Foretold by Carrie Ryan Read Free Book Online Page B

her skin and smelling her hair when I pretend I’m just rolling over.
    She wants to go back to the compound. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I wasn’t thinking ahead—I don’t even think I know
how
. Before, there was no point. Bright’s father, Jeremy Child, already told us what was going to happen. Don’t bother studying—the world will end before we ever go to college. Don’t bother brushing your teeth—you won’t have toworry about cavities in heaven. Don’t look at that girl—you’ll die long before you ever get your first kiss.
    Lies. All lies.
    Being here with Bright has pushed it out of my mind, but in the night, when all is still and the earth is turning and I can hear the sound of helicopter blades whirring high above the treetops, the truth comes blaring back to me. Everything is a lie. I’ve been lied to by everyone—my parents, my teachers, my friends. And they’ve been deceived, too, by Jeremy Child. We were
supposed
to be in heaven. We were
promised
heaven.
    But instead, I’m in hell. Hell is Bright Child, two inches away from me, softly sighing, with her shirt riding up as she tosses and turns on the hard ground. I can see the strap of her bra and the curve of her back.
    I should be mourning the destruction of everything I’ve ever known, and instead all I want to do is touch her.
    It’s night number three and I give up. I sneak out of the storeroom once I know she’s asleep. Today has been the hardest yet. All she wanted to do was rehearse speeches to give to the congregation about our new mission, but the longer we’re away from the others, the more sure I am that I can’t ever lead her back. Even now, still dressed in her jubilation clothes, with matted hair and smudged skin and the sickly sweet smell of old sweat, she’s more like an angel than a girl.
    Her father named her well. There’s a flame inside her. Her faith is almost blinding in its intensity.
    The trip through the woods is treacherous in the dark, but I can’t risk turning on a flashlight and leading them back to our hideaway. As it is, I don’t know how long we have before the others come for the contents of the storehouse. All things I haven’t considered—all very important pieces ofinformation that go right out of my head whenever I’m near Bright.
    Because when you listen to her talk, her steadfast belief, her dire and glorious convictions, it’s easy to agree.
    I cross the creek and see the lights glinting off glass panes in the buildings on the compound.
    Easy, but not true.
    No one is outside at this time of night, and no one sees me creep up to the windows of the prayer house and peek inside. The elders are all in their little folding chairs, their faces dead and hollow. Shadows lie heavy on their cheekbones and they sit slumped, defeated, and watch Jeremy Child with eyes devoid of the righteous flame I’ve seen in Bright.
    This is why I’ve taken her away. I can’t bear to watch the fire extinguished in her.
    Jeremy is at his lectern, and he’s in full pounding mode. But this time, his words are not about the End of Days.
    They’re about Bright.
    “And is it any wonder that she, the most dutiful and righteous of all of us, should have gone ahead? My dear little girl, our darling angel, is even now making a place for us in heaven.”
    Is he like Bright, steadfastly clinging to his belief despite his disappointment? A lot of the elders are missing from the congregation—including my mother. Where are they? Where does my mother think I am? I wonder if anyone even cares.
    I keep listening for a few more minutes, hoping to hear a word about the other people missing—maybe even about myself—but it’s all about Bright. Our angel, Bright. Our savior, Bright. He argues his prophecy was correct—at least in part. Bright will guide us, Bright will lead the way.
    When Jeremy finally releases them, I duck into the bushes.Before, the elders would burst out of their prayer meetings, on fire to share