Free The Accident by Diane Hoh

fell to a heartbroken whisper. “Too late, too late …”
    The last ounce of Megan’s resolve disintegrated in the face of Juliet’s anguish. She had never in her life caused anyone so much pain, and she couldn’t stand it. “All right,” she said with a helpless sigh, “we won’t switch back tonight. Now stop crying, okay?”
    Juliet lifted her head, her face filled with hope. “You mean it?”
    “I … I guess so. We’ll give it a little more time. But if anything else bad happens, Juliet, to my family or my friends, we’re trading back.”
    “Of course, Megan.” Wiping her tearstained face with a towel, Juliet smiled and nodded. “But no more bad things are going to happen. I can feel it. Everything’s going to be fine.” Happy again, she slipped into Megan’s white pajamas and climbed into the canopied bed. “If we hadn’t switched,” she said calmly, “you wouldn’t have been down on the dock to find your mother and rush up to the house to call for help. So it’s not all bad, is it, Megan? Being me, I mean?”
    She had a point. But Megan wasn’t consoled. The days and nights loaned to Juliet felt like years, centuries. On this, only the first night, they stretched ahead of her like an endless, dark, deserted highway. How would she ever get through them?
    “Oh, by the way, Megan,” Juliet said cheerfully as she pulled the sheet over her legs, “when Hilary left, I asked Justin to your party. And he said yes. So now you can quit worrying.” She slid down in bed and closed her eyes. “Everything’s going to be great. Your mom will be fine, and Justin is coming to your party. So relax, okay?”
    “Juliet, what happened to Hilary tonight? Why did she go home so early?”
    “Oh, I guess she felt like a third wheel. Good night, Megan. See you tomorrow.”
    A minute later, the sound of her deep, even breathing told Megan that Juliet was sound asleep. Just then, something on the worn blue carpet beside the bed caught Megan’s eye. She knew what it was immediately, and the realization sickened her. How could another drawing have found its way into her home?
    She knew she had to look at it. Otherwise it would lie there all night like some dreadful insect, tormenting her.
    The picture was on lime-green paper. There were two crude crayon drawings. One was of a man in a gray-and-black-striped uniform. A convict. The second drawing was of a leg, awkwardly bent to emphasize the knee. CON. KNEE. Connie. Mom.
    She remembered Juliet pulling things out of her shoulder bag. The drawing must have been in there. But how had it got there?
    The mall. Someone had to have slipped it into her purse while she was there. If she hadn’t been so distracted all day by the thought of what was ahead of her that evening, she would have noticed the drawing sooner. Then she could have done something, anything, to protect her mother. She could at least have warned Juliet not to leave her mother alone for a second.
    At least her mother was alive. And she was going to be okay. She’d be home tomorrow, safe and sound.
    But … it might not be over. What if there was another attack, this time on Juliet? Juliet had said she could prevent that. What if she couldn’t? Maybe she was wrong.
    If she was … if something happened to prevent their trade on Saturday night, something that kept Megan from returning to her own body … what would become of Megan?
    Megan had to know, and she had to know now. “Juliet! Wake up, Juliet! I have to talk to you.”
    “What …” a sleepy Juliet mumbled from bed. “What is it, Megan?”
    “There’s one thing you haven’t told me, and I must know. What would happen to me … if you were … if something happens to my body while you’re in it? I need to know that, Juliet.”
    “If something happened to stop you from returning to your own form by midnight Saturday,” Juliet said slowly, “you’d … you’d be trapped in my world.”
    Megan gasped. “And you weren’t even going to