A Child Is Missing Read Online Free PDF Page B

fuck up, kid.”
    Jamie was afraid. He screamed again, praying someone would hear.
    Something hit his face, harder than he had ever been hit before, even by his father when he was mad.
    â€œShut the fuck up, I said!”
    â€œJesus Christ, you trying to kill him, or what?”
    â€œYou shut the fuck up, too.”
    Kill him! Trying to kill him! Now Jamie was afraid to scream, afraid he would be hit some more. His face hurt all over, his nose more than it ever had. His face had never hurt so much. He had never been so afraid. Now he wanted to go to the bathroom.
    Back in the long cement room, they had made him swallow pills. They’d made him sleepy. Each time he came up out of sleep, he thought he might be in his own room again, and that he’d been dreaming about being taken away.
    The tight feeling went away from his arms and legs, but now his hair was being pulled. Jamie cried and kicked, but only once, because his hair was pulled even tighter.
    â€œStop kicking, you little shit.”
    â€œEasy.”
    â€œEasy, my ass. We gotta get him in there and get the hell out of here. Down on your knees, kid.”
    In the light, Jamie saw a round black hole.
    â€œGet in, kid.”
    No! He would not let them put him in there, not in that black hole! Jamie kicked as hard as he could. The hand let go of his hair, but then Jamie felt himself spinning around.
    Wet. It was wet underneath him, and everything smelled like rotten leaves. There was a loud water noise. The light was jumping all around.
    Jamie felt himself being lifted off the ground by his feet and under his shoulders. He had to pee, and his face still hurt.
    â€œGet his feet in.… Just get his feet in.… There.…”
    The hands let go of Jamie’s feet, and his feet dropped onto something hard.
    â€œOkay, now shove.…”
    No! Jamie screamed as loudly as he could. Please, let someone hear! Mommy!
    A hand came down real hard on his face, making his nose hurt real bad again. He was afraid of nosebleeds.
    â€œListen,” one man said. “Stop kicking and go all the way in, and you’ll be okay. No one’s gonna hurt you. Pretend it’s a game, like we said back there. No one’s gonna hurt you. There’s a flashlight in there. And candy bars.”
    Candy bars.
    â€œJust go in, kid,” the other voice said. “Just go in. No one’s gonna hurt you.”
    Jamie felt big strong hands on top of his head, pushing him. Then he was sliding, sliding into the dark. He screamed, and his voice bounced back at him, like from inside a well. Sliding, sliding into the dark, bumping into soft things that crinkled like cellophane. Candy bars.
    â€œAll right, close him in,” the meaner voice said.
    â€œRight.”
    Jamie felt something—a bag—being put into his hands. “Here, kid,” the other voice whispered. “You won’t get hungry. There’s candy bars and plenty of bread. Water, too.”
    â€œHe’ll find it, for Chrissake. He won’t starve.”
    Bread and water. His mother and father had told him stories about witches and ghosts and locked-up places where they gave bad people bread and water. But there were always funny things in the stories, happy things at the end, so he wasn’t scared when he got sleepy.
    He heard a noise by his head, like a garbage can lid going on, and then he was in the darkest dark he could ever remember. He heard other sounds, then the mean voices. He couldn’t tell what they were saying. He heard feet. He thought he heard the sound of water.
    His nose hurt. He went in his pants. He couldn’t help it. Then he started to cry in the dark. He kept his eyes closed as hard as he could, and for a long time. All the while, he cried. If he cried too loudly, the sound banged back into his ears, and he wanted to cry even louder.
    He was afraid to open his eyes, because whenever he did there was nothing but dark. There was not