--Six time award winning novel by June D. Silver-
"Hidden truths are unspoken lies"
As a straight A student, Finnley never got himself into trouble. He goes to school, runs track, hangs out with his two best friends Cristian and Emma and studies; a...
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- Wednesday, January 27th, 2016 -
– 5 days after the disappearance –
"It doesn't make any sense." Emma mutters. We're seated in the lunch room, while we should be in class right now. But I couldn't leave Emma like this. She's been crying nearly every day and when I told her Finnley was depressed, she started all over again; blaming herself for not knowing.
It's hard to find energy to do anything right now. On top of all the stress I experience, wondering about Finnley, worrying about what happened, I will start community service today, right after school.
"How could he hide all of this for us?" She whines, wiping the tears off her face. It's not helping, since they keep rolling down. "Did he even consider us to be his friends?"
It's a thought that keeps running through my mind. Did Finnley still consider us friends when he was able to keep big secrets from me? As it turns out, he started antidepressants about a year ago and his parents thought he told me. I was clueless but I do realize Finnley changed a lot in the last year. There had been a time I was worried, but I guess the medication helped him in some way, because after a short while of worrying over Finnley, he changed back to his cheerful self.
"I really don't know." I admit. "Right now, it feels like he was a complete stranger to be honest."
"But the police are still looking for him, right?"
"They'll consider him missing until they find a b..." I swallow back the word I wanted to use. "Until they find him."
"A body." She snaps. "You wanted to say body." She cries out and covers her face with her already soaked sleeves. "He can't be dead, okay? He wouldn't kill himself." She cries out loud.
"I thought he wouldn't keep secrets from me as well." I sigh. "But I found out he kept two big things hidden from me."
"Stop it." Her voice is in full agony right now. "Stop saying those things! He's your best friend!" She starts slapping my chest and I have to grab her wrists to stop her from hitting me again and again. "We have to find him, okay?"
"I want to, I just don't know where to start." I feel hopeless right now. I don't even know where to look for my best friend.
"Let's go and talk to his boyfriend. Maybe he knows something that can help us." Emma whispers. "Maybe Finn was honest with him."
"I feel so guilty Emma." I look at her. "I feel like I should have known he wasn't happy. I feel like I should have known he needed help."
"But he didn't tell us, so how were we supposed to know?" She leans against me and I put my arms around her, taking a deep breath along with her.
"Because I should have seen the difference with the old Finn. You have to admit he was different from when you met him."
"I know, but I figured he was just growing up a little faster."
