Page 1 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

PROLOGUE

SKYLER

Rain came down heavily, the wipers working overtime as music boomed within the small car. Beside me, Evelyn rolled down the window and flicked her cigarette through the crack, reaching into the backseat for her clutch bag. Unzipping it with eager hands, she doused herself in a cheap body spray that smelled of coconut and pineapple. The car swayed on the road, and I quickly righted it, releasing a startled laugh. I knew I shouldn’t drink and drive, but one beer had turned into more.

Evelyn laughed too, her head thrown back against the seat. “You drive like shit.”

More giggles that I could barely hear over the music. “It’s the first time I’m driving your car.”

Evelyn was high. It made more sense for me to drive.

Turning the radio down, I leaned back, clasping the leather steering wheel tight as if that would make driving intoxicated in a downpour any easier. Newsflash, it didn’t, and if my father got wind of this, I would be in so much trouble. He was always on my case when he wasn’t busy drinking his troubles away.

Evelyn hummed along to the music and peered at me with a glint in her eyes. “Dustin likes you. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you at the party tonight.”

My smile betrayed me and I tried to hide it by checking the side mirror to my left, but it was too late. Evelyn had seen it.

A wide smirk touched her plump lips as she smacked my arm playfully. Evelyn was insanely pretty with her blonde, wavy hair, piercing blue eyes, and tanned complexion. Meanwhile, I was that awkward friend who never strayed from hoodies and boyfriend jeans. My brown hair lived in a high ponytail three-hundred-and-sixty-five days of the year, and my hazel eyes were free of makeup. On days when I felt adventurous, I’d wear sheer lip gloss, but that was the extent of it.

“He does!” she insisted, beaming at me with her glassy eyes. Like me, she was still feeling the high of the party.

“You’re so insistent I should date him.”

“Because he has pursued you for fucking ages. He’s like a puppy with a bone.”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “He’s not.”

“Trust me, he is.”

There was one person I had crushed on since I’d first noticed boys, and that was Nate, the school’s popular quarterback. With his raven hair, steel-gray eyes, and a jawline that was guaranteed to set him up for a modeling career, he was basically a work of art. Shame he’d never looked at me twice. Why would he when the popular girls at school threw themselves at him? We moved in the same circles, thanks to Evelyn—a cheerleader—but Nate was the definition of out of my league.

Evelyn didn’t know about my silly crush. I’d never told her. It was too embarrassing, if not cliché.

“So,” she said, nudging me with her hand, “are you gonna go out with him?”

Chewing on my lip, I shrugged noncommittally, inwardly cursing the rain. With a deep breath, I reached forward to turn the volume back up. If it were loud enough, Evelyn wouldn’t be able to ask any more questions, which suited me fine.

As I straightened back up, I let out a gasp and slammed the brakes, but it was too late. The impact was almost immediate, but that’s not what stopped the car. Evelyn screamed next to me, and I’m sure I screamed, too. The heavy thud still seemed hauntingly loud as I lost control and went careening down the embankment. My body bounced forward when we crashed into a tree, only to be met by the airbag.

Breathing heavily, I stared out the side window for a long moment, trying to catch my breath. I was trembling all over, my heart thundering in my chest and roaring in my ears. Each thump struck my rib cage like the bang of a gavel.

I threw open the door and stumbled out, spewing my guts over the tall grass. Behind me, the sound of the passenger door opening mixed with the pattering of rain on the leaves overhead. The tall, spindly trees stretched far into the dark sky that was void of stars tonight.

“We hit something, a man,” she whispered, coming to stand beside me, where I was bent over with my hands on my knees. “Fuck…” Then louder, “Fuck!”

My esophagus burned, and my mouth tasted of sick. I spat one last time before straightening up and wiping my mouth with the sleeve of my hoodie. Casting a glance behind her at the roadside, I waited for someone to come walking over to shout at us. But nothing happened. The road remained an empty, dark void.

“What do we do?” Evelyn’s shaken voice drew my attention away from the road. The cold rain quickly soaked through my hoodie, causing me to shiver almost violently. Evelyn was even worse off in only a thin red cashmere top and a black skirt.

“We have to go and look.” I gazed back at the car, which was a wreck, swallowing down the urge to puke again.

“No. No. No.” She shook her head, pacing in a small circle. Her wet hair was stuck to her cheeks, and a trail of blood ran down her temple from a cut near her hairline. “If he’s dead, then all of this becomes real. I can’t…” She shook her head again, more vehemently, as though denying the crash could make it go away.

Looking back at the roadside, I walked off, half climbing the small hill. The grass was slippery beneath my white Chucks that weren’t so white anymore. I still refused to part with them, though.

“Fuck…” Evelyn took chase, struggling to keep up in her heeled shoes. She fell more than once before we finally stepped onto the roadside, gazing down the desolate road. There wasn’t a car in sight this late at night, and there were no streetlights to illuminate our way.

“I can’t see anything,” she stated quietly beside me.

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