brows slid together. “Upstairs?”
“Um, yeah, if that’s okay.”
“Certainly,” she said, a nervous laughter bubbling out of her. “It’s just, well, you haven’t been upstairs in a very long time.”
“Really? Like how long?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Never mind me. You go on ahead.” She shooed me away with a wave of her hand. “I’ll tell your grandmother you’re here when she comes in.”
“Thanks,” I said, already ascending the stairs. When I got to my room, my beautiful, wonderful room, I gasped. It was full of boxes and old furniture. My bed was there, but it had been covered up. My grandparents were using this room as a storage facility. Did I never stay with them anymore?
Sadness tightened around my chest. Sure we were practically neighbors, but even as a kid, I’d stay with my grandparents every chance I got. I could hardly wait for my parents to go out of town for this or that so that I could hang out with Grandma and Granddad. We’d watch movies and eat popcorn until midnight, though we never told my parents that. It was always our secret.
I stepped to the bed and cleared off the multitude of boxes that lay atop it. The comforter was dusty, so I took it in my hands and shook it out. A puff of dust filled the air, causing a sliver of panic to rush through me. It was the war all over again. Clouds of dust swirling around me. My throat started to close as the images forced themselves to the forefront of my every thought. I had to force myself to calm. To slow my heart rate. To relax my muscles.
Then I noticed something. In my memories, the images of the war were superimposed with other images, other memories, like a double-exposed picture. I saw two realities. When I was looking down at Glitch, at the blood dripping down his face and over his lashes, I saw myself at Tabitha’s house as she went on and on about a date she had with a college boy. A college boy who belonged to the Kappa Sigs, whatever that was. But I had to promise not to tell her parents. They’d seriously freak.
“Seriously,” Amber said, agreeing with her best friend.
I jolted to awareness, the shock catapulting me out of the memory. A memory that was just surfacing and yet had been there forever, like I’d led two lives. Like I was two different people. I rubbed my eyes, fought the weight of fatigue that had plagued me all day. The weight of sadness that followed me like a ghost.
I lay down on the bed. My bed. The one I’d slept in for a decade.
How could I not visit more often? How could I not be here, in the most sacred place I knew?
My lids felt like lead. I fought to keep them open. I needed to get home and explain to my parents why I’d left school at lunch. They’d be getting a call soon when I was reported absent in sixth hour. I didn’t want them to worry. I’d wanted them for so long, what if I fell asleep and they disappeared again? What if this were all a dream?
DUST AND BOXES
Even the horrid likelihood that I would wake up to find out I’d dreamed everything, that my parents weren’t really back, that the war hadn’t really been diverted, that Glitch