Chapter 3

by CMReber

Background
Lana Parker has a secret that she is hoping to hide from her most recent Foster Family. Dark memories come flooding back.

Lana opened her eyes, and found that she was enveloped by darkness. It was cold, and she was lying down on something solid and hard. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the poor lighting, finding that a dim camping lantern hanging on the wall across the room was the only thing illuminating her surroundings. It took a few seconds for her to realize that she was in the storm cellar of the house. There were shelves lined with non-perishable cans of food and a freezer full of deer meat Calvin's friend had given them.

Her head felt foggy, and she was having trouble piecing things together. How had she gotten down here and why? Where were Sarah and Calvin right now? Had she been sleep walking? Didn't they know she was missing?

Panic gripped her and there was something looming just on the edge of her memory that terrified her. Lana sat up, failing, finding that something was wound around her wrists and ankles. She struggled and tugged at whatever it was, and lifted her head enough to see the red and white leads that were normally used for the goats, now holding her in place. Her heart began to pound and, in brief and frightening flashes, snippets of the hallway began to come back to her, though nothing substantial enough to make sense of what was going on.

The top step leading down to the basement creaked loudly, and the narrow beam of a flashlight broke through the darkness, sweeping back and forth as whoever was holding it neared the bottom of the stairs.

Lana cried out in surprise as the light suddenly blinded her, and she heard a heavy exhale.

She kept blinking until her eyes adjusted, and a face came into focus. The blood ran cold in her veins and she fought back a scream when she saw it was her foster mother's face staring down at her. Sarah's blue eyes were swollen and red, and there were very dark circles underneath, but, what frightened Lana most, was how they lacked any surprise at finding her imprisoned there.

"M-mom?" Lana croaked, her heart filling with dread. She had been sick, she remembered that much, and her body still ached. Had she been poisoned? Were they going to kill her? She had grown up hearing about that orphan girl that had been murdered in Colorado, so she knew those kinds of things happened. She just had never imagined people as seemingly kind as the Evanses being able to hide such evil.

"Yes, Lana. Sweetie, it's me," Sarah finally whispered. Strangely, Sarah looked as frightened as Lana felt, not like some sinister murderess about to do some terrible deed. "Honey, can you hear me?"

Lana's head jerked up and down a couple of times and she was at a loss for what to say.

Sarah--the woman who had taken the place of a mother for nearly eighteen months--kneeled down so that her face was level with Lana's and reached out a hand towards Lana's freezing arm; but, then, she jerked back, recoiling from the little girl's skin as if it were poison. The rejection made Lana want to cry, even more so than the thought of being murdered.

"Lana, you must be so scared right now. I... Calvin and I... We didn't know what else to do." Sarah sounded like she, too, was on the verge of tears.

Confusion and jumbled memories flooded over Lana. "Didn't know what to do about what?" she finally managed. Her voice sounded ragged and gravelly, like when someone had a bad chest cold.

Heavy silence blanketed the room, and it pressed down on the two of them until Lana wanted to scream. But, she didn't scream, and the silence stretched on, and then Sarah seemed to choke back a sob and fled from the room without another word.

Hot tears streamed down Lana's face and she finally let the wail that had been building inside her escape her throat, like some mortally wounded animal. She didn't care who heard. She didn't care about being a perfect daughter anymore because something unimaginable and unfixable had occurred.

Just what that thing had been, Sarah never said. What felt like nearly an hour had passed, and then Calvin silently came down to undo the ropes and free her from the old patio furniture to which she had been tied. He looked haunted and tired, but he never said one more word to Lana.

Silence filled the house after that, and within less than a week's time, Lana's belongings had been packed up and she found herself back at the steps of the orphanage where she had first been mysteriously dropped off as an infant. The same steps where she had met Sarah and Calvin a year and a half ago. Now, they didn't even look back as they drove away, leaving her broken and more alone then she had ever felt in her life.

Lana watched their Subaru station wagon disappear from sight, and she vowed these would be the last tears she would ever shed for anyone.

Write A Review

YA / Supernatural / Urban Fantasy

Pays one point and 2 member cents.

You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.

Shift: Book 1, Misfits series

A chapter in the book Shift

Chapter 3

by CMReber

The FanStory Store For Writers

Your Poem On A Mug