H
Chapter Twenty-three
* * *
Les,
I can’t tell Mom. Mom’s in intellectual property law. She wouldn’t know what to do any more than I do.
H
Chapter Twenty-four
* * *
Les,
It’s almost midnight. Twelve hours I’ve let this continue without giving her a single explanation for what happened at lunch today. God, I hope I didn’t make her cry.
H
Chapter Twenty-five
* * *
Les,
She’s probably asleep right now. I’ll tell her in the morning. She runs every morning so I’ll just show up and run with her, then I’ll tell her. We’ll figure out what to do after that.
H
Chapter Twenty-six
* * *
Les,
I can’t sleep.
I can’t believe I actually found her.
H
Chapter Twenty-seven
* * *
Les,
Why do you think she calls herself Sky?
There was this thing we used to do when we were little. We only did it a few times because she was taken shortly after that. But she used to cry all the time and I hated it, so we would lie in the driveway and watch the sky and I would hold on to her finger. I remember thinking it was gross to hold a girl’s hand so I would always hold her pinky, instead. Because even though I was just a kid and it was gross to hold a girl’s hand, I really did want to hold her hand.
I used to tell her to think about the sky when she got sad and she always promised me she would. Now here she is. And her name is Sky.
It’s three in the morning. None of this makes any sense. I’m going to sleep now.
H
Chapter Twenty-eight
* * *
Les,
Well, I ran with her. Sort of. It was more like I chased her. I couldn’t bring myself to speak to her once I showed up. Then after the run we were both so exhausted we just collapsed onto the grass.
I was hoping that the incident in the cafeteria yesterday would spark some sort of memory from her. I was hoping when I showed up today that she would know exactly what upset me so much yesterday. I wanted her to tell me she remembered so I wouldn’t have to be the one to tell her.
How do you tell someone something like that, Les? How do I tell her that the mother who raised her could very well be the one who stole her from us?
If I said anything, her life would change forever. And she likes her life. She likes running and reading and baking and . . . holy shit.
Holy shit.
It didn’t make sense until just now, but the whole internet thing? Her mom not wanting her to have a phone? Karen did it. Karen fucking took her and she’s doing everything she can to make sure Sky doesn’t find out.
I don’t know what to do. I know I can’t be around her right now. There’s no way I can be around her and pretend everything is fine when it’s not. But there’s no way I can tell her the truth, either, because it would turn her world upside down.
I don’t know what will be more painful. Staying away from her so she doesn’t find out, or telling her the truth and ruining her life all over again.
H
Chapter Twenty-eight-and-a-half
* * *
Les,
It’s Thursday night. I haven’t spoken to her since Monday. I can’t even look at her because it hurts so much. I still don’t know what to do and the longer I just let this go on, the more of an asshole it makes me look. But every time I work up the nerve to talk to her I have no idea what I’d even say. I told her I’d always be honest with her and this is just something I can’t be honest with her about.
I’ve been trying to figure out why Karen would do something like this, but there isn’t a single valid excuse in the whole world that could justify someone taking a child. I’ve even thought about the chance that maybe Hope’s dad didn’t really want her, so he just gave her away. But I know that’s not true because he did everything he could to find her for months.