LITMIR.BIZ

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can come and play nice with me, or you can jump into that river. What’s it gonna be?”

      In the background of her dream Ellie could hear the voices of other boys and girls who looked on and talked in muffled tones, enjoying her terror.

      Frantically she tried to find some way out of the cavern, but she’d reached a blank wall and there was no escape. She saw Cody’s horrible face and cruel hands, then the dark, swollen river…

      Sweating and whimpering with fear, Ellie awoke fully and lay staring at the window screens.

      It was a dream, she told herself, hugging her thin body. Just a stupid dream. Cody Pollock was nowhere close to her. If he ever came to this farm and tried to hurt her, her father would kill him.

      That was when she realized some of the noises from her nightmare were still going on, drifting to her from inside the little house. She could even see a dim light in the hallway, like that partially lit cavern in her dream. And she heard the distant sound of splashing, running water, along with her father’s deep voice and an occasional soft reply.

      Ellie frowned, wondering what was happening, then relaxed.

      Probably Chris had had one of her accidents, and Daddy was cleaning her up. When their mother had first gone away, Chris used to wet the bed all the time, but she was getting a lot better now and it hardly ever happened anymore.

      In fact, Ellie thought drowsily, most of the bad stuff started happening two years ago, right after their mother left.

      For one thing, Daddy was always upset about how messy the house was. And Chris had been so unhappy she hardly talked to anybody for a while. Only Josh hadn’t seemed bothered by their mother’s absence.

      Of course, the baby had been only six months old when Annie Gibson left her family.

      “I stayed long enough to have Josh,” Annie once told her eldest daughter, “though God knows I was getting pretty damned anxious to be out of there. But fair’s fair, and your daddy was always real good to me. If he wanted that baby so bad, well, I guess I just had to give him the baby once I went and let myself get pregnant. Didn’t I, Jelly-Belly?”

      Ellie had wanted to ask her mother how she could have gotten pregnant when she didn’t love their father anymore, but it was so hard to talk with her about anything serious. Annie’s mind was always darting on to something else before you could even start to take in what she’d just told you.

      “You should see my new show outfit,” Annie had told Ellie dreamily, smoothing her daughter’s dark curls. “It’s bright red suede, with fringes hanging down to here. It’s gorgeous, Ellie. I need to lose a few pounds to fit into it, though.”

      “Mama, don’t you love us?” Ellie had asked, trying not to cry. “How could you leave me and Chris and a sweet little baby like Josh, and go off singing to a bunch of people you don’t even know?”

      “Why, honey, of course I love you!” Annie gave one of her rich, booming laughs and gathered Ellie into a fragrant embrace. “But some women are just naturally cut out to be housewives, and I’m not one of them. I was born to be a star, kiddo.”

      And it was true—Annie Gibson was trying very hard to be a star. Her stage name, which she’d invented all on her own, was Justyn Thyme, and she’d already been hired to sing at a couple of big conventions in Nashville, as well as lots of nightclubs. She was earning good money, enough to fly back to Texas and see her children several times a year, and she kept believing her big break was just around the corner.

      For Annie’s sake, Ellie hoped it was, too.

      She’d long since given up hope that her mother would come back to them if her music career failed. To tell the truth, Ellie wasn’t even sure she’d welcome her mother back for more than those brief visits when she swept in carrying presents and took them all out for treats.

      Though Annie’s company was exciting, after a while Ellie got tired of her mother’s constant laughter and chatter and wanted some peace again, the nice feeling of the little farmhouse with just her and Daddy and Chris and Josh, looking after themselves.

      Still, it was true bad things had started happening after Annie left them, including Cody Pollock picking on her.

      He was a bad boy from Lampasas whose parents weren’t able to control him. When Cody was eleven, they sent him down to their cousin, June Pollock, who lived alone in one of the big old houses in Crystal Creek, since her daughter, Carlie, had gone off to Rice University to study marine biology.

      June was a strong, quiet woman who’d worked most of her life as a hotel waitress and chambermaid. Everybody in town liked and respected her. No doubt Cody’s parents thought she could do something with their son.

      And Cody hadn’t gotten into much real trouble since coming to Crystal Creek, but nobody knew how mercilessly he tormented Ellie Gibson. The older boy had spotted her almost two years ago when she was just ten years old, and tried to grab her legs when she was on a swing at the park.

      Ellie had kicked him, giving him a nosebleed. After that, Cody never left her alone. He took every opportunity he could to trip her or knock her books out of her hands or jab her in the ribs when they passed in the hallways, and usually managed to do so without being seen. In fact, he was always careful not to be seen, especially by June, who had no stomach for bullies. Kinfolk or not, June would have dealt with Cody fast enough if she knew what was happening.

      During the rare occasions Ellie ran into him alone, she was terrified. Though she tried not to give any sign of how she felt, it was almost as if Cody could smell her fear, like a dog does, and got some kind of cruel enjoyment out of it.

      The situation had grown even worse when Ellie’s body began to mature over the past spring and summer. Cody was thirteen by now, with a pimply face and the shadow of a mustache, and his manner toward her had also changed. Now there was real menace about him, a leering expression in his eyes that frightened her more than ever. When Cody got close to her nowadays, he didn’t only jab her in the ribs, but also tried to grab her growing breasts, which, to Ellie’s dismay, were visible under her loose T-shirts.

      Worst of all, he’d gotten his friends involved, a gang of four other rough boys who swaggered across the schoolyard and terrorized everybody with their coarse words and threats of violence.

      Ellie was never safe from them. At any moment she could round a corner at school and find Cody and his friends blocking a hallway, keeping her from getting to her next class. Or she would see them in the park, crouching behind bushes to call insults at her, or deliberately jostling up against her on the street when she walked downtown to Wall’s Drugstore.

      Ms. Osborne, the middle-school principal, held regular assemblies where she urged kids to report bullies if their lives were being made unpleasant.

      Unpleasant, Ellie thought bitterly, scowling at the ceiling. What a stupid word.

      Her life was hell, pure and simple. Going to school every day was like running a gauntlet with no idea if you’d ever emerge safely.

      “Don’t be afraid to speak to your parents,” Ms. Osborne told the kids. “Your teachers here at school and your parents, working together, can keep you safe from bullies. And those who are threatening you will be punished.”

      Ellie rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.

      It sounded good, that big promise from the principal, but Ellie didn’t believe a word of it. Her home-room teacher, Mr. Kilmer, was a shy man who was probably every bit as terrified of Cody Pollock and his friends as she was.

      Ellie’s father, of course, wasn’t scared of anybody. But Ellie would die of embarrassment if she told him the things those boys said to her and what Cody Pollock threatened to do to her.

      Besides, what good would it do, anyhow? Her father couldn’t kill Cody or make him move away, and so the bullying would just go on. Probably it would be even worse because Cody would know she’d told on him.

      But tonight, for the first

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