The Lost Sister. Megan Kelley Hall

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СКАЧАТЬ know I can’t.”

      “Come on, Maddie! It’ll be a blast!” Luke insisted. Maddie looked at Luke, wondering how she was ever going to survive without her constant companion. Ever since they were lucky enough to room across the hall from each other in Eaton Hall, sixth floor, since she transferred, Luke Bradford and Maddie had been inseparable. And since he was one of the most sought after guys on campus, Maddie became the instant “best friend” to girls who wanted the inside track to the sandy-haired athlete who could easily pass as a close relative to Brad Pitt.

      Maddie swatted him and started putting her clothes back into the suitcase, allowing her long, straight brown hair to fall over her shoulder, shielding her sad smile.

      “I have a place all set for you on the ship,” Luke insisted. “It’s easy money. Basically, we get paid to have a monthlong booze cruise in a beautiful tropical paradise. Isn’t that much better than going to a freezing wasteland like Hawthorne, Massachusetts?”

      “Not a wasteland, a winter wonderland,” she retorted.

      Luke Bradford’s father—a permanent fixture in the Fortune 500 list year after year—decided that his only son and future heir to his empire needed a good dose of corporate work ethic. Plus, he knew that it would enhance and effectively pad his résumé, allowing him to move one step closer to getting accepted at one of the Ivies. Unfortunately, Luke’s grades weren’t helping to clinch the deal, so a Bradford library might be in order.

      “I would love it, really,” Maddie moaned. “I’d rather do anything than go back to Hawthorne.”

      “Thanks.” Luke collapsed into a chair by the window, staring outside at the snow-covered quad. “That makes me feel special. Spending Christmas break with your best friend is just barely more appealing than going back to a place you hate. No, really, that makes me feel great.”

      It hit Maddie then, how much she was going to miss Luke. She’d taken for granted all of the things that had carried her through the past few months and kept her mind off Hawthorne: his unannounced drop-overs when he’d show up balancing a bag of Chinese takeout in one arm and stacks of horror movies in the other. At times she’d had to remind herself why they never got together. Boyfriends come and go, friends are forever was what Maddie told anyone who asked why they weren’t a couple yet.

      Instead, Maddie sat back, watching him go through girl after girl, always returning back to her to relay all the unpleasant details of each relationship, describing how he felt trapped or bored. And then it was just the two of them again, starting with his knock on the door, pizza, and Red Bull, preparing for a night filled with dirty jokes, mindless movies, and uncontrollable laughter.

      It was better than any real relationship either of them had ever had, and they were both terrified of tampering with perfection. Deep down Maddie knew the real reason that they hadn’t gotten together. Luke respected that she was one of the last few virgins left on campus. Or at least that’s what he said.

      “You know that I love you,” he said earnestly. Just then he rose from the seat, made his way over to her, and dropped down on one knee. “If I asked you to marry me, Madeline Crane, would you reconsider?”

      Maddie raised an eyebrow, waiting for the punch line.

      “Is that a no?”

      Laughing, Maddie pulled all six feet two of him to his feet and he embraced her in a deep, bear hug. He was one of the few people that made her feel small and protected—at five foot ten, Maddie was used to being the giant in the room.

      “You know that if you marry me, you’d have to get rid of all your other girlfriends.”

      “Oh, damn, I didn’t think of that.”

      Maddie pinched his arm hard.

      “Ow,” Luke cried, cowering. “I take it back. I’m not into abusive relationships. I watch Oprah —I know how to deal with people like you.”

      Again, Maddie took a swipe at him. He laughed, retreating just out of her reach.

      It’s strange how life can get better simply by changing your surroundings, Maddie mused. A few months ago, she had been dealing with so much loss and unhappiness. But now all she had to worry about was what classes she should take or what party to attend. She had made a new life, one that she was in control of; not one that was predetermined years ago by families and people she’d never known, but whose blood ran through her veins. People who constantly let her down, like her mother and father. Or those who terrified her, like Kate, her aunt Rebecca, and, now, Cordelia—wherever she was. The other girls were guilty of hurting her that night out on Misery, but Maddie was even more so. She had betrayed her own sister, an act she wasn’t sure was forgivable—under any circumstances.

      “Luke, you know that I need to help my mom right now. I’ve already made all the arrangements….” Maddie’s voice trailed off. She honestly didn’t know what Abigail needed anymore. What any of them needed these days. Closure? Support? Forgiveness? Or the ability to forget and move on? All of it seemed a pipe dream.

      Maddie had successfully trained herself—her mind, her body—to become numb. After Cordelia disappeared and Rebecca was institutionalized, Maddie’s emotions sort of turned themselves off.

      The truth was that Maddie was terrified of going back, afraid of what she’d find, afraid of facing the truth, afraid of the consequences. Maddie left that world far behind when she started at Stanton Prep. How could she possibly return to Mariner’s Way—even if it was only for a short school break—constantly being confronted by old ghosts and shadows of her former life?

      Luke nodded his head, becoming uncharacteristically sympathetic. “I know, Maddie, really I do. Just don’t get any ideas about moving back there, transferring to Hawthorne and joining the water polo team or whatever the Christ they do out there,” he needled, his goofy, lopsided grin returning.

      Luke was born and raised in New York, and the idea of a small New England town was so foreign to him. But then again, his life—growing up wealthy in New York City—was just as much a mystery to Maddie as her life was to him. Sure, she’d told him stories about growing up in a small-minded, puritanical society. And he knew about Cordelia—the way she was treated and the night she disappeared. He knew bits and pieces of what had happened out on Misery Island. But she could never let him know her own involvement in the horrific events of that night—that she was too afraid to stand up for her own flesh and blood. That she was just as guilty, if not more, for the treatment Cordelia was forced to withstand. She couldn’t imagine what he’d think of her if he knew the truth. “I was actually thinking I might do a little more digging to see what I come up with on Cordelia,” Maddie offered lightly, curious to see his reaction.

      “Maddie, come on!” he said, exasperated. “Seriously, you don’t need to bring up that shit again. Whatever happened to your cousin was not your fault. She obviously was happy to leave that town and your family behind. And you should think about doing the same, okay?”

      “Luke, come on,” Maddie persisted, remembering how angry Luke used to get at her on the nights they’d stay up late talking and she would tell him about the hazing rituals that took place out on Misery Island.

      “ It wasn’t your fault ,” Luke would say over and over.

      But he wasn’t there; he didn’t know the whole story. And if he did know, would he still look at her the same way? Or would he look at her with the same amount of disgust that she felt she СКАЧАТЬ