Last Breath by Diane Hoh Read Free Book Online Page B

of your watch when you got up this morning,” Sophie said helpfully. “So you couldn’t see it.”
    Cassidy lifted her head. “There wasn’t,” she said shakily. “I’d have noticed if there had been. The watch just wasn’t there.”
    When no one said anything, she added fiercely, “It wasn’t there.”
    Still no one said a word.
    I don’t like this, Cassidy thought nervously. Something is really wrong. “Could someone have been in our room?” she asked.
    “Someone?” Ann echoed in astonishment. “Like who?”
    “I don’t know.” Cassidy knew she was clutching at straws. Why would someone come into their room simply to tamper with her clock and hide her watch? That was too ridiculous. But she was desperate for an answer. “All I know is, my watch wasn’t on this table when I left this morning.”
    “Well, it’s here now,” Sawyer interrupted heartily, clearly anxious to have the unsettling business behind them. “All’s well that ends well. Want to go downstairs and get something to eat?”
    Everyone looked at Cassidy. She could see that they all hoped she would answer yes. Then they could go to breakfast and forget all this craziness. That’s what they were hoping would happen.
    And why not? What was the point of continuing to stand here and insist that her watch had been missing when no one believed her? Did she still believe it herself?
    She wasn’t sure. She had been sure, but now…
    What, she wondered, did her friends think had happened? Did they think she had forgotten how to read a clock correctly? That she couldn’t find her own watch when it was staring her right in the face? They were already convinced that she didn’t know the difference between a brand-new, crisp bill and an old, smooth, used one.
    “Do you think I was seeing things?” she couldn’t resist asking. “Or, in the case of my watch, not seeing them?”
    “No one said that, Cassidy,” Ann said calmly. “It’s just that you’ve been sick, and then you took that bad fall yesterday. That must have shaken you up some. Besides, anyone can look at a clock wrong. I’ve done it lots of times.”
    “No, you haven’t,” Cassidy said, her voice cool. “Not you, Ann.” But it was hopeless, she could see that. She was never going to convince them that the clock had been an hour slow, or that her watch had been missing.
    She was glad now that she hadn’t tried to tell them about the TransAm tormenting her yesterday at the mall. The looks of doubt on their faces now would be nothing compared to their reactions to such a crazy story. She’d been right to keep it to herself.
    She suddenly felt very tired, as if she’d run a long distance. Maybe they were right. It had been a rotten week. She hadn’t been herself. Maybe she still wasn’t. It was easy to oversleep when you were exhausted. Then you woke up, looked at the clock, and saw what you wanted to see, right?
    Sophie was probably right: The watch must have been on the table the whole time. Maybe it had slid underneath the clock. Yes, that could explain it. It had been hiding underneath the clock and when she picked up the clock just now to show them, presto, there was the missing watch.
    “You’re right,” she said quietly, “I know you’re right. I was tired, and…”
    “You need something to eat,” Sawyer said quickly. “Didn’t eat breakfast, I’ll bet. Did you?”
    “No. I’ll do that now.”
    As they all left, she couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder toward her nightstand, where the clock sat staring out into the room, its hands smugly pointing out the correct time.
    She had been so sure the small hand had been on the eight when she awoke that morning. Not on the nine. On the eight.
    Being so wrong about something so simple, so basic, left her feeling like she had a big hole in her stomach.
    But maybe that was just hunger.
    Her leg ached all the way through a day of classes, a dance committee meeting, and a visit to the library to work on her