The Missing- Volume II- Lies Page 3

  “It’s time for dinner, Nora. Don’t make me wait on you.” Mother slammed the door shut.

  Empty chairs. Mother sat at the head of the table. Only the two of us . . .

  The pain receded and my vision cleared. I remained quiet, careful not to make a noise so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself.

  Mother didn’t acknowledge me, but Rosie always saw me. I hated that she noticed everything. She smirked as I loaded up my plate with chicken and potatoes. I was hungry, having forgotten to eat lunch as I waited for Maren to get out of class.

  I hadn’t eaten breakfast either. My mother hadn’t given me a chance to have my normal cereal before leaving for school. I was accustomed to hunger. I knew the feeling well from being locked away with no thought of providing me sustenance. It was important to load up when I was given the opportunity.

  I started to reach across the table for the basket of rolls when Rosie clicked her tongue.

  Don’t look at her! Don’t do it!

  My hand stilled and I glanced at the pretty, pretty woman watching me with vicious glee.

  “You’ll gain weight if you continue to eat like that, Nora,” my former foster sister goaded. I thought about throwing the mashed potatoes in her face.

  “Put the food back, Nora. Rosie’s right, the last thing you need is to get fat. You have enough problems with your appearance as it is. Eat the asparagus and some of the broccoli,” Mother instructed sternly. I hesitated. I didn’t want to listen. I felt obstinate with Rosie’s hateful eyes and Mother’s constant disapproval wrapped around me like a blanket.

  “Put the food back, Nora. You’re ugly enough. Don’t get fat on top of it.” Mother watched me like a hawk as I obeyed.

  Only the two of us.

  Always just the two of us.

  “Now!” Mother barked, and I put the chicken on the plate and the mashed potatoes back in the bowl. I placed my now mostly empty plate in front of me and shoved a limp piece of asparagus into my mouth. It tasted like bitterness and loathing.

  “This is the best chicken I’ve ever had, Leslie.” Rosie cut up her food and ate it with gusto, enjoying every bite.

  I hoped she choked on it.

  Mother beamed and reached across the table to put her hand on top of Rosie’s. I sank down lower into my chair.

  “After dinner you can take your things up to your room,” Mother told her, looking happier than I had seen her in a long time.

  “That would be great, Leslie,” Rosie enthused, her eyes flickering toward me. It took me a few minutes to realize what Mother had said.

  “Take her things to what room?” I asked.

  Mother ignored me. Pretending that I didn’t exist. It’s what she did best.

  But Rosie didn’t ignore me.

  I wished she would.

  “Didn’t Leslie tell you? I’m staying here for a while.” She popped another piece of the delicious looking chicken into her mouth, chewing slowly. The juice from the well-cooked meat glistened on her lips. The dimples in her cheeks showing themselves as she tried not to grin.

  “What?” I felt ill.

  Mother cut her food into small, precise pieces, carrying on as though I hadn’t asked anything.

  “I’m currently in between places to live. Leslie kindly offered me my old room,” Rosie answered, watching me closely, eyes narrowed.

  I put down my fork with a clatter. Mother’s head snapped up and she leaned across the table and swatted my hand with her butter knife. “It’s dinner time, Nora! Behave yourself!”

  My skin stung but I didn’t cower. I continued to look at my foster sister in horror. “You can’t stay here,” I told her, my voice cracking.

  Mother sighed in exasperation. “This is her home as much as it’s yours.”

  “No, it’s not!” I sounded slightly hysterical. I was making Mother mad. I should stop. I needed to force these defiant words back down my throat. I knew the consequences for speaking out of turn, for questioning Mother in any way. But the thought of sharing my home with this nasty woman gave me a voice that was otherwise buried underneath so much fear.

  Rosie couldn’t stay with us!

  My former foster sister continued to eat. Continued to watch me. Continued to assess everything.

  “It’ll be nice to be at home again,” she said, her eyes blazing with a fire that frightened me.

