The Missing, Kiersten Modglin [ebook reader online free txt] 📗

back on the grass, thinking about all that had happened and willing myself not to be sick. Not to feel sick. I heard Ava giggling about something that James had whispered in her ear, though the rest of us were not privy to the joke.

I felt eyes on me.

I looked over, expecting to see Noah staring at me, but to my surprise, he was staring into the forest, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. I looked down toward my feet, where Harry was lying. He was still playing with the grass, occasionally stoking the fire to keep it going.

Why, then, did I feel like someone was watching me? I looked toward the woods then, thinking about the woman I thought I’d seen earlier. The one Noah claimed hadn’t existed. But, thinking back, I could’ve sworn I caught a glimpse of face. Her long, pointed nose. Fearful, blue eyes.

Or…maybe I was wrong.

Maybe they were green…

The next thing I knew, I was waking up, not realizing I’d even fallen asleep, and there she was. Staring at me from beyond the trees. The blonde woman I’d seen earlier.

I jolted up in a flash, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Who are you?” I demanded, scrambling to my feet.

As soon as I’d moved, she turned, bounding away from me with stealthy footsteps. She disappeared behind a tree, but the white of her clothing stuck out as she hurried through the dark woods.

“Wait!” I cried, sleep still clouding my thoughts. My legs were heavy, my head foggy as I raced toward her. My foot caught in a thicket of weeds, and I fell forward, smacking into the ground thanks to my still-slow-from-sleep reflexes. I groaned, pushing myself up, and cursing aloud as I realized I’d lost sight of her. Which direction had she headed?

I heard a branch crack behind me and turned around, shocked to see Harry with his machete held out. “Are you okay? What are you doing?” he demanded, lowering the weapon and helping me to my feet. He dusted me off carefully. “You scared the hell out of me. I thought you’d been taken.”

“Did you see her? Did you see the woman?” I asked, still looking around and hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

“What woman?”

The hope in my chest deflated. “She was just here… The woman from earlier. She was watching us.”

He looked around, spinning in circles to see every angle. “I didn’t see anyone out here except you. Where did you see her?”

“She was in the clearing with us, near the trees. When I woke up, she ran away. I was trying to catch her, but I tripped…” I tried to catch my breath, still searching the woods for her. She had to be there, she just had to. “I tripped, and I…”

“Do you ever sleepwalk?” he asked carefully, placing a hand on my shoulder again.

The look I gave him must’ve been abrasive, even in the moonlight, because his head jerked back and he frowned, then attempted to smooth things over. His thumb caressed my shoulder. “My daughter did. When she was young… She used to terrify my husband and me. We’d wake up, and she’d just be standing in our room.” He shuddered, just from the memory.

“I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

“Daisy,” he said. “She’s twelve now. Grew out of the sleepwalking years ago.” His voice cracked as he said her name, and when he looked away, I knew he was pretending not to wipe his eye.

“I wasn’t sleepwalking,” I said firmly. “I know what I saw.”

He didn’t look convinced, but refrained from arguing anyway. Instead, he put his arm around my shoulder completely. “We need to get back. Before the others wake up and wander off searching for us. If the woman was here, she’s long gone now.” He looked to the sky. “It’ll be light soon, I’ll bet. You and I can stay awake until then, in case she comes back.”

I nodded, though I didn’t want to leave, and let my feet carry me back to the pseudo-safety of our fire.

“Daisy must miss you,” I said, wondering why he hadn’t mentioned her before.

“They probably don’t even know I’m gone yet,” he said, his tone harsh.

“What do you mean?”

He sighed. We’d reached the clearing where the others were still sleeping soundly, and he sat down beside me, keeping his voice low.

“It’s not my proudest moment, but when I left, Drew and I were in a fight. I told him I needed some space, that I was going to visit my parents for a few weeks.” He shrugged. “For all I know, that was the last thing I said to either of them. I called Daisy the day before we came here, but she didn’t answer. Drew was supposed to have her call me when she got home from practice, but she didn’t before I got on the boat.”

He shook his head dramatically. “This isn’t like me. I’m a planner. I plan everything. I plan our outfits, our meals…and I just…got on the damn boat. Just on a whim. What could go wrong, right?” He gave a dry, sarcastic laugh. “The one time I take a risk, and this is what it gets me.”

“It’s not your fault, Harry. You know that.”

“Then whose fault is it?” he demanded. “Because it sure as hell feels like mine. It was so hard for us to adopt her. We used our entire life savings, spent months waiting, and now, because I had to throw a temper tantrum over a canceled vacation nonetheless, all of that amounts to nothing. She’ll grow up without me because I was selfish.”

He was crying then, no longer trying to hide it. I sat in silence, in horror, at not knowing how to console him. Despite feeling so close to him because of all we’d gone through, he was still mostly a stranger.

“You weren’t selfish. You were human. People are allowed to feel disappointment, anger… It’s normal. But, in the face of all the uncertainty and