I peer back into the trees. But there’s no one there.
Davy’s gone.
13
“Davy!”
The movie is a distant thrum. All I hear are my own harsh breaths as I run through the trees. It’s even darker under the tree cover, but Davy was wearing a white shirt, his hair is blond; I should be able to see him—
A light from somewhere behind me, illuminating a tree trunk—I whip around to see Seth shining the flashlight from his phone in front of us.
Cursing myself for being stupid while I panicked, I forge on, now with Seth’s light to guide me. “Davy!”
“Davy!” Seth’s voice joins mine.
Then there’s a rustling somewhere nearby.
The phone light bounces off the tree trunks. I dart around a big tree—and let out a sigh of relief.
There are two people standing very close together. One of them is Davy.
The other is Marion.
They blink at the light.
“Davy,” I finally manage. I don’t know whether to scream at him or hug him.
He shields his eyes from the phone light, at which point Seth directs it to a point above their heads so they can see. Neither of them looks guilty. In fact, once Seth stops shining the light in their faces, they go back to looking at each other.
“Davy,” I say, louder.
“We’re just catching up.” There’s a note of desperation in his voice, like he’s about to be torn away from Marion, like they only have so much time.
Seth’s hand is on my arm. “Does anyone know you’re here?” That, he addresses to Marion.
The guilty look on her face makes the answer clear. “I just wanted to watch the movie.”
Her voice is as soft as it’s always been. She’s wearing jean shorts and a black crop top, her dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. She looks younger than she did at the wake, without the curls and thick eyeliner. She’s gotten taller since last summer but is still almost a foot shorter than Davy.
“You don’t have to lie to me,” Seth says. “I’m not Kendall.”
Marion’s face gets even guiltier, and she cranes her neck to look past us. “Where is she?”
“In the park somewhere.”
“We just wanted to talk.” Davy looks defiant now, almost angry. “Is that a crime?”
“No,” I say, more gently this time. “But you could have texted me or something. You can’t just go disappearing into the woods right now, Davy, you know that.”
I expect Davy to look ashamed, immediately apologize. Instead, his frown deepens. “You’re the one who told me there was nothing to worry about.”
I falter. “I said I thought there was nothing to worry about.”
He straightens up, takes Marion’s hand. “We need to talk.”
“Where are you—”
“We’ll go back to the park. To the blanket. Could you leave us alone for a little while, please?”
I can only watch as my brother walks off through the trees, Marion at his side. When they disappear, I make a motion to follow them, but Seth’s hand on my arm holds me back.
“I think you need to give them a minute,” he says.
I shake his hand off. “Don’t tell me how to deal with my own brother—”
“I’m not. I’m just saying, if you don’t want to push him away further, you should give him some space.”
I look into Seth’s face. “Push him away? I’m not…He’s never talked to me like that.”
“He just wants you to stop treating him like a little kid, Addie. You do that, you know.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him Davy is a kid, that if I’m not looking out for him, no one is. But there’s a lump in my throat that makes it difficult to speak.
“This is your fault,” I manage.
Seth’s eyes widen. “How do you figure that?”
“If none of you had come back here, none of this would be happening!”