  A fire that would burn everything to the ground.

  “It’s not your home!”

  My head hurt again. My vision faded in and out. I felt dizzy and disoriented.

  Mother slammed her hands down on the table. “What is wrong with you, Nora? You’re talking nonsense! Go to your room! I won’t have you my ruining dinner with your insane behavior!”

  Insane behavior?

  I didn’t get up. I didn’t move. Rosie and I were locked in a silent battle of wills that I had no hopes of winning.

  I watched Rosie twist the ring on her finger.

  Mine.

  “I know you have it!” Rosie seethed.

  I was waiting for Dad by the front door. He was taking me to the barn again. Rosie was angry because she wanted to come too. But Dad told her that she couldn’t this time. It felt like a victory. A small but important one.

  “I don’t have anything,” I argued, knowing exactly what she was talking about. But I’d never admit it to her. She’d never know.

  It was mine now.

  “Are you ready, Nora?” Dad asked, coming into the hallway from the kitchen, pulling on his coat. I didn’t acknowledge the look of disgust he threw my way. I pretended not to see how he recoiled when I reached out to take his hand. I tried to ignore how Dad looked at me less and less.

  Because today he was taking me with him. He wasn’t taking Rosie. He had told her no. And that made it a good day.

  “I’m ready, Dad,” I said, wishing I could smile because, for once, I really wanted to. I wanted to laugh in Rosie’s pretty face and stick out my tongue.

  I hated her.

  But I could also hurt her.

  “She took my ring!” Rosie complained, pointing at me.

  I widened my eyes innocently. Dad wasn’t listening anyway. He was already opening the door and leaving the house. I had to follow him.

  “Bye, Rosie,” I called over my shoulder. Her face was red and she looked so, so mad.

  I climbed into Dad’s car and buckled my seat belt. Dad turned on the radio, the volume so loud it rattled my eardrums. So loud that we couldn’t talk to each other. If I had really thought about it, I would have known that was the point.

  I sat in the backseat, watching Rosie as we pulled away from the house. She’d make me pay. I had no doubt. But right then I didn’t care. Because I had won.

  I pulled the ring out of my pocket and slipped it on my thumb, hardly able to believe what I had done.

  But I was tired of her owning everything. My family. My home. Clothes and jewelry and friends.

  This time I was taking what belonged to me.

  I pushed the chair out from the table. Rosie was enjoying herself. She liked to see me upset.

  I turned my ruined face away so she wouldn’t see me as I rushed out.

  I had to get to my room. There I could be locked away. Safe. Alone. It was strange how the thing I despised, being closed inside, now seemed like my savior.

  Rosie was going to live here again.

  So many feelings pushed their way inside of me.

  Depression

  Fear.

  Confusion.

  But murderous rage was the one I could most identify with.

  She was back. And I knew this time it would be harder to make her leave.

  Of course she followed me. I should have known. She didn’t knock. Rosie entered my room without waiting for permission. She knew I’d never give it. She didn’t need it anyway.

  “You seem upset, Nora,” Rosie remarked, picking up my notebook from the dresser and thumbing through.

  “You can’t look at that!”
I snarled, snatching it from her.

  “There are no secrets between us, Nora, you know that.”

  I shivered.

  She was right.

  “Why can’t you just go away? Why do you have to keep coming back?” I demanded. I was finally standing up for myself. Just a little bit. With Mother. With Rosie. It was long past due.

  Rosie walked across my room and stood in front of the window, looking out towards the Somers’ house. She seemed thoughtful. “I know you think you have it so badly, Nora, but there are others out there who have it so much worse than you do.”

  Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck. Something about her sad, simple statement filled me with dread.

  Was she talking about Bradley?

  Was she talking about herself?

  Was she just messing with my head because she could?

  “I’m not comparing myself to anyone,” I argued, trying to shake off the apprehension.

