Read Online The Hollow by Jessica Verday - Free Book Online Page B

land. As I walked toward my shoes and socks, my head was full of thoughts about that day in the cemetery.
    "For a moment there I thought you were going to fall in."
    I grabbed for my boots and looked wildly around me. Under the bridge, to my left, was a boy. A dramatic black streak stood out in his blond hair. I took a couple of steps toward him, being careful to watch the ground since I was still barefoot, and then looked him straight in the eye.
    "Never," I scoffed. "I was in complete control the entire time."
    He stared back at me and his voice was soft. "Clearly." My tongue tied, and I wished I had something clever to say.
    He just watched me with a small smile on his face, and I couldn't stop staring at his eyes. They were so vivid. I'd never seen a shade of green quite like that before. One corner of his mouth twitched up higher.
    Is he laughing at me?
    I heard a dull thud and realized that I had dropped one of my boots. I stared dumbly down at it until my brain kicked into gear.
    Blushing, and feeling like ten kinds of idiots, I quickly dropped the other one beside it and sank to the ground. My feet were dry enough to put my shoes back on now, but I brushed off some imaginary dirt before slipping on my socks. I paid close attention to each foot, stalling for time. He didn't go away. And he didn't say anything.
    After taking an extraordinary amount of time relacing each boot, and carefully rearranging the bottoms of my jeans, I dusted my hands off and stood up. He was still standing there, with his hands in his pockets.
    "What's your name?" I asked.
    "Caspian."
    He didn't offer anything else. It was starting to get dark now, and I knew I had to get home soon, but there was something I had to ask him. Something I needed to know.
    "That day, at Kristen's house… what did you mean when you said you were there because of me?" I held my breath, waiting for him to answer.
    I heard each word distinctly when he spoke. "I know how much Kristen meant to you, Abbey."
    "You don't even know me. I don't know you. Why-?"
    His shoulders rose and fell as he ran a hand through his hair, and he looked shy all of a sudden. "I don't know. I thought that maybe if I was there, it would help you… somehow. I just wanted to be there for you."
    Those words took my breath away. "Thank you," I said softly. "It did."
    I hated to break the moment, but I knew I was running out of time. "I have to go. I need to get home… dinner…" I couldn't look him directly in the eye. The words he had just said still hung between us. They were huge and powerful words.
    "Yeah, me too."
    A streetlight above the bridge kicked on automatically as the daylight continued to fade around us. It cast a slight glow downward, leaving half of Caspian's face revealed while the other half was hidden by the darkness.
    "So, it was, um, nice to meet you, Caspian, and… I guess I'll see you around sometime," I said nervously. Is this the right way to say good-bye?
    "How are you going to get home?" he asked me.
    "I go through the cemetery," I replied. "There's enough room to squeeze between the two main gates on the one side. Or sometimes I cut around the bridge. It takes longer, but it leads me directly to the main road, and I live right off of that."
    "Will you do that, Abbey? Go around the bridge and take the main road?" He looked very serious.
    "Yeah, I can," I said, although I was fuzzy on the logic behind his question.
    "There could be a crazy person in there just waiting for someone to come walking by. I don't want you to get hurt," he said sheepishly.
    Oh. That was his logic? I had been through the cemetery at night dozens of times before. While it was kind of creepy, and I'd usually had Kristen with me, nothing had ever happened. But I kept that fact to myself.
    "Okay." I smiled at him. "Thanks for thinking of me. See you later." I turned to walk away, trying to hide my megawatt grin before he could see it. He didn't want me to get hurt? Wow. Just wow. I might actually