Bound by Blood and Brimstone (24 page)

want him! Ain’t that right, slut? This was punctuated by a veritable rain of catapulted rocks,

crashing, pounding, seeking their mark. Lorrie Beth had still not responded, and as the assault

intensified, she appeared to go somewhere inside herself
. Not now,
my mind begged.
If you want

to go into
shock, do it later. But please not now!

“Let me tell you something, you gimped up circus freak! You can’t have my brother, you

hear me? I see the way he looks at you, and I won’t have it! I saw it in first grade, and I put a

stop to it then!” Another rock sang out of the trees and cracked an overhead limb like a shot.

“You’re so stupid, you didn’t even know, did you? He does everything I say! Everything!

He can’t tie his shoes without me! He can’t do anything without asking me, and you think you’re

going to priss in here and change that?” There was a pause, and I glanced at Lorrie Beth, bitter

gall welling up in my throat. “CALEB IS MINE! HE’S MINE AND I’M HIS, AND YOU

CAN’T HAVE HIM, YOU BITCH!”

At those vicious words, Lorrie Beth jumped as if jolted out of a dream. My thoughts

were in a dead run. Oh, my Lord! What’s she talking about? Caleb is hers? She almost sounds

like he’s her boyfriend or something. And that stuff about her telling him what to do? What does

it all mean? Could it have been her and not Caleb all these years? My blood froze in my veins as

the truth slammed me. She was completely insane.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed movement. It was Lorrie Beth, stepping out from

behind the tree. I was so startled I fell backwards on my fanny. Just as I opened my mouth to ask

if she had a death wish, there was a rattling of leaves in the distance. Sue Lee had leapt out of her

hiding place, revealed in all her grotesque glory.

In the dim light I could barely see her face contort with rage, and as I watched, paralyzed,

she lifted her fist. I could see something long clenched in it. “COME OVER HERE, NOW,

SLUT, AND FACE ME, OR I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL CUT YOU TO PIECES!”

For the first time Lorrie Beth’s clear voice rang out in answer. “Like you killed my dog

and cut him up?”

When Sue Lee answered, it was with the snarl of a rabid beast. “AND WHAT IF I DID?

YOU AIN’T GOING TO DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!” I was up on my feet now, shushing

Lorrie Beth, desperately pleading with her not to make things worse. Distracted by the maddened

need to keep my sights on Sue Lee, I darted my eyes back to my sister, who was reaching for

something in her pocket. With trembling hands, she pulled out her slingshot. I felt my eyes bug

out.

“I thought you’d gotten rid of that!” I whispered, my heart pounding in heavy rhythm.

She shrugged. “I always carry it, but I never wanted to have to use it.” Her voice was

tearful, apprehensive.

“Lorrie Beth, for the love of heaven, don’t just stand there, use that thing! Maybe you can

get her to back off. She’s crazy!”

Sue Lee had taken a step closer, shrinking the gap between us, but she was still a good

distance away, her screams boiling out into the humid evening. “I MEAN IT; IF YOU DON’T

COME OVER HERE, I’M COMING TO GET YOU, AND WHEN I GET THROUGH, THERE

WON’T BE NOTHING…”

Lorrie Beth yanked back the slingshot band with all her might and released the stone with

a furious snap. A sharp singing of air rang out. It happened so fast I barely heard the thump of

contact, but couldn’t actually see what she hit. Sue Lee had dodged behind a tree, and for a

blessed second or two, all was quiet. Then the quiet dragged on. Lorrie Beth’s hands were

shaking as she slid the slingshot back in her pocket.

“Maybe she went home,” she offered hopefully.

“No such luck,” I whispered. A couple more minutes went by.

“It’s a trick,” she said, her eyes filling. “It’s a trick, and we’ll never get out of here alive.”

I had just had the same thought, but it made me angry to hear it come out of her mouth.

We waited two more minutes, and finally, just when I thought I was about to explode,

Lorrie Beth grasped my hands in both of hers. “Please, Ember Mae, go see if she’s still there. I

just don’t think I can stand another minute of this, and my legs are shaking so hard I’m not sure I

can walk.”

