Read Online Angels in Pink: Holly's Story (Lurlene McDaniel (Mass Market)) by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lurlene McDaniel
Tags: Fiction
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face.
“What’s wrong?” Raina looked alarmed.
Holly felt her face crumble inward. “Somebody shot Hunter, Raina. Someone killed my big brother.”
Raina staggered backward, as if Holly had shoved her. “That’s a lie. That can’t be true.” She sank to her knees in the foyer.
Holly crouched in front of her, let Raina search her face with stunned and disbelieving eyes. As the truth of Holly’s words sank in, Raina gagged, almost retched, hugged herself tightly, rocked back and forth on her knees. She began to wail. Holly dissolved into sobs. She reached out and put her arms around her friend and they clung to each other, fighting to stay out of the abyss that threatened to swallow them whole.
Holly couldn’t comfort Raina, and Raina couldn’t comfort her. They needed Hunter. He would help them to be all right. But Hunter was no more. He had disappeared into the vortex of nonexistence, one beautiful, clear, summer Sunday morning, when the evil he had once warned Holly about had come calling.
ten
KATHLEEN COULDN’T STOP crying. The news about Hunter came from Raina’s mother via a phone call. Mary Ellen was crying when she brought the news to Kathleen, who was preparing to go to Raina’s for an afternoon at the pool. Kathleen called Carson, and when she couldn’t hold herself together on the phone, he came to her house.
“This is unreal,” Carson kept saying while Kathleen sobbed. “It can’t be happening.”
“But it
did
happen. How could someone
do
that? Just walk up and kill somebody who’d done nothing wrong?”
“If I ever meet the guy in a dark alley . . . ,” Carson said.
“It wouldn’t bring Hunter back.”
With Mary Ellen, they watched the evening news, on which Hunter’s death was the lead story. “Oh, that poor family,” Mary Ellen said, crying openly. “What a terrible thing. Have you talked to Holly yet?”
Kathleen shook her head. “I’ve called her and Raina both, but their lines are always busy, so I’ll bet they’ve unplugged them. Their cell phones go straight to voice mail, so I know they’ve got them turned off too. I don’t blame them. How can they talk about it yet? It’s too horrible.”
The TV reporter said that police were going over a surveillance tape that soon would be released to the public, and that the restaurant was offering a large reward for the perpetrator’s capture. “Maybe someone will recognize the scum,” Carson said.
“This is just too sad.” Mary Ellen, back in her wheelchair since her latest flare-up of MS, shook her head and left the room.
Kathleen watched her mother go. “I’m worried about Mom.”
“Why?”
“Stress causes problems for her.”
“No one can lead a stress-free life.”
“But the less stress, the better.” Kathleen sighed. “Don’t you see? This is bringing up all her bad memories from her and Dad’s car wreck. I can tell it’s affecting her.”
Carson slid his arms around Kathleen and kissed her temple. “I liked Hunter. And if there’s anything you want me to do to help your mother, you or your friends, tell me.”
“The next few weeks are going to be really hard for all of us. Just be with me through all of it,” she said.
“There’s no place else I want to be.”
Holly felt as if their house had been invaded.
Pastor Eckloes came Sunday afternoon and stayed for hours. The elders came on Monday, and then people from the congregation showed up with food. Not that she or her mother or dad ate much of anything. Food stuck in her throat and she could hardly swallow. No one knew how to comfort them. Many people wanted to pray with the family, except that Holly didn’t feel like praying. She just wanted everyone to leave them alone.
She hid in her room whenever she could. But the loneliness got to her quickly and she usually ended up pacing the upstairs hallway, listening to the murmurs from the floor below until she wanted to scream, “Go away!”
Everything in the house whispered
“What’s wrong?” Raina looked alarmed.
Holly felt her face crumble inward. “Somebody shot Hunter, Raina. Someone killed my big brother.”
Raina staggered backward, as if Holly had shoved her. “That’s a lie. That can’t be true.” She sank to her knees in the foyer.
Holly crouched in front of her, let Raina search her face with stunned and disbelieving eyes. As the truth of Holly’s words sank in, Raina gagged, almost retched, hugged herself tightly, rocked back and forth on her knees. She began to wail. Holly dissolved into sobs. She reached out and put her arms around her friend and they clung to each other, fighting to stay out of the abyss that threatened to swallow them whole.
Holly couldn’t comfort Raina, and Raina couldn’t comfort her. They needed Hunter. He would help them to be all right. But Hunter was no more. He had disappeared into the vortex of nonexistence, one beautiful, clear, summer Sunday morning, when the evil he had once warned Holly about had come calling.
ten
KATHLEEN COULDN’T STOP crying. The news about Hunter came from Raina’s mother via a phone call. Mary Ellen was crying when she brought the news to Kathleen, who was preparing to go to Raina’s for an afternoon at the pool. Kathleen called Carson, and when she couldn’t hold herself together on the phone, he came to her house.
“This is unreal,” Carson kept saying while Kathleen sobbed. “It can’t be happening.”
“But it
did
happen. How could someone
do
that? Just walk up and kill somebody who’d done nothing wrong?”
“If I ever meet the guy in a dark alley . . . ,” Carson said.
“It wouldn’t bring Hunter back.”
With Mary Ellen, they watched the evening news, on which Hunter’s death was the lead story. “Oh, that poor family,” Mary Ellen said, crying openly. “What a terrible thing. Have you talked to Holly yet?”
Kathleen shook her head. “I’ve called her and Raina both, but their lines are always busy, so I’ll bet they’ve unplugged them. Their cell phones go straight to voice mail, so I know they’ve got them turned off too. I don’t blame them. How can they talk about it yet? It’s too horrible.”
The TV reporter said that police were going over a surveillance tape that soon would be released to the public, and that the restaurant was offering a large reward for the perpetrator’s capture. “Maybe someone will recognize the scum,” Carson said.
“This is just too sad.” Mary Ellen, back in her wheelchair since her latest flare-up of MS, shook her head and left the room.
Kathleen watched her mother go. “I’m worried about Mom.”
“Why?”
“Stress causes problems for her.”
“No one can lead a stress-free life.”
“But the less stress, the better.” Kathleen sighed. “Don’t you see? This is bringing up all her bad memories from her and Dad’s car wreck. I can tell it’s affecting her.”
Carson slid his arms around Kathleen and kissed her temple. “I liked Hunter. And if there’s anything you want me to do to help your mother, you or your friends, tell me.”
“The next few weeks are going to be really hard for all of us. Just be with me through all of it,” she said.
“There’s no place else I want to be.”
Holly felt as if their house had been invaded.
Pastor Eckloes came Sunday afternoon and stayed for hours. The elders came on Monday, and then people from the congregation showed up with food. Not that she or her mother or dad ate much of anything. Food stuck in her throat and she could hardly swallow. No one knew how to comfort them. Many people wanted to pray with the family, except that Holly didn’t feel like praying. She just wanted everyone to leave them alone.
She hid in her room whenever she could. But the loneliness got to her quickly and she usually ended up pacing the upstairs hallway, listening to the murmurs from the floor below until she wanted to scream, “Go away!”
Everything in the house whispered
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