This Changes Everything by Denise Grover Swank Read Free Book Online Page B

his eyes wide with fright. “Ellie? Where are you
hurt?”
    Ellie shook her
head, trying to catch her breath. “Momma.”
    He reached for
her mother, carefully touching her shoulder with shaking fingers. “Amanda?”
When she didn’t answer, he became more insistent. “ Amanda ? ”
He began to sob, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. Momma’s head leaned back,
her long red hair hanging behind her. Daddy’s hand got tangled in it as he wrapped
his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. “No! God, no ! ”
    Ellie watched in
horror as her father fell to pieces in front of her.
    He rocked Momma
back and forth, crying so hard he couldn’t catch his breath and uttering
incoherent sentences.
    “. . . my fault . . . I shouldn’t have gone . . .”
    Ellie got to her
feet and walked to her parents’ room, feeling like her body was moving and she
was just watching it happen. She grabbed the phone off her mother’s bedside
table, and her shaking fingers wouldn’t cooperate, making four attempts to
press 911.
    “911, what’s your
emergency?”
    The phone to her
ear, Ellie moved to the bedroom door, not recognizing the man at the end of the
hallway.
    “Is there an
emergency?” the operator asked.
    “My momma,” she
whispered. “She’s dead.”
    “What happened?”
    Ellie couldn’t
answer. She could only stare at her parents. The events of the night had begun
to fade, making her memories fuzzy.
    “ Little girl ? ”
the operator became insistent.
    Momma died
because Ellie had told Claire about the curse. Momma died because of her.
    This is all my fault .
    Dropping to her
knees, tears filled her eyes as the horror of her guilt washed through her.
    She had killed
her mother.
    A dark, bitter
anger swelled in her chest, replacing her overwhelming grief. No, Ellie had
played a part, but the stupid curse had killed her. Her chest burned with fury
and she swore the curse was dead to her forever. She didn’t want to be part of
something so evil that it would kill her mother.
    “Little girl?”
the operator repeated. “I’ve located your address and I’m sending a police car
and ambulance now.”
    Ellie dropped the
phone to the floor and slumped against the wall, staring at her parents as her
grief broke loose again, making everything move in slow motion and feel like it
was a million miles away.
    Her father
continued to cry, mumbling about the curse and her mother’s death being his
fault. She wanted to tell Daddy that it was her fault, not his, but he’d hate
her. How could he not? She’d already lost Momma; she couldn’t lose Daddy too.
    Ellie tried to
imagine a world without her mother and came up with nothing—only darkness and
despair and emptiness. But there was one thing she knew, the devastating proof
in front of her: her life would never be the same.
    The voice whispered
in her ear.
    “Yes, witness to
creation. This changes everything.”

About the Author
    Denise Grover
Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and lived in the area until she was
nineteen. She then became a nomad, living in five cities, four states, and ten
houses over the next decade before moving back to her roots. She speaks English
and a smattering of Spanish and Chinese. Her hobbies include making witty
Facebook comments and dancing in the kitchen. She has six children and hasn’t
lost her sanity. Or so she leads everyone to believe.