Read Online The Everafter by Amy Huntley - Free Book Online Page A

glare like nothing I’ve ever seen from anyone. In the last thirty seconds I have somehow become her enemy. “You can’t go anywhere, Tammy,” I say. “It’s the middle of the night. Youcan’t walk home right now.”
    “I’m leaving. I’ll call my mother from upstairs. She’ll come get me, even if it is the middle of the night. I’m not staying here with any of you guys. I hate you all.”
    She turns again and goes the rest of the way up the stairs. I run aft—

is
    G RIEF THROBS THROUGH ME .
    Because this night is the end of my friendship with Tammy—at least as we knew it.
    It’s pretty weird the way all these trips back are helping me remember most of my life. I remember now how after that night with the Ouija board we all managed to convince ourselves that there weren’t really any ghosts in the room. We got good at turning it into a joke.
    But now I know there actually was a ghost in the room. Because I was there.
    And now I know there was another ghost there, too.
    Tammy.
     
    There are things that bother me about this moment in my life. I return to it time and again to try to puzzle them out. I am careful every time I return to never look too hard for the hair clip. Returning to this moment provides me with the only true companionship I have in this new existence—the ghost of Tammy.
    Ironic, huh? That night ended our friendship—at least our living one—but now it seems she’s my only companion.
    True, she’s the only other dead person I’ve met. Apparently desperation makes the heart grow fonder.
    I just wish she’d answer all the questions I have.
    I want to ask her, how did you know I was there? I didn’t realize you were until you revealed yourself. What did you lose that allowed you to return to that moment? How did you die? And when did you die?
    There might be a lot of my life I still don’t understand, but I have noticed that no item has ever taken me past the age of seventeen. That’s also where all the memories I’m now having seem to end. Conclusion? It doesn’t exactly require the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes to figure out I probably died around then. And even though that idea freaks me out, another realization freaks me out even more. If I can travel to any moment in my previous existence where I lost an object, then Tammy can, too. That means she could have lived long after me. Reached the ripeold age of seventy-five. And then come back to that slumber party when we were thirteen just because she lost some stupid little object there.
    It’s a creepy thought. Disturbing. More than anything else in this afterlife has been.
    There’s another thing, too, that bothers me about this whole slumber party thing: Why—exactly—is Tammy’s ghost apologizing to mine?

lost and found
    age 16
    It’s a terrible habit, this need I have to hold something familiar whenever I’m nervous. I’m sliding into Gabriel’s car on a warm spring afternoon. The sun has heated the car to a stifling, near-tropic temperature. Gabe’s whirring the windows down and turning on the air-conditioning.
    Taking my keys out? Bad idea, I tell myself. Don’t do it.
    But I do. I search my purse to find the keys to my house. Anxiety overwhelms me. New situation, new guy, first time in his car. What do we say to each other? Will this be anything like the short conversations we’ve had from time totime in the past two weeks? Courtesy of Sandra. After I turned down Gabe’s invitation to a party, she told him that I was totally interested in him and that he just needed to give me a little time. So, every few days, he’s been dropping by my locker between classes to chat.
    Sandra thinks I ought to be on my knees thanking her, but I’m not feeling all that grateful to her at the moment. It’s because of her that Gabe came to my locker today and asked if I wanted a ride home. And it’s because I can’t stand to be harassed by her anymore that I’m in his car. Well, that and the way I’m fascinated by