Read Online Losing Her by Mariah Dietz - Free Book Online Page B

work to comfort her and break through her walls, the more of her I lose.
     

     
    The day of the funeral arrives and I feel the shadow looming with such darkness, it’s hard for me to focus on much else. I’ve been dreading this day. Everything is still so fresh and raw. I know the tiny layer of skin that has started to build over the deep wound is about to be ripped off, and I fear that the laceration may be deeper this time, especially for Ace, who still isn’t fairing well. I have yet to see her eat more than a few bites or sleep a full night.
    A few days ago, she started vanishing. Completely disappearing. Always in the middle of the night when no one is there to see her go. She had asked me not to stay over anymore after the first night. I had tried not to act as hurt as I felt and nodded in response but begged her to let me help, to talk to me. She didn’t, and hasn’t.
    The next night I was lying awake in my bed, mulling over Ace’s recent changes and contemplating what effects I caused and which were from David, when I received a frantic call from Kendall. It was two in the morning and Ace’s first act of disappearance, which turned into one of many. We were all freaked out, not sure of where she could have gone, as we scoured the entire house top to bottom and found her cell phone and belongings untouched. Her car was still in San Diego, so we knew she hadn’t driven anywhere.
    Kendall called Caulder and Kyle, and Muriel called the police, as Jenny, Jameson, my mom, and I began frantically searching for her, calling out and waking up half of the neighborhood who joined in our efforts to find her. The police and the rest of the family arrived shortly thereafter.
    It was Mindi who realized where she’d be. She was tucked away in the shop, fast asleep on the bench seat of Clementine.
    “She and dad used to spend hours out here together when we were kids.” She said it like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was. I could sense it.
    “Something isn’t right,” Kendall admitted softly.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Kyle kicking over a lawn chair and turned to watch as he looked up at the sky, spewing a train of curses. I didn’t know if it was to David, a higher being, or no one at all, but he bent over and picked up the same lawn chair he’d kicked and heaved it at the ground, following after it and kicking it viciously. I’m pretty sure it was his way of admitting that he also knew that things weren’t right.
     
    I’ve hardly seen Ace all morning and have a feeling that’s what she’s intended.
    People begin arriving, sifting through the funeral home, and still, I don’t see her. Apparently even Jenny and Kendall aren’t sure where she is, and she rode here with them.
    Abby, Jesse, Adam, Jameson, and I comb the unfamiliar funeral home for her and come up empty handed. Finding her at her own house has proven to be difficult. How in the hell are we going to find her here?
    “I know where she is,” Kyle says, dashing out a back door before any of us are able to comment.
    I turn to follow him, and Muriel approaches me, asking me to bring the casseroles and other sundry food items like bags of lettuce and rolls that have continued to be left at their house to a homeless shelter. I’m about to object and suggest they actually heat one up. I haven’t seen any of them eat anything, let alone a meal, but she wastes no time turning and bustling over to straighten a large photo of David and the girls that sits on an easel by the open casket.
    It’s been five days since David passed away. He’d been at work at Saint Andrew’s Hospital, surrounded by cardiac doctors and nurses—some of the best and most prominent surgeons in the country—but it had been too late from the moment it occurred.
    They found out that David, a heart specialist, had an aortic aneurysm. They tried to resuscitate him. My mom said they had tried well past the point where even if he had come back, he would never