“Get back to the journals girls but make sure you are well rested before you begin your drive tomorrow morning. Please be on the road by 9 a.m. at the absolute latest. We can’t risk anyone seeing you after the missing persons report is made.”
“I take it this is the last time we are going to talk until all of this is over.”
“Yes, Emma. It will have to be. I can’t risk anyone discovering where you are or that I know where you are. I’ll be there with you in spirit, thinking of you constantly. Zoë, your parents are doing the same and so much more.”
I smile at her, hoping it will make her feel a little more at ease.
“Goodnight girls.”
And just like that, he’s gone. The screen on the phone flashes an alert of an ended call. I power down the phone and toss it on the bed.
8. THE PENDANT
Zoë and I sit on the edges of our beds facing each other. “I’m exhausted,” she declares. “Let’s get some rest.”
“Sounds good to me,” I say, standing up to turn off the lights in the room. I do another quick check on the door to make sure every possible lock is doing its job. By the time I return to bed, Zoë’s jeans are in a pile on the floor and she’s curled up under her sheets. “Do you mind if I watch TV for a little bit?” I ask her.
“No, go ahead.”
I flip on the television and while the screen fades in from black, I take off my jeans and sling them over the back of a chair. After getting settled in bed I flip through the channels and settle on one of our favorite movies that just happens to be on a cable channel. Zoë smiles and without opening her eyes recites one of our favorite lines, “on Wednesdays, we wear pink.”
Just a few minutes later her breathing changes indicating she has fallen asleep.
I can’t focus on the movie. My nerves keep me awake. I lie in bed staring up at the ceiling trying to will myself to sleep. My mind doesn’t listen and I jump back and forth from topic to topic, all things that cause me stress coming to the forefront.
I think about school and what it will be like when everyone realizes that Zoë and I are gone and nobody knows where we are. I wonder if there will be search parties and how far out they will spread looking for us. I wonder how long we will be gone—how we will keep track of time while we are walking. I wonder how my mom will react when she figures out I’m gone—and Jonah. I forgot about Jonah. The things he will be imagining happening to me pull at my heartstrings.
I think about Zoë’s parents and how they kept such a huge secret from her for her entire life. I wonder if Zoë was brought in to this world to protect me, or if it was just a coincidence that she is only a few months younger than I am. I wonder what the colony will be like, how many people will be there and how they will they keep us alive.
And then my thoughts turn to the one topic I have long tried to push deep down into the abyss of my memory, hoping it will just disappear: Charlie.
My memories of him are often strung together in little fragments like a highlight reel. I relive pieces of the first time we went out together, the first time he kissed me; the first time he told me he loved me. Waves of warmth and sadness spread through me and I can practically feel the rough skin of his palm on my cheek, tilting my head up toward him. Did the curse take him away from me too?
I think of all the conversations we had, the nights we spent at bonfires, school dances, eating pizza with our friends, holding hands in movie theaters. I think about the day I decided to tell him who I really was. How good it felt inside to know that I finally had someone on the outside that would be able to see this part of me. And how before I even got the words out on that warm spring day, he turned completely against me. He became bitterly cold and started making up excuses for why he couldn’t be with me anymore. Each one cut deeper—the final words he said