Rules for Vanishing

What do you wear when you go to meet a ghost?

Little Lucy, dressed in white Gave her mother such a fright Walked into the woods one day Where she went no one can say Down a road that no one found Or are her bones sunk in the ground? How many steps did Lucy take? One, two, there, four...

What happened in the dark?

I’ve spent hours paging through that notebook again and again, but no secrets have unlocked themselves for me. I’ve gone to the place in the forest where Lucy Callow disappeared, in daylight and in the dark, on the full moon, in a white dress, whatever any legend says. Because I don’t believe in ghosts, but I want to. I know Becca didn’t run away. That leaves one possibility and one impossibility, and I long for the impossible. Because if she isn’t dead, if she’s only been taken, she can be brought back.

Do you want to know where Lucy went? She went to play the game. You can play, too. Find a partner. Find a key. Find the road. You have two days.

I cannot tell if I am lying.

So that’s new and weird and I’m so not going to get into it.

We aren't safe at all.

one of his coworkers keeps tagging him in joint selfies at “work events” with a borderline psychotic number of emojis.

You don't understand her at all. You don't understand us at all. I wanted to shine as bright as her, because she was the most beautiful thing in the universe. My sister. The brightest thing.

Sara! Oh my God, she wasn't lying. You're ok? You're you?" "I'm me," I say, and then, before I can think better of it, I kiss her. The kiss tastes of ocean water, and a damp strand of hair gets stuck between our lips, but I don't care. I don't care who's watching, either, only that Mel is there and she's kissing me back and there's one thing, at least, that this road can't take from me. When we break away, she bites her lip, flushed. Mel, shy - that's new. "Turns out waiting is a terrible idea," I say, and she laughs.

I've never liked having my photo taken, except by Becca... Becca's photos are the only ones that I look at and see myself the way I look in the mirror. But still I turn away. In the moment I'm not sure why, but now I think I know. I don't turn away because I am worried about the way I will look in the photo, about seeing myself. I turn away because the reason Becca has always been able to take my picture so well, the reason all her pictures are so good, is that they're how she sees. And for some reason, I don't want her to see me right now. As if there's something that only she might be able to discern - something I don't want revealed. But that thought skitters away into the dark like so many others I can't seem to keep hold of.

If we do die..." She pauses. "If we do, or if we don't, it feels stupid not to say anything. So. I kind of like you, Sara. I came for you. Not for Becca. I came because I have... feelings. For you.

There are moments when the world realigns itself. The words for it are too grand - revelation, epiphany. This moment is more subtle. Pieces that fit one way find a new arrangement. Becca bends her course. She follows me.

We barely break stride this time. Some part of us expected this. No echo comes only once.

And that is one thing we can never do. Silence is the only way she knows to deal with pain. As if by pretending she's moved on, she can stop hurting. All it really means is that we're forced to endure the pain alone, without each other to lean on.

I saw it again / Out of the corner of my eye. / Doesn't matter where I am / Doesn't matter how hard I try / To get away. It's waiting / Waiting for me And so is she.

You always got the sense she didn't belong here at all.

So be careful what roads you take, and be careful who you follow down them.