Free Impossible by Nancy Werlin Page B

caused it, because I'd know it was grounded in something real."
    "Yeah?"
    "Yeah." Zach could hear the conviction in his voice.
    Lucy turned again toward Zach. Was he imagining that her face, her expression, looked somehow lighter, easier?
    "It's not like it makes a difference," she said slowly. "If I cracked for a moment there, under stress, and imagined this. Or not. But in a way, I want to believe he was possessed, or something. Because he's dead, and so—and so—I want to forgive him."
    "Oh," said Zach. "I see."
    Zach and Lucy sat for a while longer in silence, still holding hands. Zach found himself remembering something he'd heard Soledad and Leo saying the previous night, about healing. That it was mysterious. That it took time. And that Lucy was just at the beginning. That a terrible thing had happened—two terrible things, really—but they were now over.
    And that Lucy would be okay, in the end.
     

CHAPTER 17
    Soledad and Leo had been so preoccupied with worry about Lucy that, for several days, they didn't think to follow up with the police about Miranda. So, when Miranda was released from police custody on the day after the prom, and slipped away back into her life—whatever and wherever it was—neither of them found out she was gone until days later.
    Zach, on the other hand, had wondered what was happening with Miranda, because he was the one who cleaned up the front yard. But he let the thought go. Miranda was unimportant compared to Lucy. He did not think of her again until a week later, when he got rid of Miranda's shopping cart.
    The cart, which was still partially filled with bottles, was occupying valuable garage space. It was also an unpleasant reminder of prom night. It had to go. So, early on Saturday morning, Zach wheeled it eleven blocks to the supermarket, intending to recycle the bottles and abandon the cart there.
    It was satisfying to hear the recycling machines pulverize one bottle after another. But as Zach neared the bottom of the cart, he found a garbage bag wrapped tightly around a small object that was not a bottle. It was a heavy-duty garbage bag, the thick, expensive kind. The bag was wrinkled and aged, but still holding up strongly. It was also huge. It took Zach long seconds to unwrap it from around the flat, rectangular object inside it.
    The object was a journal. It had a cloth cover with a pattern of purple pansies on it, and was bound like a printed book. The first third of the book's pages were covered with handwriting. Tiny handwriting, smeared in places, and the pages were yellowing with age. The journal would take concentration and time to read.
    Had Miranda written it? It was an incredible thought, and both a scary and exciting one. Zach squinted at the the first page, and read:
     
    I'm pregnant. I suspected it last week, so I went to the drugstore and got one of those tests, and now I'm sure. I don't know what to do. I'll have to think. I don't dare tell THEM, but maybe Kia will have some ideas for me. Thank God I have at least one friend in the world. I can get her alone after school tomorrow.
    I have to find a doctor too. Maybe the test is wrong. I don't think it is, though.
    THEY will want to know who it is and stuff And of course I can't tell. I never even knew his name.
    How could this have happened?
    Oh, God I am so alone.
    I am so STUPID.
     
    The word stupid was written with such violence that the pen had cut through the page.
    Zach discovered that he was holding his breath. He let it out. If this was what he thought it was, nobody had the right to read it except Lucy. And now was not the best time. Maybe he should wait a little while before handing it over.
    He forced himself to shut the journal.
    He finished recycling the bottles. Then he put Miranda's journal back inside the trash bag and wrapped it up the way it had been.
    He carried it home as if he were carrying a bomb.
     

CHAPTER 18
    Lucy moved through the next couple of weeks in a state of mind unlike any