My Family Abandoned Me in the Woods novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Say It Out Loud

We were dressed and standing in the main room when the snowmobile reached the yard.

Nolan hadn't spoken since the message.

I had put my wet clogs back on, and my hands would not stay still.

The engine cut out.

The door opened on a gust of cold, and a young man came in stamping snow off his boots.

He was lean and sandy-haired, in a canvas work jacket, and he walked with a slight drag on his left foot.

He looked exactly like the boy in the photograph, grown up.

"Nolan," he said. "Sorry, I couldn't wait for the plow. The dispatcher said some family was up here with a camera crew, and you made some kind of speech..."

He stopped.

He had seen me.

"Danny," Nolan said, "this is Callie Ruddock."

The name landed, and Danny's face changed.

He was twenty-seven years old, and everything he felt showed on his face.

"Ruddock," he said. "Like Brooke."

"I'm her sister."

"Okay." He nodded slowly. "Okay. That's... why are you here?"

"Danny, sit down," Nolan said.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because there's something she needs to tell you."

My tongue was dry.

I had practiced this in my head for twelve years, in the shower and in my car and in the dark before sleep, and every version had begun with a clean, brave sentence.

All I said was, "I was sixteen."

Danny waited.

"I was in the car when they left you at the creek. Brooke's friends drove. I didn't get out." My voice cracked. "I knew you were alone. I went home, and I came back before dawn with a coat and some food, and I put it at the trail junction and I ran. I never told anyone. When the sheriff asked me where I'd been, I said I was home."

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