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A breeze fluttered her hair in the answering silence Everything inside her ached for GG’s presence

Alongside her grief, a new e darker

“I found out your secret, the one that was so awful you died with it Thanks for that, by the way” Abby clenched her jaw and leaned forward, bending down by the bench, plucking a daisy froround

Anger zipped through her veins—hot and jagged How could GG leave me with this?

“What am I supposed to do now, huh?”

Her legs twitched She stood, needing to ht “This is so unfair You said you never got the evidence you needed to confir, but you didn’t even try Did you? Not really You just gave up!”

Abby’s chest heaved Raising her fists to the sky, she shook, wishing she had never opened GG’s stupid letter in the first place Wishing she had never started any of this Mr Klein was right GG never should’ve asked this of her

“I’m only ei

ghteen,” she screamed into the wind “How am I supposed to deal with this, to knohat to do? You said you were a coward and that I a, but I’round, choking on a sob

How could she face this alone?

She sunk further into the war the tears to fall for the first tirief of the last feeeks exploded like fireworks in her chest, pouring out of her, soaking into the dirt Her chest heaved, and she hiccupped as she tried and struggled to catch her breath

Weeks of unshed tears purged at once Snot ran down her face into hera salty trail in its wake, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care GG’s funeral, Lawson, the storage unit in Newberry, the randfather’s face all flashed in her head—an ominous slideshow she had no idea how to handle And she shouldn’t have to The injustice of the burden burned her the most

Regardless, this landed on her lap, and now she had a choice to make

She cried herself dry, knowing it wouldn’t help, but was unable to stop Her chest ached, and fire ravaged her raw throat

When she pushed herself up on shaking legs, she pressed her palms to her eyes until the tre them, she wiped the moisture on her jeans Her head pounded as she wobbled toward the pool house and leaned her weight against it, propping herself up since she no longer had the energy to stand on her own