3 Days by Krista Madden Read Free Book Online

horrible thought occurred to me in that moment. It might be the last time I would ever see Blaine again. And I felt a tear roll down my right cheek.

     

Chapter 13
    I closed the door to my bedroom, shoved a pile of clothes out of the way, and sat at the end of my bed. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the two envelopes in my hand. The envelope with the date marked on it seemed so strange to me. I have seen people label items “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS,” but this was taking that to a whole new level. I tried to think of a way that the date on the envelope was significant. What would I be doing in the spring of 2013? Well, the only thing I could think of was graduation. No matter where I went to school, I would be a senior that year and preparing for graduation. Maybe this was his way of standing beside me when I did. I respected his wishes and began to rip open the envelope labeled “READ NOW.” Smoothing out the lined notebook paper, I quickly realized there wasn’t much written. The letter read:
    Kara,
    I know you won’t understand why I will not be there tomorrow to say “goodbye,” but you have to believe me when I say it is better this way. In fact, you are really going to hate me when I say we cannot see, or speak to, each other ever again. It has nothing to do with the way I feel for you, I care for you deeply. More than you will ever know. It is just something that has to be done. One day, in the future, this will make perfect sense to you. I have something of a dark cloud that follows me, and I can’t bear to see you follow in its wake. Always know that I will be praying that you are adjusting well to your new life, and please don’t let me hold you back from moving forward.
    With a heavy heart, I say “goodbye.”
    Blaine
    I felt like I was going to be sick. No. I knew I was going to be sick. My stomach was doing flips as I felt the bile rise to my throat. I ran down the hall, letter in hand, and locked myself in the bathroom. I lost everything I had eaten earlier that night, along with every secure feeling I had remembered having.
    The move was quick, and the drive seemed too short. Maybe it was because I wasn’t looking back, or because I drifted in and out of consciousness, napping along the way. I had been up all night, comforting my mother by faking a stomach bug. I had nothing left, in my stomach, or elsewhere. As soon as the tires hit the interstate, I made a promise to myself. I would never let myself hurt like this again, never let anyone break me the way Blaine did. I had thought we had a connection, a friendship deeper than just sharing fries at Lingo’s. But I had been wrong, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. So I put up a wall that nobody could get through. Blaine and I were no longer friends. And nobody else will be either .
    ***
    I spent all of my free time jogging. In the last 18 months, I had managed to avoid social situations and coast through school with average grades. It felt as if the only release I could get from my thoughts was in the woods. I was lucky to have found trails that were challenging enough for me. I was becoming quite fast, and some trails were so short I would have to run them three times before I got tired. My parents were constantly worried about me, prying every chance they could get. But I had become a notoriously good liar. I only had to keep up the front for a few more months and I would be graduating.
    It was the beginning of spring in my new town, 2013, only a matter of days before I would turn 18 and set out on my own. College was out of the question. In the time since our move, I had given up on any dream of having a future in art. It seemed sort of pointless to be around all those people learning how to draw when I preferred the solitude of an empty room. Being anti-social was my new normal behavior, and it showed.
    Running was my release. It was my party, my alcohol, my drug. It was the cure to the constant pain that ripped through my chest