Chapter 43

Something smelled yucky, something that was not the earthy odor of healthy horse poop. Her nose crinkled.

“Preston?” She pulled open his stall door, realizing that he hadn’t snorted at her arrival

When Jordan saw what was left inside she screamed. She screamed so much that she felt something grind in her throat—a popping sound and a bright flash of pain—and by the time her mother got there, her chin and slender chest were covered in her own blood. She screamed until Dr. Carole arrived and gave her a shot, and she screamed even after Daddy got home, and she kept trying to scream until the gray swirled around in her head and the terrible red went away, away, away.

* * * *

Without the sun shining over the tall pines on the west side, the dusk air turned chilly; Jared’s fingers felt nipped and clumsy from the cold. They all took turns using his bathroom to shower, then moved back to the office.

Peter came in last, grinning. “D and D caught Pinhead; they’re bringing him in!”