“Harlow? Are you okay?” The sound of Grandma Agnes’s voice caught me off-guard. I was still standing with my back pressed to the door, panting, my eyes closed, and I hadn’t realized she was in the kitchen. When I raised my eyelids a crack, I could see her standing across the room at the stove, stirring something in a pot, likely making our din

On the ride into town to visit the grocery store, Max wasn’t his usual quiet self. It was kind of odd. Most of the time, when we were traveling in the car together, I was shocked if he said more than two words, but on that day, he was quite chatty--which was kind of cool, but also just one more thing that was suddenly different in my life. “How are you li

My eyes were barely above the dashboard of the minivan, so I couldn’t really see out. When I heard the door to the grocery store chime, I prayed it was Max coming out, not Ben, but I didn’t dare look out. Since no one approached the van right away, I had to figure it was Ben. The urge to peek, to lift my head just slightly and look around to see if it was him was excruciating, but I didn’t do it. A few seconds later, I heard an engine turn over and still waited. Once I had heard the vehicle pull away, I looked out the window to see an older red truck pulling out onto the road. It made sense that he would drive a truck since we all lived in the woods. And it made sens

I didn’t  go far this time. Not only was Grandma’s odd behavior weighing on my mind, I couldn’t shake how scared I’d been the day before when I’d ran into that other house out there, the one that seemed to be surrounded by dead trees and dark ground. I didn’t want to have any sort of contact with anyone who loved there.I wasn&rsquo

Grayson heard it, too, her eyes were wide as she turned and looked behind her, exactly where my eyes were also trained. A form appeared on the path where we’d just come from, but it wasn’t Sam, and it wasn’t Ben. It was another guy, probably about my age. He was a little taller than me, though not much, and not nearly as tall as Sam. He had chocolate brown eyes and a friendly smile. His caramel brown hair was short and spiked in the front, and as he got closer, I couldn’t help but think I’d seen him somewhere before, though I couldn’t imagine where it would’ve been. He certainly wasn’t at the grocery store or at Ben’s house.