Home > The Glow (Glow #1)(7)

The Glow (Glow #1)(7)
Author: Aubrey Hadley

“No. I was just on there like ten minutes ago. Let me see that.” I take her phone and search for my name. Nothing comes up. “This has to be a mistake. You mind if I log in?”

“Go ahead.”

I put in my email and password. I get an error message that says my account has been deleted. I have to reread it a few times. The room seems to be shrinking around me.

“Harper, you okay?”

The video of the guy talking about his son comes back to mind. If they’ve deleted my Instagram account already, it probably won’t be long until they figure out where I live.

I catch a glimpse of Maria’s stunned face when I dash for the front door. Halfway across the street there’s a tug at my elbow. Maria pulls me to a halt.

“I have to go home!” I try to tug loose, but her grip is unwavering.

“Harper! What’s wrong?” She says, panting.

“Nuh—nothing,” I say. I can’t put her in danger too.

“I don’t believe you! Tell me!”

“I can’t!” My voice cracks.

“You’re shaking! Please tell me! Everything will be fine, I promise.” She rubs my hand. “I just told you everything that’s been going on with me. You can tell me what’s wrong with you. That’s what friends are for!”

“I don’t want them to come after you too …”

“Who will come after me? Harper, is someone after you? Are you in trouble?”

Fine. I drag her behind a car and duck, pulling her down with me. I whisper into her ear, “You have to pretend you haven’t seen me since last Saturday. You don’t know me anymore, got it?”

“What? Why?”

“I saw something the night I got grounded. When I was running in the desert.”

Her mouth drops. “What did you see?”

“I shouldn’t tell you. They might come after you.”

“Harper, tell me, or I won’t act like I don’t know you!”

Her eyes search my face. My focus bounces between her and the direction of my house. I’ll be able to go home faster if I just tell her. “I saw something glowing. A black figure surrounded by rainbowish vapors, moving through the desert when I was running that night.”

The seriousness in her expression fades a little. “Like a tie-dyed ghost or something?”

“Yes, actually. Except I don’t think it was a ghost. I think Jane might be onto something with her government conspiracy theory. I know it sounds wild, but you see, my Instagram was deleted after I tried to investigate what it was online. Now they’re trying to get rid of me.”

“Okay. So what did this rainbowy thing do?”

“It just … stopped and stared at me. I threw a rock and it went right through the thing! I think it — or whoever made it — is looking for me now!”

“Did it follow you home or something?”

“No. I only saw it in the desert.”

“You’ve had a lot of stress and pressure from your family recently. I’m sure it was nothing. I’ve heard of tons of people seeing strange things in similar circumstances. Everyone was really scared when they announced the Sleeping Syndrome that day, too. Stress shows up in weird ways. Maybe you should talk to someone about this? My school has free counselors.”

She doesn’t believe me. Probably for the best. “You’re right,” I say. “Just remember, I never told you anything. I gotta go.”

My chest seems to be getting tighter. I glance around at the surrounding houses again, making sure that nobody is watching or listening to us. I start to rise and Maria grabs my arm.

“Please, Maria, I just want to go home and be in my own bed. I slept like an hour last night. I’m exhausted.”

“Let me walk you —”

“Please, just let me go. I’ll call you later. Promise,” I snap.

“Harper —”

“I’m fine. Really. You should text Katie or Jane. Ask them to watch the kids so you can go to debate club.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I force myself to smile. “And if you don’t get home soon, one of your snotty brothers could do something stupid and drop dead.” Like I might do soon.

Maria hesitantly loosens her grip on my arm. I sprint home, which is still empty when I get there.

Up in my room, I slam my bedroom door, push my books onto the floor, and pull out my backpack, memorizing a list of things I’ll need for Olivia and me to run away together. I’ll pick her up from her friend’s on the way to the bus stop. Maybe this time we can avoid being found out by Mom’s friends.

When I’m in the bathroom, shoving Olivia’s toothbrush into my backpack, the tightening in my chest explodes into a radiating pain, like needles bursting through my ribs and arm. With each excruciating breath, my vision gets more blurry, and I collapse.

 

 

“Harper! Where are you?” Mom's voice shouts from downstairs.

 The towels I grabbed as I fell are in a cold, sweaty tangle around my body, my insides vibrating with the remnants of the pain that has finally subsided. I tremble as I push myself up from the bathroom floor. I survived it. Perhaps it was a panic attack?

“Harper!” she shouts again.

I wipe away my tears and clop downstairs, freezing when I find Brett and Olivia standing beside Mom, Olivia’s head hung in shame.

Why is Olivia here? She’s supposed to be hiding out at her friend’s house. How in the hell did Mom find her?

“Where were you earlier today?” Mom growls.

I pull my gaze from Olivia. “I was at Maria’s because …” I pause and debate whether I should tell her.

“Because she’s trying to get you to play soccer with your team on Wednesday? I saw her message on Instagram. You’re not going!”

“W-what?” I stammer, my thoughts taking a moment to catch up. “You’ve been logging into my account?”

“I came home about an hour ago because Mrs. Nunez saw you leave.

Crap. I forgot to go around the back.

“And I know for a fact that Brett and Olivia have been on Instagram since you’ve been grounded, so your account shouldn’t be logged in! I don’t want any more of this, I’ve deleted your account. You’ll get it back when you’re not grounded. I don’t know when that will be though, because you’ve just added another two weeks.”

I can’t hold it in any longer. I don’t want to martyr myself for this insane secret. “I didn’t leave to disobey you! I left because I was scared of being alone in the house! I saw something scary and —”

“Put a cap on it, Harper. Not this excuse again. You’re seventeen years old. You need to stop being so self-centered. There are terrible things going on in the world and you need to listen to me! Why is it so hard to just stay in the house when I tell you to?” For a second, she looks like she’s about to cry.

“Go to your room. I don’t want to see you for the rest of the night.” She points her finger upstairs as she hides her face with her other hand.

Olivia and Brett watch, Olivia combing her fingers through her hair nervously.

“Wait,” I whisper.

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