Page 2 of The Good Girl

“We have lots of people looking for her, kiddo. It’s safer for you here.”

I feel angry inside because that’s a lie. It’s not safe here. If it was, my sister would still be here.

“If she’s scared, she’ll hide. She won’t come out for a stranger. She’d never go with a stranger,” I tell him so that he knows she didn’t get in a car because someone had candy or a puppy. We’re not dumb. We know the rules.

“She knows to trust the police, though, right? She knows this uniform means safety.”

I nod, then shake my head because I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what’s safe. Home was safe, but now it’s not. What if the same is true for people?

“How about we get you something to drink and a snack while your parents talk to the officers?”

“I’m not hungry or thirsty. I just want my sister.” My voice comes out louder than I meant.

“Nevaeh!” Dad yells.

I spin to look at him, stepping back when he stomps toward me with a really angry face.

“Go to your room.”

“But—”

He grabs my arm tightly, making me whimper.

“For once in your life, do as you’re told. Not everything is about you. If you and yourselfishnesshave cost me my?—”

“Sir,” the nice policeman snaps, stopping him. But it doesn’t matter. I’m ten, not five. I know what he was going to say. He knows it’s my fault Citi was taken, too.

“Just go to your room. I can’t look at you anymore.”

He lets me go with a little shove toward the stairs.

The stairs that lead to the bedroom I share with Citi.

I want to argue with him. I want to beg him to let me sleep in their room or on the couch. But he’s staring at the wall again.

I walk slowly toward the stairs, my hands sweating, my knees shaking, and my stomach hurting even more than before.

When I reach the bottom step, I stop and look behind me, but nobody sees me—nobody except the nice policeman.

He has a look on his face that I don’t understand and won’t until years later.

Pity.

I don’t know if he knew then how things would turn out—that my childhood would disappear along with Citi.

All I know is that my sister never came back.

The world moved on without us, but inside these walls, we were stuck in a kind of limbo.

I didn’t just lose my sister that day. I lost my parents too. And our once-happy home became the place I spent years living with shadows and ghosts.

Prologue II

Havoc

Five years ago

I wipe my oil-stained hands on a rag that’s almost as dirty as my skin and take a moment to stare at my bike with pride.

---