Page 1 of Breathe Me In

Chapter One

Bree

Sheffield, New York

When they’re little, most kids fear the monster under their bed or in their closet. When I was nine, I hid in the kitchen and spied as my brother watched a movie with his friends about monsters that lived in the shadows of your room. It didn’t take him long to discover I had seen the movie, and for years he tortured me with it. I hated him for it, but it also helped me see that monsters were all in my head. Eventually I got over my fear. Until the baseball game.

“And it’s outa here!” Robert screamed. The crack of the bat against the ball left no one in doubt that it was a homer. Robert’s scream came from the bottom of his lungs, and my feet pounded against the damp grass as I raced into the woods after the ball. I was determined to beat Brad, who was right on my heels.

“Go, Bree!” Brad’s best friend, Kennedy, called out. As I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Brad turn around and flip him off with a laugh.

The trees were thick, and the forest closed in around us as we ran blindly, our eyes intent on locating that little white ball. I’d watched where it had arched down and had an idea of which direction to go.

“Bree,” Brad called, “don’t go too far in. They’ll throw out a new one.”

“You scared?” I shouted.

“Don’t be ridiculous—I’m not five,” he shot back. I saw the bushes move as he wove his way toward me through the scratchy grass. “Ha! I found it.” His grin looked suspicious, and when he didn’t run back toward the field to brag about it, I challenged him.

“Sure you did.”

Bradley Stone was a year older than me and was arguably one of the best people in town. He was on the hockey team and a really good athlete, but he wasn’t like the other jocks—he was nice. On the weekends we’d play baseball at the school field with some other friends until we got hot, and then we’d all head down to the river to our favorite swimming hole.

“You don’t think I got it?”

I laughed. I could read his face like an open book. “You got shit.”

“Maybe not, but I got swagger with the ladies.” He tucked his shaggy brown hair behind his ear as we wandered deeper into the woods, neither of us wanting to give up.

“Speaking for all the ladies out there, ya got jack shit.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.

He made a noise and shoved my shoulder. “Sherry Cummings thinks I do.”

I hated how that bothered me, but, typical me, I deflected with an asshole comment. “When you get some standards, add that to your list of shit to forget.” We continued on, and soon the roar of the river that ran through our town became louder. “You know she’s expecting you to ask her to homecoming?” I slipped on a rock but managed not to fall. “She wants the whole grand gesture.” I eyed him hard.

“I got something planned.”

“Let me guess, a Sharpie, a whiteboard, and a bag of Doritos?” I jumped when he swatted my hip. “I know they’re her favorite, but jeez, her mouth must be like the inside of your jockstrap when you kiss her.” I gagged on my own words.

“You’re such an ass.”

“The way that chick inhales a bag of them, oh wait—” I stopped myself and acted like I just realized something. “Oh, now I see it, it’s the Hoover mouth.” I smirked. “All right, I get that, I see that.”

He gave me a side glance. “Finished?”

“No, but you better—”

He snagged my waist and pressed down. I stopped as the pressure made me buck with a laugh. I had one ticklish spot, and I hated that he knew about it. He went still suddenly, and I was able to wiggle free. As I fixed my shirt, I realized his expression had changed. “What?”

“There’s something in the water.” The ball forgotten, he moved down the bank to the water’s edge. “Here.” He reached back and lifted me down before I could protest the help. We headed for the old tree that had fallen across the water a few years ago. It was the only way across this part of the waterway. The river was a good twelve feet across, and this area was well known to be the deepest part before the waterfall just a mile or so down. A friend of ours had fallen into the river once near this spot. A whirlpool had nearly sucked him under just before the waterfall. If his brother hadn’t been with him at the time, he would have drowned and maybe never been found, thanks to the underwater caves below.

“It looks like something’s caught up in the branches. I can see white fabric floating around it.” I tried to see clearly, but the boulders made it tricky. “We need to cross.” I jumped up onto the tree and slowly made my way over. Brad gave me a warning to be careful, but I’d crossed at that spot lots of times. You just had to go slowly and watch the center where it had begun to rot. The water beat against the trunk and made me question when it might finally let go. I wondered who’d be on it when it finally gave out. I kept my focus toward the bump on the shore end. I’d never admit it, but I was scared.

“You good?” He’d noticed I’d slowed my pace.

“Yup.” One foot in front of the other, I told myself and was more than relieved when I hit solid ground.

He hopped down next to me. “Come on.”