Callie's Sister

Chapter 1

It was torture having a perfect sister.

Callie made it look effortless, but I knew it took every ounce of energy she had. The problem with trying to maintain the image of perfection was that one little fissure in the façade and the whole thing would come tumbling down.

And bring our whole family down with it.

I was far from perfect and trying to do well enough on my final that a B- wasn’t my official souvenir from Trig. The phone rang, slicing into my focus. Deep in the math zone, I almost didn’t answer it, but finished the problem and grabbed the phone.

“What?” I spat.

“Maddie… it’s…Sarah. Put your mom on the phone.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Just do it!” she shouted.

“They’re not here,” I said. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to speak with them,” Sarah said.

“Sarah, what’s going on?”

She started crying.

“Sarah, are you okay? Where’s Callie?” This was getting weird. Sarah and my sister, Callie, were at our beach house with a bunch of kids celebrating the day after their senior prom.

 The crying got louder.

“I’m….I’m…sorry…” I pushed my math books away and stood up.

“Sarah. What are you saying?” I grabbed my cell phone, punching in Callie’s number.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

Until Sarah answered.

“Hello?”

“Sarah, why do you have Callie’s cell? Where’s Callie?”

“I think she’s dead,” she sobbed.

My legs turned to jelly and I collapsed.

I tried to speak, but no words came out.

This couldn’t be true. It couldn’t.

Callie just went to prom and was about to graduate second in her class and make a speech at graduation and go to Columbia.

And she was home yesterday, and I didn’t even say goodbye to her when she went to prom because she had yelled at me for taking her nail polish, which was so stupid.

What Sarah said made no sense no sense at all.