Shadow of a Life by Mute8 Read Free Book Online Page A

done with the cold weather for the
season.” Dad played along. “Sophia seemed nice. Do you have any
plans of getting together with her again?”
    “ I think so. We did hit it
off. Her parents plan on staying here for the entire summer before
they decide to buy or not.”
    “ Maybe we can invite her
family over for a summer barbecue sometime to welcome them to town.
Does she have any siblings?”
    I was starting to get nervous with the
subject and before I could think I blurted out, “She had an older
brother, but he’s dead now.”
    “ Oh. That’s really
unfortunate. Was it recent?”
    “ No. I think it was a long
time ago. She doesn’t really remember him much. I don’t know if her
parents would want to come over, though. She says they’re pretty
private people.” The lies continued to march out of my
mouth.
    “ Huh . . . well, we’ll have
to see as the summer progresses.”
    Dad knew I was hiding something, but
he let the subject drop. He left a tip on the table and we went for
a walk near the water, looking out at Buzzards Bay, before
returning to our car. It was nice to spend time with Dad. The older
I got, the fewer opportunities I had to do it.
    By the time we got home the
sun had set and I was safely able to excuse myself to my room
without causing any suspicion. I really wanted to get started on my
research. As I reached the top of the stairs, I could see a faint
glow coming from under my door. I didn’t remember leaving my lights
on. I slowly opened the door and peered inside.
    “ Hey. You’re back,” Sophia
sang out.
    I jumped. For the umpteenth time in
the last two days it felt like my heart would stop.
    “ I thought you said you’d
knock the next time you came over,” I whispered while looking
behind me down the hallway. The last thing I needed was for Dad to
find out that Sophia was in my room.
    “ I told you I’d knock the
next time I came over, but technically I never left.”
    “ I saw you go out the
door.”
    “ Noooo. You saw me disappear at the door.
I’ve been up here sorting through all this stuff we got at the
library.”
    I shrugged my shoulders and entered
the room, shutting and locking the door behind me.
    “ Where do you want to
start?” Sophia asked. “I’ve been marking pages that I thought were
fairly accurate.”
    “ Let’s start with those
pages then, I guess.” I sat down next to her on my bed and we began
to quietly read. Sometimes we would comment on something or jot
down a note. Other times we would burst out laughing when we came
across particularly funny explanations for the disappearance of
the Mary Celeste’s crew. We read until my neck was so stiff and my shoulders so
hunched that I could barely move. I looked at the clock and was
shocked to see that it was almost 1:00 a.m. I’d been so engrossed
in my reading that I hadn’t even heard Dad come up for bed. If I
knew my dad, he’d walked up the stairs promptly at 10:00
p.m.
    I sighed and tossed the book in my
hand to the foot of my bed. “I think I’m going to call it quits for
tonight. I can barely see straight anymore and it might not mean
much to you, but I’ve still got another week of school left. I
don’t want to be a zombie all day tomorrow.”
    “ I really do appreciate your
help,” Sophia said. “I’ll leave. And I promise I won’t sneak in
while you’re sleeping.”
    Somehow her words weren’t all that
reassuring. We quickly organized the books so that we could return
to them later and I fell deeply into a much needed sleep as soon as
my head hit the pillow.

CHAPTER 6

    I felt like I had an extra spring in my step the next day. All
of a sudden my life had purpose and meaning. For the first time in
a long time I looked forward to summer break.
    Camille immediately noticed the change
in me. “What’s with you today? You seem bouncy.”
    “ I dunno. I guess I’m just
happy that we’re almost through with school.”
    “ Yeah, but we have tests
today.”
    “ Some of us have