Page 50 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
I pressed my palms over my face and tried to breathe, but the air rushed out of me like a half-filled balloon left to deflate.
“No use arguing,” Dove muttered beside me. “She’ll win. She’s got us cornered with eternal haunting.”
I gritted my teeth, dug my phone out of my bag, flipped the camera to front-facing, and perched it on the steering wheel. Desperation to get it over with consumed me. I checked the angle. Good enough. Then gave myself a once-over. Also good enough.
My eyes were only halfway screaming existential breakdown today.
I hit record.
“Hi, guys!” I said into the lens, forcing a smile, the kind that had become so easy to fake. “I know I’ve been a little MIA the last few days. Thank you for all your DMs. You guys are super sweet!”
A pause.
I exhaled and held onto Camera Ellis, all while the little red recording dot blinked back at me like an angry countdown.
“So, um, a bit of a shift in my usual content,” I began, bringing my hands together. “I’m going on a road trip. No, this was not planned. And yes, I am still in the throes of processingthe fact that I’m voluntarily leaving the comfort of my home and driving across the country with...”
I trailed off, faltering.
I looked at Dove, taking in her silly space buns and warm smile.
“A friend,” I said, turning back to the camera, deciding that not telling the full truth might reassure my followers I still had some semblance of sanity. “It’s all very random. I blame my therapist. So I’ll keep you guys updated as we go. We’re at the starting point of Route 66 in downtown Chicago, ready to hit the road and head to Springfield!”
Liv cheered and clapped loudly, and I had to resist the urge to raise my voice over her, given that the people on the other end of the camera couldn’t hear her. Just me, shouting at no one.
“I’ll try to film a little each day and string this thing together, posting when I can. Wish me luck. I’ll need it!”
I tapped the stop button. The smile fell from my face as I slumped back in my seat, Liv howling with laughter behind me.
“Who the hell was that?” Dove asked, and I blinked over at her.
“Huh?”
“That was... I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dove murmured, her eyes bright with curiosity as she looked from the camera to me. “ChirpyEllis. Interesting.”
“Don’t call me chirpy,” I growled, snatching my phone and starting the car.
“You were definitely chirpy,” Liv added from the back. “Let’s go! Get some music on. How long till Springfield again? I forget. We’ve got so many fun activities planned, Dove. Get ready, we should show her the schedule, Ellis. Also—”
I tuned her out as I plugged in my phone and hit play on the first thing that popped up, trying to shake off Dove’s comment, as “Bad Love” by Dehd filled the car.
The sooner we got on the move, the sooner we got rid of this ghost.
Thirty-five minutes.
That’s how long we’d been on the road, and Dove was already shifting restlessly like a bored toddler. She’d flicked through the playlist, stopping songs halfway and skipping to new ones, which was annoying and had me gritting my teeth while Liv sang off-key in the back, shouting “Remix!” whenever Dove changed songs.
The road blurred beneath us in steady, endless lines, and I kept my black aviators firmly wedged on my face, praying to every saint I could think of for the patience to survive the rest of this trip.
I glanced at the time on the dash and grimaced, my eyes darting quickly to the seat where I knew my travel binder was tucked beneath Dove’s chair. Then I looked back at the road, sucking on the inside of my lip as I resisted the urge to pull over and check it one more time.
“You’re fidgety,” Dove said suddenly.
“Me?” I asked, incredulous. “Are you kidding? You’ve changed sitting positions ten times already.”
“You’ve been tapping the steering wheel and smacking your lips together incessantly since we left,” Dove called out, and I could feel her eyes burning into the side of my face. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I muttered stiffly, pressing down a little harder on the gas.
