Over (9 page)

"What are you looking at me for? Take it in to your mom. Be sure to tell her you hope she feels better."

"Okay." Macy did her best to ignore the knots twisting in her stomach. She squeezed the tray and made her way back to Chester and Rebekah's room, dragging her feet. If he said anything about her speed, she would blame it on her leg. He couldn't say anything about that since he was the one who had injured her.

Macy steadied the tray and held her breath, bracing herself. She would go in and out as fast as possible. Maybe Rebekah would even be asleep or at least pretend to be asleep to avoid Macy.

Unfortunately, Rebekah was sitting up with the light on. She was reading what appeared to be a book from the community. Not that she had read anything else that Macy had ever seen.

Rebekah looked up from the large book and shot Macy a disgusted look.

"I've got some breakfast for you." Macy tried to smile, but it didn't quite work.

"Just set it on your dad's side. It won't fit over my belly any more."

Macy nodded, not making eye contact. She walked around to the other side of the bed and pushed the tray closer to her. "I hope you feel better."

"Sure you do."

The words stung. Macy looked at her. "You know, it wasn't my intention to get you kicked out of there. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does," Macy said. "We used to get along and—"

"What I meant was that it won't get me back in there. Our entire family has been permanently banned. Jonah, Eve, and the other prophets made that abundantly clear."

"That's not the end of the world. The—"

"Please just go. You're stressing me out."

Macy shook her head and left the room. Why couldn't Rebekah see that the community was a cult? They would probably end up having some mass suicide at some point. She had read in school about that happening to other groups like that.

She went back to the kitchen to find Chester eating. "Is your mom resting?"

"Yes."

"Good. You'd better eat, because we have a lot of chores to do today."

Macy grabbed some food and ate. It should have bugged her that she was comfortable with everything, but it didn't. As much as she wanted to get back to her family, somehow life with Chester and Rebekah had settled into a form of normalcy, even though it sucked. But even when Chester was being nice, it was only so he could catch her off guard when he later snapped.

At first, Macy had been hopeful when he was being nice, but it hadn't taken her long to figure out that it was like the calm before the storm. His politeness made her more nervous than when he was stomping around, complaining.

He set his fork on the plate. The noise startled Macy.

Chester looked into her eyes through his big, ugly glasses. "Today we're going to deep clean. Forget about the laundry and all the other daily chores. Start with the kitchen and then do the bathrooms. By then it should be lunch and we can see how you've done. I'll be in my study."

Macy nodded, biting back a comment. It wasn't fair that she had to do all the work, but she knew better than to say anything. The last thing she needed was to find herself back in the barn or locked back up in Heather's room. Even though she didn't have much freedom, she could at least walk around the house.

She
was
going to get out. Even though Chester kept the alarm on at all times to keep her in, she had a much better chance of getting away here than she had anywhere else. Back at the farm, they were miles away from the nearest people—and that house had been tight with security as well. The community that had proven deadly to escape.

Chester slammed his hands on the table, scaring Macy. "Stop daydreaming and get to work."

Discovery

Macy finished scrubbing the floor in the dining room and then took the supplies back to the laundry room. On her way back, she stopped in the hall, hearing Chester's voice. At first she thought he was talking to her, but then she realized he was on the phone in his study. He wouldn't talk to her in there—he wouldn't let her near the only room with a computer.

She looked up and down the hall, making sure Rebekah wasn't in sight. She pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear what he was saying. It was too muffled to make out more than a couple words in a row. He had to have been trying to speak low, because the way his voice traveled, she could usually hear him from across the house.

He sounded irritated, but that was nothing new. Macy couldn't help being curious. She hadn't heard him talking with anyone since they came to the house months ago. He'd been doing his best to recreate the community by keeping them all secluded from the outside. The only difference was they had electricity.

The only times he left the house were at night to buy
supplies
as he called them. Usually, only groceries, but the way he made such a deal about going out to get them, he had to call them supplies. Like he was a top level spy.

Something slammed in the study and Macy jumped. She ran down the hall on her tip-toes. If Chester was irritated, then she really didn't want him finding her eavesdropping. She went back to the dining room to check the floor for wet spots from mopping. There weren't any that she could see, but she needed to look busy if Chester came by. Her heart still raced and she forced herself to look natural.

A few minutes passed without him returning, and she relaxed. Macy stopped drying the already-dry floor and stood, looking around. There wasn't any noise. She didn't know where he was, but she needed to keep cleaning.

Macy went to the cabinets and dusted, taking down each piece of fine China with care. When she replaced the last one, she turned around and saw Chester watching her. She held her breath, not wanting to show him how startled she was.

He folded his arms and curled one side of his lip. He was giving her such a subtle smirk that it was worse than an outright one. "I have to go somewhere for a little bit."

"In the light?"

"Don't speak unless spoken to. Keep an eye on your mom. She's sleeping now, but she'll probably need something when she wakes. Also, I want you to clean the living room next."

Macy sighed, forcing herself to stay silent. She was exhausted. She'd been deep cleaning for hours and wanted a break. Her body ached, especially where her leg had been injured.

"Is there a problem?"

"No."

