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This memory would haunt me

THE MOMENT ABBY STEPPED inside the heavy double doors of Kennedy High, she wanted to turn back around again Her lack of sleep over the weekend hadn’t helped clear the overwhel from her brain As she made her way to her locker on what felt et through an entire day Her head was on another planet

She grabbed the books she needed for her first two periods With a sharp thwack, she shut her locker door and pressed her forehead against the coldher eyes, she wished for bed After her discovery of the private investigator’s death, she spent the better part of the evening scouring through pages of the journal Even now, the presence of it beckoned her fro it, she had to find a clue of its relevancy in all this The fact her grandfather spent time in Auschas no secret So, what answers could it possibly hold, other than serving as a distraction frorief?

Distraction or not, she wasn’t even sure the journal was helping Sure, it kept her mind off GG’s physical absence, but she couldn’t help but feel herself falling down the rabbit hole of depression The journal wasn’t exactly a light read Ful

l of horrific stories, the appalling accounts of what the Jeent through wasn’t helping her already fragile state-of-mind And the more she read, the more painful and difficult it becarandfather—her flesh and blood—and not a work of fiction

Regardless, she’d finish it, then re-read it slowly if she had to There had to be so After all, GG said the ansere in the details, and with her level of exhaustion, she was lucky she could read at all, let alone find some sort of cryptic clues in the text

“Hello! Earth to Abby”

Abby opened her eyes and turned to face Ca her forehead from her locker

“Welco under the harsh fluorescent light

Abby answered with a grunt and joined her as they walked to their first class

“You want to go to the baseball gaht?” Cammie asked

“Um, I don’t think so Not much of a baseball fan,” Abby said, distracted, her mind still on the journal

“Cute boys in tight pants Biceps Baseball caps What’s not to like?”

“I know I just” They paused as they reached their classroo her to finish

“What?” Cammie crossed her arht You need to go out Get soet yourout “You hardly ever hang out with us”