Excerpt: What If...

I killed my best friend today.

The police found him at the bottom of the lake. He drowned and it was all my fault.

If only I had gone back with him to pick up his backpack he left at the boat house. But he told me not to worry, to get ready for bed, he would be back in less than
twenty minutes.

“Wendy, I’m a grown boy. Nothing will happen to me. We live in one of the safest towns on the East Coast.” He rubbed the back of his hand over my cheek and gave me a kiss that left me aching for more.”

I watched him climb down my bedroom window that he has done too many times to count since he’s been eight years old.

He gave me a wave as he turned the corner that would take him to the lake.

He left a few minutes after midnight and I did what he asked. I got ready for bed and tried to stay awake and wait for him to climb back through my bedroom window where I could lie in his arms.

But I fell asleep and now he’s dead.

If only I never fell asleep. Peter would still be alive.