Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn Read Free Book Online Page B

seeing the worry, the fear in Mrs. Boyd's face, I study the grass, already turning brown from the June heat. Her words echo my own thoughts.
Something's wrong.
    "You mean all that?" Ellie gestures at the emergency vehicles disappearing into the woods. "It's probably nothing. A kid playing in the water or something. You know how the firemen and the police are. They overreact to everything."
    "Did you see Bobbi Jo at school?" Mrs. Boyd asks.
    Ellie hesitates. "No, but—"
    "Something's wrong," she says again.
    The words are almost a wail this time, a child's cry. Julie puts her thumb in her mouth, her forehead creased. The toddler says, "Down, I want to get down."
    My skin prickles and my chest tightens. All of a sudden I want to go home. I want my mother.
    But Ellie says, "Don't worry, Mrs. Boyd. Nora and I will go down there and see what it's all about."
    "No," I whisper, but Ellie doesn't hear me.
    "Come on." She runs across the road, hurrying to meet what's waiting for us. I follow her, not because I want to but because I'm afraid to be left with Mrs. Boyd.
    The short dry grass is sharp under my feet and I realize I forgot to put my shoes on. Ellie's barefoot too. We run in a limping way, our feet still tender from months in shoes.
    "Ellie," I cry. "Ellie, wait. Don't go down there."
    Ellie turns, puzzled. "Why not? How often do we see this kind of action in the park?"
    "Mrs. Boyd is right—something's wrong."
    We face each other in the blinding heat. Insects buzz. Crows make a racket in the woods. Somewhere a dog barks. Slowly Ellie's eyes widen. She stares at me, her cheeks pale under her freckles. "You're scaring me," she whispers.
    "I'm scared." My voice is tight and small. Sweat trickles down my spine. I take her arm, tug at her. "Let's go back to your house."
    "It's Bobbi Jo and Cheryl," Ellie says. "You think something's happened to them."
    I nod. My mouth is dry. It's all around us, in the silent trees, in the hot June air. The crows make my head ring with their cries. A murder of crows, a murder ... Something's wrong, something's not right.
    Then we hear them. Kids burst out of the woods, run toward us, shouting, crying.
    "Cheryl's
dead!
" a girl screams. "They shot her, they killed her!" My bones are melting. The trees spin, the world turns upside down. Speechless, Ellie and I cling to each other, hold each other up, afraid to let go.
    The kids run around us as if we're trees. I recognize Cheryl's little brother, Davy. They're little, too little for this. Especially Davy. He's Billy's age. Ten. Just ten.
    "What about Bobbi Jo?" Ellie shouts after them. "Where's Bobbi Jo?"
    Gary comes out of the woods. Paul and Charlie and Walt are behind him. All four are crying.
    "Bobbi Jo's dead too," Gary cries. "Somebody shot them both. Killed them. They're dead, both of them. Dead." Tears run down his face.
    Ellie grabs my hand. "No," she whispers, "please God, no no no no." Pulling me with her, she runs away from the woods, across the ball field, toward Eastern Avenue.
    "Wait," Charlie calls. "Come back."
    Ellie doesn't wait, she doesn't stop, she just keeps running and I run too. We don't look back. We cross the park on a diagonal, come out on Eastern Avenue, run uphill. Behind us we hear the sirens again. An ambulance speeds past us, then another. Maybe they're not dead after all, maybe they're being rushed to the hospital, maybe we'll visit them tomorrow, bring them flowers and get well cards.
    At the top of the hill we run past the Parkside apartments, a maze of two-story brick buildings, courtyards, and parking lots. We see Buddy's car. He's leaning against the door, looking toward the park. His friend Gene is with him.
    "What's wrong with you two?" Buddy asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
    "If we have, you know whose it is." Ellie's voice is cold with fury.
    I stare at her, shocked by her anger.
    Buddy looks puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
    At the same time, Gene asks us what's going on in the