old. You know his parents barely talk to him. We’re the only family

he has.”

“I don’t give a shit about Caleb!” I shout and my lungs nearly

combust. But it feels good. Really, really good. I press my hand to

my chest, calmly let go of the countertop, and straighten my

shoulders. “I’m going to go out to breakfast with Seth.”

Her eyes are amplified and her lips start to part in protest,

but the look on my face quiets her. She cinches her mouth shut as

the lid slips off the bottle. “Fine, have fun.” The pills rattle as she pours a couple into the palm of her hand.

I put the cereal back in the cupboard, set the bowl in the

sink, and hurry out the back door. I run across the driveway and

jog up the steps of the two-story garage. When I open the door,

I’m surprised to find Seth sitting on the edge of the bed, awake

and dressed in a red T-shirt and a pair of dark denim jeans.

“You’re up,” I say as I shut the door.

He tousles his hair into place with his fingers. “I woke when

you ran out of here like there was a fire. What was up with that?”

I shuck my jacket off, ball it up, and toss it onto the bed. “I

saw my mother heading out here and I didn’t want you to have to

deal with her.”

He hooks his watch onto his wrist as he wanders over to his

shoes that are at the foot of the bed. “Callie, no matter how many

jokes we make, I can handle your mom.” He slips his foot into his

boot. “Trust me, if I can handle my own mom, then I can definitely

handle yours.”

I frown as I sink down onto the edge of the bed. “But you

haven’t talked to your mom since you told her about Greyson.”

He shrugs as he laces up his shoe and fastens a knot. “She’ll

get over it. It’ll just take some time, just like it did when I told her I was gay.”

I flop back onto the bed and drape my arm over my

forehead. “How do you decide what’s worth telling your parents

and what’s not?”

He’s silent for a while and then I hear his footsteps as he

walks around to my side of the bed. He lifts my arm off my head

and looks down at me. “If you’re asking me if I think you should

tell your parents about what happened with Caleb, then the

answer is yes. I think you should.”

He releases my arm and I lean up on my elbows. “How can

you be so sure?” My mouth sinks to a frown. “She could get mad

at me. Or she could hate herself as much as I hate… hated myself.”

Seth brushes my bangs out of my eyes with his fingers.

“Callie, if she hates herself for a while, then she hates herself for a while. You’ve been carrying around the burden for the last six

years and it’s about time someone else took a little bit of the

weight off of you.”

“I’m not sure I can,” I whisper, clutching at the dull ache

inside my chest. “There’s just so much… so much acceptance in

telling her the truth.”

“Like you might have to accept that it’s finally real?”

I nod as I gaze at the clear sky outside. The sunlight is

beaming down on the houses across the street. Sunlight is a rare

occurrence in Afton, but maybe it’s a sign that not everything is

caped in darkness. That light does exist even in the darkest of

corners.

He moves back as I sit up and head for my bag on a fold-up

chair near the door. “I was thinking we could go out to breakfast

this morning. There’s this café in town that has the best pancakes

in the world.” I take a purple shirt out of the bag and a pair of

jeans.

“I was thinking we could go see Kayden first,” Seth says as he

texts something on his phone.

“But he’s not allowed visitors.” I hold my clothes to my chest

and head for the bathroom to change.

“Yeah, he is.” Seth sets his phone down on his knee and

takes a deep breath. “I just got a text from Luke saying that not

only is Kayden allowed to have visitors but he’s leaving the facility today.”

I stop in the middle of the room as reality finally catches up

with me. Although I’d never admitted it aloud, I’d wondered if I’d

ever see Kayden again. That maybe he didn’t even exist and that

everything that had happened between us was just my

imagination attempting to force my mind to thrive again. “Should

we wait for him to get out and then go see him?” I stare at the

open bathroom door.

The mattress squeaks as Seth gets up from the bed and

steps into my line of vision. “I think we should go pick him up.

Luke said that his mother’s supposed to and then she’s going to

take him home, but he thinks we should go pick him up and take

him somewhere.”

I raise my chin up and meet his eyes. “Like kidnap him?”

Seth laughs at me and his face turns red and his eyes water

over. “He’s nineteen years old, Callie. We can’t kidnap him if he

wants to go.”

“But isn’t he supposed to be being watched?”

“What? At his parents’ house? With his dad?”

I free an unsteady breath from my lungs. “But I worry that we

might be doing more harm than good… running away.”

Seth steps closer to me, places his hands on my shoulders,

and fixes his eyes on me. “You want to know what I think? I think

that you’re afraid.”

I hug my clothes tighter against my chest because I need to

hold onto something. “Of what?”

“About hearing the whole story about that night. I think

you’re afraid of the truth.”

“But what is the truth exactly?” I ask.

Seth gives a lopsided smile and gently shakes my shoulders.

“That’s for you to find out because he needs you.”

He’s right. I’m afraid of everything that night holds and that

I’ll have to admit that it’s my fault. I’m afraid I’ll learn that Kayden was really trying to kill himself, trying to leave me alone in the

world. That he’ll leave me again, and I need him like I need air.

“Where will we take him, though?” I wonder. “My mom’s

made it really clear that she doesn’t want him here.”

A devilish grin spreads across his face. “You leave that to me.

All you need to do is bring your bag and tell your mom you’re

going to be gone for a couple of days.”

My eyebrows dip together. “You’re not going to tell me

where we’re going?”

His grin widens and his hands leave my shoulders and

reunite with his sides. “It’s called a surprise road trip, Callie.”

I drag my hand across my face. “You think that’s a wise idea,