Claire in the hospital hallway.
I remember choosing flowers.
I remember carrying the casket with Claire’s father.
I remember Claire screaming when the cemetery workers lowered it.
“You used your dead sister’s name?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
My eyes turned toward her.
“What do you mean?”
Rebecca’s expression had changed.
The sarcasm was gone.
Now she looked almost gentle.
“Cole, Melissa Ward is alive.”
The gym vanished.
Every sound vanished.
I felt as though someone had opened the floor beneath me.
“That’s impossible.”
“I verified it.”
“No.”
“She lives in Charleston.”
“No.”
“She has for nearly eight years.”
I turned toward Claire.
Her face told me the truth before her mouth did.
I stepped backward.
“What did I bury?”
Claire began shaking.
Derek said, “What the hell is going on?”
I barely heard him.
“Claire.”
She looked at me.
“What did I bury?”
“A casket.”
“With who in it?”
