The remains

Chapter 61

We skip and hop our way down the porch stairs, onto a narrow path that leads out into the woods. Molly has regained some of her strength. Groggily, she pulls me along.

“ Come on,” she says in a muted but screaming voice. “We can make it out of here if we try.”

But I’m slowing her down. I’m so scared I can hardly move. We’re identical Siamese twins, joined at the wrists. I’m crying, tripping, struggling to keep up.

Together we fall along the path.

Molly screams, “Get up! Get up!”

I cry, try to lift myself, but we fall again. I try again to raise myself up and this time it works. We raise ourselves up together. We hobble along the path until we hear the sound of the stream.

“ All we have to do is get across that stream,” she exclaims. “Then we try for home.”

We keep moving, playing the man’s strange game of cat and mouse. All the while the sound of rushing stream water gets louder, more forceful. When we come to its edge, Molly asks me if I’m ready. Ready to jump in, that is.

She would pull me in if isn’t for the gunshot.