Page 29 of Where the Darkness Goes

“What’s that?” He sounds more awake now.

“Tessa and I went to visit your mom today. How long’s it been since you went by there?”

“Come on, dude, don’t start with that right now. It’s been a long day and?—”

“It’s not that.” I stand up and move into the kitchen, lowering my voice. “Someone else had visited her and left a note.”

“What kind of note? For us?”

“No. Well, I don’t know. It was just this little torn slip of paper that said ‘Murderer.’”

He’s quiet, but I know he understands the gravity of what I’m telling him.

“Tessa took it, so there’s no chance the cops will get it, but,” I pause, heaving a breath before I say the sentence I hoped to never utter, “do you think it could be about…”

“Yeah.” His voice is dry and emotionless. “Yeah, I do.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TESSA — AGE 17

“Garrett,” Britney repeats, looking back over her shoulder at me. She wads the paper up without showing us, and I know exactly why she does because I saw my brother’s name on that slip, not Garrett’s.

I should say something. Not that I want it to be Will, obviously, but in the name of fairness, I should make her redraw, right? My eyes linger between the boys, trying to think as Britney zips down the hall to the storage closet between her parents’ bedroom and the laundry room.

“Right this way,” she sings, holding out a hand, and I refuse to look at Will. The awkwardness of this moment—my brother watching me inch toward the hallway, knowing what I’m about to do—is finally settling in.

I could stop all of this right now, have a chance to be with the guy I came with, but…when I find Garrett’s eyes looking at me, I know this is a chance I might not get again.

A chance to kiss him without worrying about what he’ll think or what Will might think. And he seems into it anyway. Or at least not repulsed by the idea.

Everyone is silent as they watch the two of us meet near the entrance to the hall, Garrett’s eyes on me. “Are you sure about this?”

Britney rushes back. “Come on, you two.”

“It’s just a stupid game,” I say with a sigh. “And if we don’t do it, she’ll just find an equally stupid game to make us play.”

“That’s right,” Britney sings again, tapping me on the nose with her finger. She takes my arm and pulls me down the hall. “Now, we’ll start the clock for seven minutes when I get back in the living room. Have fun.”

I step into the closet first, followed by Garrett. The room is spacious, as far as closets go, and filled mostly with towels and bed sheets rather than cleaning supplies, which they keep under the sink. As far as places to spend seven minutes, it’s not the worst.

It smells of laundry detergent and stale air, in that order. When Britney shuts the door, I hear her footsteps fading as she hurries away.

“Should we turn on the light?” Garrett asks, and to my surprise, his voice is shaking.

“Why? Are you afraid of the dark?” I tease.

He huffs a shaky breath. “You know we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to, right?”

“Obviously.” My heart sinks with what feels like rejection.

“I’m sorry I’m not Brendan.”

“Are you?” I lift my face to look in the direction of where he’s standing, though I can only see a vague outline of him in the darkness as my eyes adjust.

“Areyou?” he challenges.

“I asked you first.”

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