Behind Our Walls Read Online Free PDF Page B

mean?"
    "I've been hearing more sounds from the road, like motorbikes. It could be nothing, just a few random people making their way past, but the point is that I don't think this road is as sparsely traveled as maybe we were hoping, initially."
    Sophie pinched her nose, shook her head and glared out the window at the landscape that now loomed ominously around them. "This doesn't change anything. We still can't leave with Corrine like this, and we can't get her to snap out of it any faster. All we can do is hope that she wakes up before someone finds us. At least it's mostly at night when she's screaming her head off. Most people probably won't be trying to make their way up or down that road in the dark."
    Rowen stood up. "I'm going to try and sleep for a bit."
    She nodded without answering. After several minutes, she stood and walked down the hall, to the entrance to Corrine's room. There were times when her sister was so quiet, and her breathing so shallow that Sophie actually started to wonder if she hadn't died at some point without them noticing. They were in a perpetual holding pattern. There was no way to know when Corrine was going to come back to reality and what scared Sophie the most is that they had no way of knowing what that reality would become once she returned to it.

-10-
     
     
    Corrine woke up, one week to the day after their attack. Sophie found her sitting up, their father holding her hand and speaking to her softly while she nodded, tears glistening in her eyes. Sophie smiled and made to come around to the other side of the bed, but the daggers in Corrine's sudden glare made her stop cold. Corrine's voice was so quiet that at first, Sophie didn't even understand what she was saying.
    "Get out."
    "Corrine, I don't—"
    "Get OUT of here!"
    Sophie felt her mind go blank as she tried to understand why she was still being pushed away. It was pointless though, no reason to be found in the midst of her mania. Rowen was already coming out from the kitchen, having heard Corrine screaming.
    "Was that..." He trailed off at the sight of Sophie's tears, holding her close as she began to cry. Leading her off to the bay windows, he tried to calm her down. "How long has she been awake?"
    "I don't know." It was all she could manage before she started sobbing again. From the other side of the house, they heard Corrine yelling.
    "Oh, great. She's crying now? What the fuck do you have to cry for, you heartless—" Her voice cut off abruptly as they heard James whispering to her. Sophie managed to get herself under control, taking in long, slow breaths.
    "She doesn't know what she's saying," Rowen said. "You can't take any of that seriously. She probably just now found out about Adam."
    "What, it wasn't hard for me? I haven't lost anyone?"
    "No, I didn't mean that."
    She squeezed her eyes shut. She was yelling at the wrong person. "So what now?" she asked. "She's awake, what now?"
    "Well, I think she's still going to need a day or two to get back on her feet fully, but I think we need to start planning on making our way out of here."
    She nodded her understanding but it didn't make it any easier. As strong as her resentment for this place was at first, she had started to grow fond of it, used to the simple comforts that they had started to forget, after sleeping on the ground. She wasn't excited at all for the thought of going back to that.
    James walked into the room, pacing back and forth in front of them as if he expected them to argue with whatever he had to say.
    "Is she all right?" Sophie asked.
    James glanced over at her and seemed to smirk at the comment. "She will be. But I know we don't really have time to wait. I'm sure you two have been whispering in here about how to best deal with the problem child, but—"
    "That's not what's been going on here," Rowen said.
    "Whatever you want to call it. My point is, I think that in a day or so, Corrine will be good enough that we can move on. Besides, I wouldn't ask her