Another Secret

By Mackenzie McHam

In an allegedly safe school, sixteen-year-old Annabel experiences a school shooting. Annabel and her best friend, Alice, scramble to find a unique hiding place. Without meaning to, Alice causes the two girls to be found. The shooters take the girls with them under the orders of a mysterious mastermind. The girls are forced to experience a series of events that cause them to ponder about whom they should trust, what is behind the kidnapping, and why they were the only ones taken.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524614690

Mackenzie McHam

Mackenzie was born and raised in the Midwest, which has produced a passion for the outdoors. She lives with her parents, older brother, and grandmother. She delights in spending her free time with her miniature Siberian husky. Creative writing has been a pursuit of Mackenzie since primary school, resulting in publications in junior high growing into her first book, Another Secret.

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© 2016 Mackenzie McHam. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/17/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-1470-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-1471-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-1469-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016909906

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

About the Author

Everyone is like a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.

---Mark Twain

CHAPTER 1

Good evening, darling! I exclaimed to my granddaughter.

Can you tell me another story? Heather asked with her sweet blue eyes, which looked at me eagerly. Her silky blonde hair looked just like my husband's hair when he was sixteen.

Oh, okay! I don't know which story to tell! I laughed.

Make up one, Heather replied.

I giggled. How did you, a five-year-old, get so demanding?

I don't know. Can you just tell of an interesting experience?

Okay. Let's say I was sixteen years old, I began as memories flowed rapidly.

***

I looked in the mirror and thought, This is just the outfit I want to wear today! Not too fancy, not too casual, and not tight at all! Twirling around in front of the long mirror in my jean shorts and blue gymnastics championship shirt, I finally felt satisfied. My chestnut hair fell loosely onto my shoulders, my stormy blue eyes complemented my shirt, and my pale skin looked tan for once.

I looked around my sky blue room for anything I might need for school. Then I noticed my messy green bed, which I forgot to make. I quickly threw the sheets over my pillows at the end of the bed.

My modern-style room was clean. I made my way to my bookshelf, which covered an entire wall in my room. It was my favorite place to be because it had the ability to take me places where only a few exotic people dare to go. I carefully placed a book that had fallen back on the shelf and grabbed the birthday gift wrapped so neatly with pink ribbon. Then I ran down the stairs in my silver sandals, which clashed against the wooden steps.

Good morning, honey, exclaimed my mom. She had tied up her long chestnut hair up in a bun, and she wore her Cook with Passion apron over her jeans and tank top.

Good morning to you! I responded.

Do you want some breakfast? I can make you my famous egg whites with a side of very fancy whole grain bread. She winked.

Sorry, I can gladly still resist the horrible taste of egg whites. Also my math test is today, and I need all the extra study time I can get! I replied with a look of complete distaste.

Well, you can always just stay a minute, my dad suggested as he came into the kitchen. He put his arm around my mom and gave me a puppy dog face with his lower lip pushed out.

Oh, I guess so. I laughed.

How do you do that? My mom was smiling.

It's talent, something that is truly a gift from God, he explained right before he kissed her.

Whatever. I opened the refrigerator to get some milk.

I poured myself a glass and got the Pop Tarts from the left cabinet, and I dug into the food.

Honey, you're eating like a military soldier. My mother sighed.

That's okay. Military soldiers have excellent minds in battle, so maybe that will help me in my math test, I teased. Thanks for breakfast! I took one last gulp of my milk.

Tell Alice I wish her a happy birthday! My mom called after me.

With a wave good-bye, I jogged to my rusty, used white car.

Once I stepped out of my car in the school's parking lot, I immediately heard my name being called.

Annabel! Annabel! Over here! shouted my best friend Alice.

She was standing in the parking lot with her backpack on the ground by her feet, waving her arms like she was swatting at a bee. Her blonde curls were jumping up and down. The huge high school towering behind her, with windows lined in rows in different sections, looked like a piece of art. The dome roof was copper, and it looked as if I were standing in front of a tourist attraction site.

Hey, Alice, what's up?

What's up? What's up! I'll tell you what's up! Today is my birthday! I'm sixteen over here. Thank you very much.

I know that! I just was thinking of something else at the time. Happy birthday!

Whatever. So what should we do? Skip school, go to a fair, have a nice lunch, and be back at our houses by the regular time so our parents don't notice anything? Alice suggested.

Alice, you know how I feel about that.

No one will know, she repeated.

God will. I put a hand on my hip.

Can you just give that God stuff a break! It's my birthday! She stomped off toward her car.

After practically running from my car to my math class, I was still angry about Alice. After she figured out that I didn't approve of ditching school, she never asked about it again.

"Okay, class, as you know, we have a test today, so let's skip all the noise you make at the beginning of class. If this does not take you the whole class period, please remain quiet for