Chapter 1: Inside the collection of secrets
I collect secrets like my sister Zella collects stray boyfriends. They weasel their way into my life and beg
me to keep them. My mom says if I ignore them, I’ll take away their power. But she also says meatless
bacon is delicious, so she doesn’t have a lot of credibility.
If I had to rank my secrets from most to least dangerous, my last detective fail would be the most. But
the secret that’s haunting me tonight is this: I am petrified of hospitals. I haven’t been to a hospital in six
years. Not since the day-I-don’t-talk-about. The day that started the year of the sweatpants and made me
realize I have to become a detective. The day I swore off hospitals for life. But that was before my best
friend Nali fell at the track meet and left in an ambulance.
I was so busy trying not to die from heat stroke I almost missed it…
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Copyright 2022, Helen Tosch