The Girl Who Survived
Lisa Jackson
CHAPTER 1
Mount Hood, Oregon
Twenty Years Earlier
Creeeaaak!
Kara’s eyes flew open.
What was that?
She squinted into the darkness.
“Don’t say a word.”
She started to scream.
But a hand came down over her mouth.
Hard.
“Shhh!”
Marlie? Her sister was holding her down, forcing her head back against the pillows?
She started to struggle.
“Stop it! Just listen and don’t say anything!” The warning was whispered against her ear. Hot breath against her skin. “Listen to me.” Her voice was urgent. This was no joke, not the kind of prank Kara had grown up with due to the antics of three older brothers. “Handfuls,” her mother called them. “Delinquents,” her father had said.
Now, though, it was just Marlie, and she was freaked. “Just do what I say,” Marlie warned. “No questions. No arguments. This is serious, Kara-Bear, so don’t make a sound.”
Why?
As if she read Kara’s mind, Marlie said, “I can’t explain now, just trust me. You’re a smart girl. That’s what all the teachers say, right? That you’re way ahead of kids your age? So just do as I say, okay? Now, come on.”
Kara shook her head, her hair rustling against her pillow, her eyes adjusting to the thin light. Whatever had scared Marlie so much could be handled. Mama would know what to do.
“You can’t make any noise, okay? Got that?”
Marlie lifted her hand and Kara couldn’t help herself. “What’s—?” she started to whisper and Marlie’s hand returned. Firmer. Pressing Kara back against the sheets.
“Just listen to me!” Marlie insisted through clenched teeth. Her sharp, desperate plea stopped Kara cold. Though Mama, at times, had accused the older girl of being a “drama queen,” this time was different. Marlie was different. Scared to death.
Kara sensed it. She laid still.
“You have to hide. Now.”
Hide?
“Right now. Do you understand?”
Wide-eyed, Kara nodded.
“And it can’t be here.” Marlie started to take her hand away from Kara’s face.
“Why? Where’s Mama . . . ?” Kara said in a whispered rush. She couldn’t help herself.
“Shit! Stop! Kara, please!” Marlie’s hand was over her younger sister’s mouth again. Harder. Forcing Kara’s head back into her pillow. “No questions! They’ll hear you!”
Who? Who would hear her?
Kara’s heart was beating crazily. Fear curdled through her blood.
“Just come with me and don’t say a word! I mean it, Kara. There are bad people here. They cannot find you. If they do, they will hurt you, do you understand?” Marlie’s face pressed closer and even in their dark bedroom, Kara saw that Marlie’s blue eyes were round with fear. She was dressed, in jeans and a sweatshirt, her blond hair pulled into a single braid.
Kara shook her head violently.
“Okay. Now, this is the last time,” Marlie warned. “Got it?”
Kara nodded slowly. Scared out of her mind.
“Promise you’ll be quiet.”
Kara swallowed against the growing lump in her throat, but nodded again.
“I love you, Kara-Bear. . . . I’ll come get you. I promise.” Marlie hesitated just a second, then withdrew her hand.
Kara didn’t speak.
“Okay.” Marlie glanced out the window, where moonlight played on the thick blanket of snow, then grabbed Kara’s palm. “Come on!” She tugged, but Kara didn’t need any more encouragement. She scrambled to get out of the tangle of bed clothes. They crept past Marlie’s bed, where even in the darkness Kara could see several neatly stacked piles of clothes piled over the rumpled coverlet. Even Marlie’s boots were on the bed. Now, though, she, like Kara, was barefoot.
So her footsteps wouldn’t be heard.
Kara’s blood turned to ice. This was wrong. So wrong. She stepped on a toy, probably a Barbie shoe, but held her tongue as Marlie cracked open the door to the hallway.
Along with the scent of wood smoke from the dying fire, the faint sounds of a Christmas carol filtered up from the floor below.
“Silent night . . .”
Marlie peered into the darkness.
“Holy night . . .”
Taking a deep breath, Marlie squeezed Kara’s hand and whispered, “Let’s go.” She pulled her younger sister into the dark, narrow corridor, past the closed doors of the boys’ rooms toward the far end of the hall, where the stairs curved down to the first floor, light curling eerily up from below, the massive doors to Mama and Daddy’s bedroom just beyond the railing.
“All is calm . . .”
For a second, Kara’s heart soared. Marlie was taking her to get Mama and—but no. She stopped at the last door before the staircase leading down, to the door that was always locked, the doorway leading upward to the attic and the warren of unused rooms above.
What?
NO!
“All is bright . . .”
Kara balked. She wasn’t going up there! No, no, no!
She started to protest when Marlie caught her eye and sent her a look that could cut through steel.