I took a breath to steady myself. “Look, she must’ve gone. She couldn’t possibly keep her

mouth shut this long. I think it’s going to be okay, but I’ll go check if it’ll make you feel better.”

She agreed that it would.

I picked my way cautiously to where I thought Sue Lee had been standing, all the while,

expecting to be ambushed by a switchblade. It was the longest walk of my life. I found her on

her back, her face bloody from a nasty wound in her forehead. Her eyes were open, but she saw

nothing. She was dead.

Most folks would assume that, upon witnessing the dead body of a classmate, a child my

age would’ve been reduced to violent tears, gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, or fleeing like

demons from the command of Christ Almighty. I did none of those things. I simply stood there,

my eyes sweeping the length of the still form, taking in the bare, dirt-caked feet, the faded

overalls, the blonde hair soiled with blood.

She’d fallen on one arm, and the other was flung outward, the hand upturned as though

beseeching the heavens. I saw the ragged fingernails chewed into the quick, and the rusty, callus-

thickened palm. One ankle was mottled with a ring of bruises, and there was a thin, jagged scar

on her wrist.

Watching those pale, unblinking eyes cloud over, I gave birth to my first thought since

finding her. It was a heinous thought, straight from hell’s blackest pits, one that I’ll have to

answer for on Judgment Day. It was this:
Hallelujah! She’s
dead! I’m glad, glad, glad. Ding,

Dong! The witch is dead!

Then, insidiously, from some secret chamber within, savage laughter bubbled up inside

my throat and threatened to escape into the hushed, humid air. I had to bite my lips to cage it

and, backing away from the body, I shook my head hard.
No! Stop it! Now’s not the time to lose

it
.
There’s too
much to do
.

A strange, vacant calm stole over me, one that I can’t explain even now. In it was no

room for terror or regret. Like a warm, soothing bath, it wrapped me up and buoyed me, giving

movement to my stiffening limbs. Instead of a whirlpool of chaos, my thoughts collected and

coalesced around grim purpose.

Lorrie Beth. She’ll never get over the guilt of this. She’ll blame herself for the rest of her

days. I’ll never convince her this wasn’t her fault, that she had no choice.

Heart-rending images, born of a fertile imagination, assailed me: Lorrie Beth in a

courtroom, tearful and trembling before a merciless jury, Lorrie Beth in a jail cell, her white face

pressed against the iron bars, Lorrie Beth on a death march down that endless corridor to the

electric chair.

I couldn’t know, at twelve, how realistic I was being, but I had enough sense to know that

at the very least, Lorrie Beth would be taken from us if found out, maybe forever. I vowed to

myself that I’d not let that happen. Whatever the cost, this was a secret she would carry to the

grave. We both would.

Turning back to the body, I knelt and examined it more closely, searching, for what, I

can’t say. I ran my hands down the pant legs and into the pockets, finding nothing but a small

stash of rocks. I pulled both pant legs up and noted the network of scratches on both legs. I

turned her head from side to side, peering into the dirt beneath her, trailing the stream of

thickening blood to its end. Nearby, at the base of a tree trunk, I spotted the stained rock that had

dealt the fatal blow, and I snatched it up and pocketed it.

It occurred to me that I should check to see if I’d moved her or altered anything in a way

that would create suspicion later. Noticing that her hair had fallen over one cheek, I reached to

brush it aside. In the fading light something gleamed dully from the edge of her tee shirt collar.

I realized it was part of a chain of some sort. I grasped it and pulled gently, watching it as

it trailed up out of the confines of her shirt-front. It was chain of gold, and at the end of it, an

emerald in the shape of a pear. My thoughts began to race.

Lorrie Beth’s necklace from Janine. It was Sue Lee? Sue Lee and not Caleb? She was the

one who followed us that day to Crystal Creek. She must’ve been the one in the woods that day

with Wonnie Dean, too. She said Caleb did everything she told him to do.

