Read Online The Lost by Sarah Beth Durst - Free Book Online Page A

have time for second thoughts, third thoughts, and fourth thoughts, but then I’m there.
    A lost red balloon drifts over the post office. And then back. And then over again. There isn’t any wind.
    Keeping to the opposite side of the street from the diner, I walk briskly toward the motel lobby. I see the same former CEO picking his way through the gutter. The woman in the pink tracksuit lies on the front stoop of a house with peeling white paint. She’s counting her fingers over and over. Neither notices me. I don’t make eye contact with anyone.
    As I enter the hotel lobby, the chimes ring discordantly. I call out, “Hello? Anyone here? Tiffany?”
    A sweet Southern voice answers, “At your beck and call...” Tiffany sweeps into the lobby in a frothy pink dress. Her hair is blond now and done up in a twist. She wears demure gold earrings and an oversize pearl necklace. “You.” She halts and drops the fake smile.
    I hold up the granola bar. “I’d like to make a trade.”
    “Folks at the diner said you ran the Missing Man out of town.” She also drops the accent.
    “He left on his own,” I say. “All I did was tell him my name.”
    “Powerful name,” she says. “Are you Voldemort?”
    “Lauren Chase.”
    She gasps...and then she shrugs. “Don’t know you.”
    “Then you’ll trade?” My mouth salivates. I can almost taste breakfast. I wonder how much she’ll trade for the granola bar she wanted. I’d like a shower in the motel room, too.
    “No way,” Tiffany says. “Victoria runs the only diner in town, and Sean’s a kick-ass cook. His meatloaf is to die for—not literally, unless you want to go ‘on’ instead of home—but if Victoria says no dealing with you, then I’m not dealing with you. Sorry. You seem nice, if insufferably boring, but I’m not risking access to the only decently cooked meal in this hellhole.”
    “I also have these.” I pull out the cuff links. “And this.” I show her the belt.
    “Not interested.” She looks beyond me, out the lobby window. Her face pales. “You shouldn’t have come back.”
    I feel my heart drop. Slowly, I turn.
    A pack of kids has plastered themselves to the window. They don’t speak. They merely watch. Beyond them, adults draw closer. Some of them whisper to each other. Most are silent. Gathering together, they press shoulder to shoulder in a line, as if they are a human net intent on tightening around me.
    My knees feel loose, threatening to cave in underneath me. I feel my palms sweat. “Is there a back door I can use?”
    “I can’t help you.” She’s backing toward the supply closet.
    “Please! They...they don’t look friendly.”
    “Just don’t make eye contact. Don’t talk to anyone,” she says. “Walk out of town without stopping or even hesitating. Don’t look back.”
    “I’ll die out there! I don’t have water or food. I’ll dehydrate and die, and it will be your fault for not helping me when you could. You’ll be responsible for my death.”
    “If you’re meant to be saved, then you’ll be saved. If you aren’t...don’t take me down with you. Please.” She begs on the last word, and for the first time, she sounds like a kid. Before I can think how to respond, she bolts into the supply closet and shuts the door. I am alone in the lobby with only a door between me and the townspeople.
    Someone throws a rock. It crashes into the window, and the glass shatters. Screaming, I dive behind the lobby counter. I crouch and wait to hear more glass shatter and the mob shout. But it’s silent. There are no more rocks.
    Time passes, and I feel my legs cramp from crouching for too long. Slowly, I straighten and peek over the top. The crowd waits. “What do you want?” I shout at them.
    “He isn’t back,” a woman says.
    “Look, this is obviously all a mistake! I didn’t do or say anything wrong.” I hold up my hands in surrender to show I’m harmless. The townspeople murmur to each other. I wish that woman