Alone

Chapter 6

Riley

I can feel Chloe looking at me, but I don't turn my head. My heart races in my chest as I think about what the reporter said. If Dad is not at home, he must have heard me, but there is a lot of space west of South Branch, Tennessee. I hear Joe chuckling from down below, and the rumble of the two men's voices, but I cannot pick out the words. I finally muster the energy to look at Chloe, but she is not looking at me anymore. Instead, she is staring blindly at the ladder. I turn a little farther, enough to see Peter, who is staring at me with a curious expression on his face. I lift my head just enough to open my mouth and whisper, "What?" He shakes his head. "Nothing." His voice is a little louder, just loud enough to attract Joe's attention. "Be quiet up there!" Peter jumps like he always does, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Chloe look wildly around, as though she forgot where she was. Barely stifling a groan, I push myself to my feet and move across to the round window at the end of the room. The weak sunlight outside reveals snow-covered trees stretching as far as I can see, and steep mountains blocking out part of the sky. The sun tells me which way is east, but nothing else looks familiar. I turn away from the window and look at the top bed again, but decide I don't want to try to climb the ladder. Instead, I lay back down on the floor, this time under the window, as far from the hole as possible. Despite the nap I had earlier, I find my eyes drifting closed, and I give in to deep, dreamless sleep.

Chloe

When Riley starts snoring softly across the loft, I clamber up and get the blanket off the top bunk, spreading it gingerly over her sleeping form. Peter gets up and steps across to his pallet, still staring at Riley as he sits down on it. I narrow my eyes and step across to join him, asking in a whisper, "What is your fascination with Riley?" He looks almost guilty, and shrugs. "I don't know. I guess she's just different." I manage a little bit of a grin as I join him in staring across at Riley. "Different than me, or different than you?" He shrugs again, then turns suddenly to look at me. "Why did she take that whipping for me? I wouldn't have done it for her, so why did she do it for me?" Now it's my turn to shrug. "I don't know. Maybe she doesn't like to see other people hurting. Maybe she didn't know your dad would hit her. I don't have a clue." I glance at him in time to see him looking doubtfully at me. "She had to have known he'd whip her. Didn't you see her back?" I wince at the memory. I definitely saw her back. The question is, how did I not know about it before? South Branch is not that big of a town. The gossip mill is always running, but I didn't even know Riley's name before today. My wandering mind is pulled back to the current situation when footsteps start up the ladder. Peter's eyes widen suddenly and he jumps up and hurries quietly across to the bunk, where he sits just as Joe appears in the hole in the floor. Joe looks suspiciously around the room, at me on the pallet, Riley lying sleeping on the floor below the window, and Peter sitting on the bottom bunk. He speaks sharply, and Riley jumps and wakes up. "Come here." All three of us get up, Riley a little sluggishly, and walk toward him. I stay well back, at least a step behind where Peter and Riley stop. Joe pulls out his cell and punches in my home number, then beckons me closer. I reluctantly step into line with Peter and Riley as Joe hits send. The same unfamiliar female voice answers the phone, and Joe snaps, "Put Mayor Pierson on the phone." After a brief silence, Dad's voice comes out of the phone. "This is Brian Pierson." Joe shoves the phone at me and I grab it. "Dad? It's Chloe." He speaks quickly. "Chloe, Honey, just hang on. We're going to find you, I promise." I quickly start to speak again, keeping an eye on Joe. "Dad, I'm okay right now; it's just cold and snowy outside-" Joe grabs the phone away from me, but just speaks into it and does not move to hit me. "One million dollars. You have three days." I stare in terror as my father's voice disappears in the closing phone. Joe glowers at me for a minute, then types in Riley's home number and beckons her closer. She steps a tiny bit closer as the phone rings, and rings, and rings. After several minutes, Joe clicks the phone shut and glares at Riley like it's her fault. "What is your dad's cell number?" She recites it for him, he dials it, and they both lean a little closer to the phone. After only two rings, the same gruff voice answers. "Hello" Joe hands the phone to Riley with a warning look, and she cautiously puts it up to her ear. "Hi, Dad." She jumps just like Peter when her dad answers. "Riley?! Where are you?" Riley looks up at Joe. He holds out his hand, not the one he's been operating the phone with. Coiled in his palm like a snake about to strike lies the leather belt from downstairs.