The Replacement Sister

Part 5

Tonight, I smile for the first time in a long time. I hum. I grin at Lucy. I think of Nico.

When my parents ask me what I thought of the party, I tell them about a friendly boy who talked to me, although I don't say what I confessed to him. They're surprised and happy. They've been telling me this past year that I need to make more friends.

"What's his name?" they ask.

"Nico Valerian," I say.

Then Lucy wails, because she managed to mutilate her pacifier by teething on it. My parents are instantly by her side. "Avery, would you mind throwing this out?" Mom asks, tossing me the shredded silicone.

When I open the trash can to throw it away, I want to scream.

There, in the midst of stale bread and banana peels, is every single picture of Maya we had in the house. All the family pictures from before. Hiking trips. Holidays. The school play where we were both flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.

My parents want to make it easier to forget.

Slipping out of the house is easy. No one even notices. I'm walking and I'm walking and I tell myself I'm never going back.

It starts to storm. Rolling thunder and blinding flashes of lightning. It's so misty I can't see a foot ahead. I feel my way into an unused alleyway, well hidden, and wait for the storm to pass.

I wake early in the morning, when the sun emerges and the lulling sound of rain ceases. I just sit in the alleyway; try to hide myself further; because I don't know where else to go.

It's funny how you can know exactly where you are, and still be lost.

I hug my knees and wait, but I don't know who I'm waiting for. Maya? Lucy? Nico? Me to turn back into the old Avery, the one from Before?

Suddenly, my parents are sprinting towards me. They hug me like the world's ending and sob.

They lead me home. I was on the news, they said. Police were out looking for me. A woman Dad knows passed by the alleyway where I hid, spotted me, and recognized my face. She called my parents, and they dropped everything to rush over here. We phone the police to tell them the search is off.

"Promise us you'll never do that again," they plead.

"I won't," I vow.

Then suddenly, all I want is to see Nico. I tell my parents that. "I don't know where he lives or how to reach him, but maybe we could look in the phone book or something."

My parents stop walking. Their relieved, grateful expressions fall away, into an emotion I can't identify.

Pity? Guilt?

"What?" I ask, getting nervous. "What's wrong with Nico?"

Dad places a hand on my shoulder. "Avery, Nico saw your face on the news. He wanted to look for you himself, but his brother wouldn't let him leave in the storm. He slipped out alone while his brother was sleeping. The police were also searching for him."

"Did they find him?" I ask, panicky.

"At about three o'clock this morning."

I exhale. "So? Can I see him?"

Mom takes my hand in hers. "Avery, honey, they found his body."

Silence. The birds stop chirping. The gentle breeze dies into stillness.

"They think he was running, slipped and fell, and was knocked unconscious. By the time the police found him, he'd lost too much blood."

My hands are shaking.

Dad grasps my other hand. "Avery, I'm so sorry," he chokes out.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mom asks softly.

"No," I say.

I let them lead me home.