Free Forgotten by Sarah J. Pepper Page A

and
extended my hand. The small girl timidly took my hand and muttered
that her name was Elsie Yang. Her hands were frozen and boney. I
highly suspected she was nothing but knees and elbows. “Elsie’s a
pretty name for an eight-year-old.”
    The girl said nothing. She looked like
she was attempting to melt into the wall behind her. How did a girl
so shy manage to be a runaway threat? Nix that – I knew firsthand
how she could be a runner. I smiled brightly, hoping to win her
over with pleasantries, even though I knew better. Assuming she was
taking in the first sights of the house, I filled the space with
rattling about how great the Thompsons were to live with, if you
like heaps of laundry.
    “ What’s wrong with your
eyes?” Elsie asked. Her voice squeaked, almost surprised she spoke
in the first place.
    The soft click of the front door
sounded. Elsie instantly stiffened. For all she knew, I was a mean,
older kid who was just itching to lay down the rules, and the
Thompsons were the people keeping her captive. John’s footsteps
sounded in the kitchen. If I didn’t know better, he was waiting for
Martha and me to finish introducing ourselves. Meeting everyone
could be a bit overwhelming.
    “ It’s okay to ask, Elsie.
I’m blind,” I said. I pictured her lips quivering as she tried to
figure out what angle I was working.
    “ Blind?” she
repeated.
    “ Yeah,” I said. “It’s kind
of nice, actually. I don’t have to spend hours in front of the
mirror fussing about how I look because it doesn’t matter, and I have really good
hearing.”
    Her dark shadow got closer. She leaned
forward to get a better look at my eyes. “How did you know how old
I was?”
    I told her it was a lucky
guess and smiled brightly, even though I dislike it when people
gawked at my eyes. It was extremely nerve-racking, but I wanted
Elsie to feel safe. “Martha’s husband, John, is in the
kitchen, hopefully making dessert,” I said a little louder, hoping he’d get the
hint that a few wings and chips weren’t going to fill me
up.
    Glancing toward the kitchen to see if
John was going to make me a liar, I caught sight of a shimmery
figure, glistening through the living room’s window. I took a slow,
deep breath and closed my eyes, hoping the orb would disappear. It
didn’t. My lungs fought to cooperate. My adrenaline spiked. Sensing
my distress, Max scooted closer to me without actually moving out
of his ‘sit’ position.
    “ Let’s get you settled in
first,” Martha suggested as soon as she noticed my anxiety spike.
“Your room is on the second floor, next to Winnie’s.”
    When I looked back up, I saw Martha’s
and Elsie’s shadow moving toward the stairs – their backs to the
window. Another white figure moved alongside the first. Before I
could give any warning that we were being watched, the two shapes
vanished.

C HAPTER F OUR

    Fourth period literature was my one
and only class with Bree. At least it was “Ryker-free.” I know he
tried to change his schedule to get into this class after Bree
revealed our schedules. I swore that he did it purely to bother
me.
    Using Stella to guide me, I made my
way to the last seat in the first row. Bree waved to me from the
last chair in the second row and then returned to scribbling on a
piece of paper – our homework. The five-question assignment took me
nearly an hour to complete last night. Of course, I was somewhat
distracted with finding excuses to look out every window in the
house to see if anyone was still spying on me.
    Glancing back at the large, vacant
desk in front of the room, I tucked Stella under my arm and dug my
cell out of my back pocket. Without opening it, I pushed the volume
button several times and waited for the infamous missed call beep,
nothing. Sighing, I silenced it, and returned the cell to my
pocket. I wish HomFree, John’s home security company, would return
my call already! Taking Stella back out, I made my way down the
aisle to my desk.
    “