Free Ripple Effect: A Novel by Adalynn Rafe Page B

a girl could want in life. Even a giant unicorn!
    She dropped her backpack on the carpeted floor and looked at the mirror. “I’m fat,” she said as she picked at her chin. Sabrina was not a fat child at all.
    After poking at herself for a minute, she pulled a paper out of her backpack—a poem that she had gotten a good grade on. Beaming with accomplishment, she headed into the hallway and toward another part of the house.
    She stepped quietly along a dark hallway lined with tall wooden doors, walnut in color. They contrasted the mustard yellow that splotched the walls. At last, she reached a door at the very end of the hall. Closed shut, it seemed rather uninviting. Regardless, Sabrina’s little hand reached to the brushed silver knob and twisted. Something was going on in that room, because when she opened the door we could hear heavy panting and rattling noises from the bed.
    “Oh, crap,” I whispered.
    “Gordon!” Carmen screamed from behind us, her Spanish accent thick with anger. She pushed her daughter aside to go through the open door and into the darkened bedroom. “Gordon Drake!”
    Screaming sounded from the horrified little Sabrina.
     
    *              *              *
     
    Sabrina sat on the cold ground in the perfectly sculpted backyard. On the far end were trees, and only trees. As the yard progressed toward the house, it was more sculpted and filled with smaller bushes and plants. It had to be late fall. She was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, staring into the darkness of the forest beyond her.
    “Do you not get scared out here, all by yourself?” Natasha asked her quietly. She stood behind her wrapped in a white blanket. Tall and sleek and blond, she possessed a unique beauty that was all her own.
    Scowling, the twelve year old Sabrina looked back at her. “The only thing to be scared of is you. You chased my mother away and robbed my father of his empty heart.”
    I nodded in remembrance. Really, her mother ran away because her husband shot her son on accident while on a hunting trip. Then she drew away from her family in her sorrow, and that caused her husband to cheat with Natasha. Carmen ran away. Though Sabrina always had a grudge toward Natasha, she hated her mother more. She abandoned her.
    “What do you say we have a party with your friends?” Natasha sat down beside her. She was trying to be nice. “It will cheer you up.”
    Sabrina wrapped her arms around herself even tighter. “You’re not my mom, Natasha. You’re married to my father, but that doesn’t make you my mother.”
    Natasha wrapped her arm around her regardless. I felt sorry for Natasha, who was trying so hard to win the heart of the messed up child. “What about Hazel? She can come to the party.”
    Her eyes filled with angry tears, she smacked Natasha’s arm away from her. “Don’t touch me!” Sabrina screamed. “I hate you!”
    “Sabrina,” Gordon said from the stone porch. Lights filled the space behind him to reveal a glorious patio and covered pool. “Darling?”
    After glaring at Natasha, Sabrina stood up and dragged her feet toward her father. “Daddy,” she cried, her voice thick with tears. “Hazel hates me!”
    Gordon tilted his head. “Darling, Hazel doesn’t hate you.”
    Sabrina started crying––her face contorted in emotional distraught––when she reached her towering father. “It’s Cecily’s fault!”
     
    Looking at Kelly, I felt bad—I had done some heinous crime to Sabrina in my young life. Was it really my fault? Was she getting payback—is that why I died? He could only shrug and give an apologetic look.
    “Hazel!” Sabrina, twelve years of age screamed, her face going red. Now they were in the field of the middle school. Of course, Sabrina sat atop the highest perch of land, the pitcher’s mound, and bossed people around.
    Young Hazel booked it away from her, upset and crying.
    “Hazel!” Sabrina screamed again. She ignored her,