Page 1 of Amethyst

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MAX

“Ihave your father on line one.”

“Thanks,” I say to my assistant, Trixie, and I pick up the phone. “Hey, Dad.”

Only silence greets me on the other end of the line.

“Dad? You there?”

“I’m here, Max.”

His voice is…strange. The depth is there, but the emotion behind it… I can’t place it. He doesn’t sound sad, but he doesn’t sound happy, either.

“What is it?” My heart rate begins to rise. “Are you okay? Is it Mom?”

“We’re fine.” Then the rumble of him clearing his throat. “I have…news.”

“Give me the bad news first,” I say.

“It’s not bad news, son. It’s…good news, actually.”

Good news? Then what’s with the strange voice?

“Okay…”

“It’s the best news, actually.”

“Then why do you sound so weird?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound peculiar. Mom and I are still working through this, as are Dick and Susanna.”

Dick and Susanna?

He means Dick and Susanna Holland. The parents of Jenna Holland.

Jenna Holland…

Jenna was my best friend since preschool. By the time we were seniors in high school, I had fallen hopelessly in love with her. Since neither of us was dating anyone at the time, we decided to go to the senior prom together. We had both recently turned eighteen, and I planned an amazing night for us.

A night where I would tell Jenna the truth that I had discovered in my soul.

I loved her.

Part of me loves her still.

But we never made it to the prom…

“What are you trying to say, Dad?”

Another throat clear, this one longer and more reverberating. “It’s amazing news, Max. Jenna is home. She’s alive.”

* * *

Eight years earlier…

I saved up for months, counting every penny from my afterschool job at a local fast-food joint to pay for the limo I’d ordered for prom night.

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