Chapter 2 - The Lie Ethan Kept
Lily shoved a life jacket into Ethan's chest.
"Start talking while we move."
Rain hammered the porch roof. The street was already waist-deep in the center and climbing.
Ethan buckled the jacket with shaking hands.
"I was twelve. Claire was nine. Our father, Thomas, ran a construction company. After the levee failed, everybody was evacuating. Claire found something in his office."
"What?"
"I never knew. Papers. Photos. She told me Dad was stealing from people."
A rescue siren wailed somewhere beyond the neighborhood.
Ethan opened the shed and pulled out the inflatable raft they kept for fishing.
"That night, I heard Claire screaming downstairs. I came to the landing and saw Dad dragging her toward the garage. Mom was crying."
Lily stopped tying the rope.
"You saw him take her?"
"Yes."
"Then why did everyone think she drowned?"
Ethan swallowed.
"Because Dad came back alone. He grabbed me by the neck and told me Claire had run into the flood. He said if I told anyone different, Mom would disappear too."
Lily stared at him.
"And you believed him."
"I was twelve."
The words cracked.
Lily softened for one second, then pointed across the street.
"That child may not have one second to spare."
They pushed the raft into the water.
Halfway across, Lily heard glass break upstairs.
"Hey!" she shouted. "We're coming!"
A pale hand appeared at the window.
Then vanished.
They reached the porch. Ethan kicked the swollen front door twice before it burst inward.
The smell hit them first.
Mud.
Mildew.
And something strangely clean beneath it.
Bleach.
"Someone has been here," Lily said.
Fresh boot prints crossed the dusty floor.
Not child's footprints.
Adult.
They followed them toward the stairs.
On the wall hung a crooked family photograph protected behind cracked glass.
Ethan froze.
A boy of twelve stood beside a dark-haired little girl holding the gray rabbit.
Behind them stood their parents.
Lily lifted her flashlight.
Her stomach dropped.
The woman in the picture wore a silver pendant Lily knew better than her own wedding ring.
Her mother had owned the same pendant.
Before Lily could speak, something banged upstairs.
May you like
Then a child's voice screamed.
"Don't let him find me!"
