House at the End of the Street by Lily Blake, David Loucka, Jonathan Mostow Read Free Book Online Page A

and brushed away the dust.
    Elissa pulled her blond hair into a tight ponytail, twisting it hard. Why had she opened the door in the first place? “Ryan, I’m so sorry,” she tried.
    Ryan looked up, meeting her gaze. “When I first got here, I kept her room exactly the same in case she came back.”
    “How long has it been? Four years?” Elissa asked.
    “Yeah, I know.” He let out a sorrowful laugh. “Stupid, huh? I even used to leave supplies for her in the woods— food, blankets, even though I knew she could never have survived out there. She would’ve starved to death. She never could’ve been out there on her own. She needed constant care. My dad wanted to put her in a home, but Mom wouldn’t let him. That’s why they sent me away. They had enough to deal with as it was, without me in their hair.”
    Elissa lowered her head, not sure if she could bring herself to ask about it. Everyone in town talked about Carrie Anne, but no one ever said what had really happened to her—what made her that way. “What happened? To your sister…”
    “We were playing, and she fell and hit her head.” Ryan stared down at the teddy bear. “This was the bear she played with that day. I was seven and she was five. She loved that game. She’d snatch it from me and run through the house, trying to get away. I chased her out into theyard and tackled her, wrestling the bear out of her hands. We laughed for a while, and then played the same game we always played—seeing who could swing highest on the swings.”
    Elissa could picture the little girl clinging to the swing, her tiny legs pumping back and forth. Her blond hair blew away from her face, then forward, hiding her. Ryan was next to her, reaching for her hand, but she was always just a little out of reach, the swings not yet in sync.
    “I looked up at the window,” he continued. “To see if my parents were watching. They spent all of their weekends in their room, with the curtains drawn, smoke wafting from under the door. They always seemed in some far-off place—I know now they were battling an addiction. I was looking up at the window, waiting for them to see. That’s when Carrie Anne fell. She tumbled off the swing, hitting the ground hard. The last thing I remember is standing above her, screaming. It seemed like a long time before they came out of the house.”
    Elissa let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. It was a horrible story.
    Ryan stared down at the teddy bear, slowly remembering where he was. “When she woke up she was different. She had brain damage. She would scream all the time. Break things.”
    “Is that why all the window have bars on them?” Elissa asked, not entirely certain what to say.
    “Yeah, she didn’t understand where she was all the time, and she’d run out into the woods. They were to keep her in. They’re useful now, though—stops the townies when they come down here.”
    They stood there in silence. Ryan still clutched the teddy bear in his hands, looking at it as if it were the first time. Elissa wanted to say something to comfort him, but everything she could think of seemed false, wrong. She wanted to say she understood, but how could she? Even the worst things she’d been through—her parents’ divorce, her father leaving—were nothing like this. Instead, she reached for his hand and squeezed.
    Ryan leaned into her. Then he set the teddy bear gently on the bed and led her back into the hallway. “I don’t like coming to this part of this house,” he said softly. He shut the door tightly behind them.
    Elissa looked up at him, wanting to throw her arms around him in a hug, even if three days ago they’d been just strangers. “Then we won’t,” she said, pulling him back toward the living room, where the music still played. “I promise we won’t.”
    E lissa sat next to Ryan on his bed, their fingers just inches apart. The room was too small for them. There was only a narrow twin bed and a desk,