The Locket by Elise Koepke Read Free Book Online Page A

trip.” A really, really long trip.
    “Okay,” Aunt Jenny began, a bit put out, but understanding. “Well, just call me if you need anything, sweetie.” Savannah nodded and followed Peter to her new room.
    ***
    The next morning, after a long and restless night, Savannah awoke to the one o’clock stroke on her aunt’s grandfather clock. She had spent so much time awake the night before that her body was beyond exhausted when she woke up. The words “night terrors” had a whole new meaning, now that she experienced them every five minutes. When she did fall asleep, Savannah dreamt of death and panic. When she was awake, she would remember everything and could feel no less than loneliness and fear.
    But somehow she would have to learn to manage her days, and the first step to that was to call Marie as she promised. Making her way to the kitchen to brew some coffee—a habit she developed from her summer job at a café—she dialed the all-too-familiar number.
    “Hello.”
    “Ellen?”
    “Oh hey, Anna,” Ellen, never concerned about anyone other than herself, already had that slight tone of irritation. If you weren’t a guy calling for a date, you were nobody calling for no reason. “What’s up?”
    Savannah was not quite in the mood to deal with Ellen at the moment, especially since she was still half asleep. But courtesy was courtesy. “Is Marie there?”
    Ellen, already bored with the conversation, was vaguely aware that there was another person on the phone while she checked her nails. “Nope, sorry, Anna, but she’s taking out the garbage and then she has to clean out the garage.”
    “Aren’t those your jobs?” Savannah replied, scooping coffee into the machine’s filter.
    “Yes, but I’ve decided that it is better for my darling little sister to learn now that life isn’t all fun and games and that sometimes you just have work a little harder.”
    “Work a little harder?” Savannah snorted.
    “Yes, it’s a very important lesson for a girl her age to learn. Besides, it gives me a break from all the work I usually slave over.”
    Savannah chuckled. “So painting your nails and trying to figuring out others ways to become a slut are now considered chores to slave over?”
    Ellen started to reply but cut herself off in a sigh. “Sorry, Anna, I forgot you aren’t just the neighborhood nuisance across the street anymore. I’m sorry to hear about your mom.”
    It was tiring and saddening to hear those words spoken by everyone she talked to nowadays. How would she ever find the energy to deal with it every day? “It’s okay, Ellen, thank you. Now may I please speak to Marie?”
    “Yeah, sure. Hold on.”
    A minute later she heard the sound of her best friend’s voice; a sound that was just as comforting as it was depressing. She missed her already. “Hey, Anna.”
    “Hey.”
    “How was your trip?”
    Savannah shrugged, a gesture so natural she forgot Marie couldn’t see her. “Boring and unsurprisingly tiring.”
    “Mmm. And you stopped somewhere to eat along the way?”
    “Yeah.”   Technically she was not lying. They did stop at a McDonald’s about three hours outside of Albany, but that does not mean she actually ate anything. Peter ended up eating enough for the both of them.
    “Good, because I know you didn’t eat breakfast or lunch yesterday and I don’t want you to get sick.”
    Savannah had to smile at that. Despite Marie’s tendencies to act like a complete and total teenage girl, when it came to people she loved she could act like an overprotective mother.
    “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
    After two hours, Savannah and Marie said their goodbyes and hung up. Things were beginning to look better already; she had a new room that she could decorate any way she wanted, she was in the hands of people who love her, and Marie wasn’t gone, she was just a few more hours away.
    Well, she thought to herself. I think it’s safe to say that things can’t get any