Is it possible that all this time it was Sue Lee, and Caleb just went along for the ride?

Why would she hate Lorrie Beth so much, even from the first day of school? Just as the dread-

soaked answer took shape in my mind, I was interrupted by a plaintive call.

“Ember Mae? What’s taking you so long? Is she gone? Oh, please hurry back; I can’t

stand this waiting!” The innocent fright in that voice had the same effect on my insides as a stout

dosing of cod liver oil. For those not familiar with the feeling, it’s akin to death by impending

diarrhea, while sitting in an ice bath. Valiantly, I fought it and willed my voice to shed its panic

while sprinting back to her hiding place.

“Don’t move, Lorrie Beth! I’m coming!” She was right where I’d left her, sitting with her

back against a tree trunk, her arms wrapped around her knees. She’d been crying. How on earth

was I going to tell her? A quick glance at the sky told me a lot of hard decisions were going to

have to be made, and there was precious little time to make them.

Momma and Reese would be home before long. Doing my best to compose my face and

taking a deep breath to steady my tone, I reached out to pull her to her feet. “It’s okay now. She’s

gone. She won’t be bothering us anymore.”

Her reaction to that was a limp collapse against me, nearly knocking me off my feet. She

grasped me about the waist and buried her head against my shoulder, giving release to the

avalanche of pent-up anguish.

“Oh, Ember Mae, thank God! I was so afraid for you! I was afraid she might be waiting

over there somewhere and would—would do something horrible to you, but she’ll just come

back again and again, and she’ll bring Caleb, and oh, Lord, it’s never going to stop!”

On and on she went. Thinking it best to let her get it out, I held my tongue for another

couple of minutes, knowing as I did so that the clock of doom was ticking for both of us. Rooted

in the primitive instinct to survive, a cold resolve stole over me as I absorbed her babble. Idly, I

considered shoving her off of me and slapping her face back and forth, the way they always did

in the movies to calm the heroine.

I had to make her take her first hard look at our world, and good, bad, or indifferent, she

had to see things for what they were. For a brief instant I grieved the loss of that trusting child

within her, then I said goodbye to it.

Gripping her by both arms, I pushed her away from me and shook her twice. Her head

rocked. “Listen to me, now stop it. Stop it, Lorrie Beth!” She stopped, snapping her lips together

in a ragged intake of breath. Her eyes were wet and wide with accusation.

I’d never spoken so sharply to her, not even the day I’d found her in hysterics in the

cemetery. Digging my fingers into the tender flesh of her upper arms, I leaned farther into her

face. I knew there would be bruises on her tomorrow, but for the moment I was only concerned

about seeing tomorrow come.

“Don’t speak and don’t cry,” I said through gritted teeth. “There’s no time for crying, no

time for anything but listening and doing.” Her eyes widened to huge discs as she opened her

mouth, but I capped my hand over it roughly.

“I mean it, Lorrie Beth. Don’t speak ‘till I’m finished. You have to trust me and hear me

out. Everything’s changed now. I don’t have much time, so I have to give it to you straight, and

you have to take it like a full-grown woman. If you can’t give me your word on that, I’ll just

whip your butt now and be done with it.” She nodded wordlessly, the hurt in her eyes stinging

me, but I couldn’t waste even a second for guilt.

“Sue Lee is gone, and she won’t be coming back. She’s dead.” Ruthlessly, I went on

without pause, my eyes drilling hers. “She’s dead, and there’s nothing to be done about it. It was

your slingshot that did it, but if you hadn’t, it would’ve been us instead. Now I don’t know about

you, but I’m glad it wasn’t us, and I’m not shedding any tears over it either.”

Her face was ashen, and her lips were trembling, but she remained on her feet and held

my gaze stubbornly, though the green of her eyes was now as murky as shark-ridden seas. I

wondered what I’d do if she were to go into shock all the way out here with a dead body for

company. She opened her mouth, shut it, and opened it again. I waited.

“We have to get help. We have to tell the sheriff—somebody.” She trailed of weakly,