  Rosie chuckled, still looking out past the gnarled tree. “You always compare yourself to everyone. You think you come up short, but is that how it really is? Maybe you should think about that. Really look at your life and the people in it. There’s a reason you’re always alone. That you’re so isolated and cut off. I’m not sure it has anything to do with Leslie or that sad excuse for a father you had. We both know why I really had to leave. Isn’t that right, Nora?”

  “Stop it!” I pleaded. I just wanted her to go.

  Rosie shrugged. Wasn’t Mother wondering where she was? Would she come looking for her? I didn’t want to deal with my mother right now. Rosie was bad enough.

  “It was so long ago. Memories become skewed. They fade and warp and rearrange to fit the view of the world that makes us most comfortable,” she murmured, more to herself than to me.

  I frowned, not understanding. Something was different about my former foster sister. Something about her had changed since she had reappeared in my life. Her cruelty was the same, but there was something else just below the surface that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  “What are you talking about? You know what happened! Please, just leave me alone!” I felt like crying. If I were capable of tears, I’d be sobbing.

  Finally Rosie turned away from the window and made her way back towards the bedroom door, not bothering to acknowledge my statement.

  “I’m just here to get what’s mine, sis,” Rosie warned.

  Her clear, sweet voice sliced me open with dark promises.

  “There’s nothing here that has ever belonged to you!” I retorted defensively. But I wondered . . .

  “Soon I will be the one left standing. And you will be sent away. That’s the happily ever after that I’m waiting for.” Rosie laughed and I hated the sound. “See ya later, Nora.”

  She closed the door softly behind her, and I couldn’t hold in the scream. I grabbed a pillow from the bed and held it over my face.

  I screamed.

  And screamed.

  I let it all out. I couldn’t contain it.

  “What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to come!” I was so mad at her for following us! For once again trying to take something that was mine.

  Rosie shoved me and I stumbled backwards. “You took it, you little thief!” She grabbed my hand and tried to wrench the ring off my thumb. I pulled away and knocked into the wall, kicking over a container of gasoline.

  “Stop it!” I begged, trying to fend her off.

  “What do you think Leslie will do when I tell her you’ve stolen from me?” Rosie threatened.

  The matches.

  The gasoline.

  The chance to finally be free of this horrible, horrible girl.

  Fire.

  Smoke.

  Watching it all burn.

  I had escaped her once; I would escape her again.

  I had to.

  I wouldn’t survive Rosie Allen this time.

  She’d make sure of it.

  The Present

  Day 7

  There was a lady all skin and bone

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  “She looks dead.”

  I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I just wanted her to stop talking. Her voice was like icepicks digging into my brain. But I couldn’t say anything. My lips were fused shut. My eyes wouldn’t open.

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  “She’s going to die like this . . .”

  I was cold. So damn cold. I wanted to snuggle underneath a pile of blankets and hibernate forever.

  But I stayed just how I was. Because I deserved to be cold. I deserved to be ignored. I deserved to be forced into this purgatory with her. She would be my only companion. Vile. Hated. Disgusted.

  It’s what happened to horrible people.

  People like me.

  I rolled onto my back coming fully awake. The incoherent remnants of my dream starting to fade away. And I was glad. The images and voices terrified me. Like a nightmare that went on and on and on.

  I tried to swallow but couldn’t. I was so thirsty. How many days could a person survive without water? I was on my second day. At least I thought so. I couldn’t be sure.

  I had gone longer than that without food.

  I barely had enough energy to sit up. I thought about lying on the floor for a while longer. I noticed that the air around me seemed hotter. The pungent smell of smoke filled my nostrils, and I coughed to try to clear the taste coating my mouth.

  Smoke. Heat. Fire.

  I remembered something . . .

  I watched the building burn and burn. Ashes flying in the wind. No more. It was gone. Rosie cried, her eyes wide. My vision blurred and I had a hard time staying in the present. I lost track of everything.