"Good. Get to work and don't forget to check on your true mom. And if I'm not home, do you know when to start dinner?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Get to work." He turned around and walked toward the front door. Macy could hear him punching in the code for the alarm. He was making a production of it to get the point across. They both knew the threat of the barn was as real as it always had been.

Macy looked over at the living room in disgust. How could he expect her to keep deep cleaning without a break? He had barely given her any time to scarf down the lunch she made everyone.

Sweat ran down her forehead and she wiped it with the back of her hand, finding it stuck to her hair. She probably looked horrible, not that it mattered. She grabbed the rags from around the room and took them to the laundry, starting another load.

She grabbed some more supplies and went into the hall. Something caught her eye. Macy stared down the hall, trying to figure out what was out of place.

Then she saw it. The door to Chester's study wasn't closed all the way. Was it a trap, or had he let his guard down? She went back to the dining room and looked around for him. He appeared to still be gone. She had heard his car leave the garage, and the fact that he had left while it was still light showed that something was wrong.

Maybe he had left the door open accidentally. Macy looked into their bedroom and saw Rebekah sleeping.

Macy appeared to be in the clear. She took a deep breath, dropping the rags onto the floor. Her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest.

Who knew if she would find anything? But the way he kept it locked up all the time, there was no way she could just leave the room alone. If she walked in and found a camera pointed at her, she could later say that she had been making sure everything was okay since he always leaves the door closed.

She pushed the door open ever so slowly. It creaked slightly, but opened easily enough. Holding her breath, she walked in, not knowing what to expect. She half-expected to see pictures and graphs all over the walls, like she always saw on TV when murderers were stalking someone.

It just looked like a regular home office, though. There was a desk piled with papers. A laptop sat there, screen off. A floor-to-ceiling shelf held books and knick knacks. Papers were scattered on the floor underneath a window with drawn shades.

Macy scanned the room, looking for a hidden camera, but didn't see anything. She knew if there was anything recording her, if she took a step into the room, that would be all it would take for her to end up locked away somewhere. Maybe for good.

She walked over to the desk and looked at the piles of papers without touching anything. The laptop seemed to call her, but she was certain if she got online, he would know. But what if she just looked at some files? Would he know that?

It wasn't a risk Macy was willing to take. She could pick up some papers and he wouldn't know, but he probably had ways he was monitoring his computer.

A crashing noise startled her. Macy jumped and ran to the doorway, looking down the hall. She didn't see anything. Going down to Chester's bedroom, she checked on Rebekah and saw her lunch tray on the floor. She must have rolled over and knocked it down. How had it not woken her?

Macy went over and checked on her breathing and then picked up the mess from the floor. She brought the tray back out to the kitchen and then returned to Chester's study. She looked at the papers sitting on his desk, memorizing their placement. Then she picked up a few, looking through them.

They were all boring. Bills, from what she could tell. She was about to set them back into place when she froze. Now on top of the desk sat a paper with big words on the top: Shady Hills Mental Health Facility.

Was that where Heather had been taken? Was she still there? Heather had never returned to fill out any more of her diaries that Macy could find, so Macy knew nothing beyond the fact that Heather had been sent there.

Macy scanned the paper. The letter was addressed to Chester Woodran, the non-custodial father. So they
had
removed his parental rights. Macy had been right.

He had kidnapped her because he couldn't get his real daughter back.

Macy read it as fast as she could, knowing that she needed to get the living room clean before Chester returned. According to the letter, Heather had behavioral problems and didn't show any signs of being ready to be released.

If Chester had lost his parenting rights, why were they sending him updates? Did he still have some kind of right even though he didn't have custody?

Macy knew time was ticking by. She didn't know where Chester had gone, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to hurry out of the study.

Heather wasn't crazy. She had read the girl's diary entries. Considering she had lived with a monster her entire life and had to deal with the murder of her mom who she'd been so close to, Heather was probably acting out because no one would listen to her. Obviously no one believed Chester to be a murderer if he was being sent updates about Heather.

Maybe together, she and Heather could get him thrown into jail. They definitely could get him for kidnapping. The murder charges would be more difficult if they didn't have a body, but at least they could get him in prison. Surely premeditated kidnapping would be a long sentence.

Macy put the papers back on the desk where they had been. She backed out of the room and looked at the door. It had been left slightly open, but Chester didn't know that. Or did he?

What if he asked if she went in? Her heart sped up. She would have to lie. Not only that, but she would have to practice it until he came back home. She would have to be convincing. Unless he really hadn't noticed.

It was strange that he would be so careless though. It had to be a setup. But she closed the door. Living with him was making her crazy. It was a door. A door. And that was all it took for her to have an argument with herself.

Macy went into the living room and cleaned as fast as she could. Chester wouldn't notice anything because it wasn't a trap. He wouldn't do that because of how protective he was over that room. He wouldn't give her access to it just to see what she would do.

Opportunity

Macy sat up in bed, gasping for air. Sweat dripped into her face, and she wiped it away. She'd had another dream about being locked up in the barn. She squeezed the soft comforter, breathing heavily.

It was just a dream. It wasn't real.
Not this time anyway. She hadn't had a dream about going back there in a while. It had to have been the guilt—if that was the right word—about sneaking into Chester's office.