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Katie ran.
She had no choice.
Jimmy was running, and he still clutched her wrist, dragging her along with him.
She didn’t want to run. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was curl up somewhere and cry. Katie hadn’t known it was possible to cry so much, but it was pretty much all she’d done since the horrible lady from the bank had taken her.
She had woken up on the uncomfortable little bed in that horrible room that reminded her of her dollhouse at home. She hadn’t understood. Why was she there? Why had that woman taken her?
Until Jimmy showed up, the thought of trying to find a way to escape had never even occurred to her. There was no way out. She was going to die there. Every time the old lady and the old man came, she thought they were going to do it. But they never did. They just played at pretending she was a doll, and then did . . . stuff . . .
Stuff she didn’t want to think about. She didn’t want to think about any of it. She didn’t want to think at all.
That was why she cried. When she cried, she didn’t have to think—she could just feel. Feel every ounce of her fear and terror and panic.
It wasn't herself she was worried about.
She hadn’t cried for herself.
It was her brother.
The nasty old lady hadn’t brought him to the attic, so she must have killed him.
What else could she have done with Kevin?
The lady, Ruth, had given her a shot of something to make her sleep like the doctors at the hospital the time she had her tonsils taken out. With Katie asleep, Ruth wouldn’t have been able to take Kevin back to the bank. That would have looked too suspicious.
She must have killed him.
Her brother was dead.
Because of her.
Because she'd been busy worrying about her own problems. Her ownstupidproblems. Who cared about her friends from school? Who cared that Jasmine and Kelly didn’t want to play with her? Who cared that she had to be Missy’s partner? Who cared if the kids at school teased her? That meant nothing to her now. Nothing. She had as good as murdered her own baby brother.
Her mother was going to be so mad at her.
Probably didn’t even want her back.
“Katie,” Jimmy sounded exasperated.
Her mom always sounded exasperated, too. She never seemed to be able to make her mother happy, and that was before. Now, when her mother found out what she’d done, that she was responsible for Kevin’s death, she would hate her.
“Katie, don’t slow down,” Jimmy urged, pulling on her arm.
But Katie wasn't going to run another step.
She wanted the old couple to find her. To take her away. To kill her. She didn’t deserve to live.
“No,” she whispered, sinking to the ground right where she was. She wasn't moving another foot.
He kneeled in front of her, scanning the area around them. “We haven’t gone far enough. We have to keep moving. They could be coming.”
Katie hoped they were. Hoped they weren’t far away. Hoped they killed her soon.
“Come on.” Jimmy yanked her to her feet, tried to pull her forward, but she resisted.
“I don’t want to.”
