Dark Torment

Chapter 6

When Candence Bree lost herself writing a story it could keep her occupied all day. Lately she had been perfecting a story she was writing, so I wasn’t really surprised when she wasn’t in the library. It was totally understandable, considering I was almost an hour and a half late.

I got stuck in rush-hour traffic from the city, and it was pitch-dark when I pulled up to the library.

I wasn't much in the mood for getting started with projects on my own, so I decided to go back home for dinner.

I came into the driveway and slammed on the brakes when a dark shadow lunged out in front of the car. My heart pounded against my rib cage as I peered out the window. Matt shielded his eyes from the headlights. His hair was disheveled, and his mouth was fixed in a thin, tight fine.

"Matt, are you okay?" I asked as I got out of the car. "I almost hit you."

Matt grabbed my arm. "Where have you been?"

"At the library with Cade. I told Mom—"

"Don't lie to me," he said through clenched teeth. "Cade came here looking for you. Good thing I answered the door. Mom and Dad can't deal with this right now. Where were you?"

His eyes were sharp, like he wanted to tear me to the bone—and his fingernails, digging into my elbow, felt like they could finish the job.

"Let go," I said, and tried to pull out of his tight grasp.

"Tell me!" he shouted, wrenching my arm even harder. I'd rarely ever heard him shout before, even when we were kids. "You were with him, weren't you?" He wrinkled his nose in disgust, like he could smell Shayn on me.

I shook my head.

"Don't lie!"

"Stop it!" I shouted back. "You're scaring me."

There was a catch in my voice, and when Matt heard it, his eyes softened and he let go of my elbow.

"What on earth is going on?" I asked, more than bewildered.

Matt put his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry." His face twisted like he was trying to hold back a rush of emotion, "I'm so sorry. I've been looking for you everywhere. This is just so horrible. I…I needed to talk to you, and when I couldn't find you—"

"What?" Flashes of horrible things happening to Little Tyler or Jesse shot through my mind.

"What happened?"

"I found her," he said. "I found her and she was all blue and cold…and those gashes...I didn't know what to do. Dad came, the sheriff, the paramedics. But it was too late. They said she'd been gone for hours, more than a whole day."

"Who?!"

"Nan," he said. "I was delivering Thanksgiving packages for Dad to all the widows. Nan was my last delivery. And there she was, sprawled on her porch." Matt's face splotched with red. "One of the paramedics said she must have fainted with weakness while leaving her house.

Dad called Nan's daughter. She's mad. She said it was Dad's fault. Said that he should have taken better care of Nan, that he should have made her go to the doctor."

Matt wiped at his nose. "People expect him to work miracles. But how can you work miracles in a world where an old woman lay on her porch for over twenty-four hours and nobody stopped?"

Lines furrowed around his eyes. "She was frozen, Kaleigh. Frozen."

"What?" Nan lived in Oak Front. It wasn't nearly as bad as where Shayn was staying, but it was definitely a less desirable area. My head felt like I'd been standing over an open bottle of some kind of foul-smelling cleaner too long. How many people could have passed her by?