  Matches scattered on the ground.

  This was all her fault. She knew it. I knew it.

  I could hear the distant wail of the fire trucks. I wiped soot from my hot cheeks.

  “What did you do?” I whispered to the pretty girl beside me. Appalled but so happy. She ignored me. Her fear vibrated in the air between us. Rosie was scared. So scared. But I wasn’t.

  Mother’s perfect child wasn’t so perfect after all.

  Was it a memory? Or was it some sort of delusional fantasy? It didn’t feel real, like it had actually happened. But then why couldn’t I shake the feeling that there was something I needed to focus on?

  I was too tired. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Exhaustion settled over me so I drifted back to sleep, finding it better to be unconscious than to be awake.

  And in that place between nightmares and reality, I heard the song. The soft, urgent words whispered to a melody that I knew so, so well.

  The dark has eyes,

  The shadows have teeth.

  “Always doubt the truth underneath,” I sang, smiling. It would be so easy to lie there, on the hard, hot floor and drift away. To wait for a rescue that would never come. To remember everything that I had loved and lost.

  Loved and lost.

  Dead, green eyes. A smile that had never been mine. He gave it so easily to someone else.

  “You’ll never learn, Nora,” I chastised myself, tapping my fingers on the concrete beneath me; staring up at the ceiling that I couldn’t quite see.

  “Do you love her?” he demanded, his lips pursed tightly.

  “Do I love her?” I repeated. He wanted me to tell him the truth. It was the only thing he had ever asked of me. But I could never give it to him. Honesty wasn’t an easy thing to hand over. Not even to Bradley.

  Bradley squeezed his eyes shut. I touched his cheek and remembered others touching him softly. It made me sick. It made me want to hurt him. To hurt everyone.

  “I love it when you’re like this,” I told him.

  Bradley refused to open his eyes. He snatched my fingers from his face and held them tightly. “I told you that I would always protect you. I’ve tried, Nora. I’ve really tried. You have no idea the things I’ve done.”

  He pulled the ring from my finge
r. The one I had only recently reclaimed as my own.

  “Why do you still wear this? Why do you hold onto it when you should just let it go?”

  What was he asking? I didn’t understand.

  “It’s mine,” was all I could say.

  Of course it was.

  I had made sure of it.

  Bradley shook his head. He was agitated. I tugged my hand free and touched him again. Because it was my right to do so. Because I did it so infrequently.

  “Do you love her?” I countered angrily.

  Bradley’s green eyes flashed. “Maybe it’s finally time to run, Nora.”

  I hummed under my breath and waited for the next line of the song.

  Lies are like raindrops

  No two are the same.

  I grinned. High and true. “Bind you, deny you, wrapped up in chains.”

  Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

  The song stopped. I woke up. Consciousness came crashing into me like a bullet. I gasped and sat up, barely registering the pain in my joints and the agony in my empty stomach.

  I scrambled to my feet and hurried to the hole in the wall. Dropping down to my knees, I pressed my face to the wood.

  “Maren!” I called out.

  She still laid there, her face turned away from me. Did I see her fingers move? Maybe she heard me!

  I banged my fists against the wall. “Wake up! Maren! I’m here!”

  I’m the last person she’d want to see.

  The thought came unbidden and out of nowhere. But deep down I knew it was the truth. I heard her angry voice. Her words hurt as they hit my heart.

  “You can’t tell me who to love, Nora! You can’t control my life!”

  “But you love me!”

  Her eyes widened and her lips trembled. Tears fell and my heart bled . . .

  “Let her out of here! You can keep me, but just let her go!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I would trade my soul for Maren’s freedom. I would give up anything and everything just so I knew she was okay.

  I hurried to the locked door and kicked it with my bare feet, wincing as I made impact. “Just let her go! She hasn’t done anything wrong! Maren could never hurt anyone!”

  Liar.

  I beat my fists against the door until the scabs reopened and blood made my skin slick.