2. KATIE
Chapter two
KATIE
L ayla pauses, turning the paper over as though there should be more to this poem.
“Well that was fucking weird,” Maddie says, shivering and crowding closer to us.
“It’s a child’s rhyme,” Molly Beth says. “Like a nursery rhyme or something. But, I don’t know it. It hasn’t been in any of the elementary literature curriculum we’ve studied.”
“That’s not how this is supposed to work! There’s no names – the register is missing!” Norah cries, slamming the lid shut on the plastic box. “No coordinates and no register. It’s like we did all of this for nothing.” She hiccups, rubbing one hand under her glasses. Part of me wants to comfort Norah. I know she’s disappointed, but the other, louder, part of me wants to get the hell out of this creepy tree.
“Did you hear that?” Layla says, turning to look over her shoulder.
“Hear what?” I say. The hairs on my arms and neck raise up. This is too odd, too off balance for me. I press my hand against the knife in my pocket. I wish I’d worn my handgun. My sisters hate when I do, but right now, I’d feel much more secure with its familiar weight on my hip.
“The whispering. Can’t you hear it? Like someone is speaking, but far off. Or on the other side of a closed door.”
Alarm bells blaze in my mind. We need to go now. Instead, we all hesitate, looking around the tree hollow.
For three heartbeats, we are all silent, staring at each other. I realized that the silence is not just the five of us, but the woods as well. There are no chirping birds, or the buzz of grasshoppers, or even the faint hum of rain. The woods are completely silent.
“We need to get out of here now.” I push ahead of my sisters, taking Molly Beth’s hand in mine. “We will climb up the hill and hard march to base camp. We are going to pack up and head to the SUV. No camping. If it starts to rain, we can abandon the tents. Move!”
We dart into the silent woods. It feels as though the very trees are holding their breath. I pull Molly Beth toward me. She trembles but doesn't say a word, just forces her shorter legs to keep up with mine. Layla is behind me with Norah, and Maddie brings up the rear.
We only make it halfway up the hill before the ground begins to shake, knocking us to our knees.
“Brace!” I shout, covering Molly Beth with one arm, and reaching for Layla with the other.
The haze of afternoon sunlight dims to no more than a whisper, darkness crowding in on all sides.
Is this an earthquake? It’s possible that a big earthquake could reach us up here. Would it uproot trees? We need shelter. My skin prickles with the memory of another world-shattering event. My knee twinges painfully, but there’s no room for pain or memories. I feel Norah’s hand on my arm, and Maddie’s fingers covering my hand where I’m hunched over Molly Beth’s back.
The ground rumbles, quakes shaking the trees, branches swaying and snapping.
If anything happens, at least we’re all together. I bury my face in Molly Beth’s thick red hair, inhaling the faint scent of her strawberry shampoo. In the back of my mind another explosion replays, bright and hot and full of pain.
I am not there, on that deployment. I swallow the memories down and focus on the here and now.
A jagged gash of lightning splits the sky. Thunder booms like a homemade bomb, chilling my blood. Then the world goes black.