Gone (Gone #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

grabbed her arm and yanked so hard that she thought he might have pulled it out of the socket.
    Macy walked behind him, trying to keep up. He never stopped squeezing; she could feel his fingers squeezing down to the bone. She looked around, trying to figure out where they were. To their left, she saw fields of corn close by. Straight ahead, she could see a farmhouse and a dilapidated red barn. They appeared to be heading for the barn.
    "What are we doing?"
    "I told you not to talk back!" He stopped, turned and stared her down, squeezing her arm even harder. "Don't speak unless spoken to. Ever again."
    She looked away, and he yanked her along again. Macy couldn't help rolling her eyes. Ever again ? Seriously? For a scared little boy, he was sure full of himself. She had to hold onto the image of him as a frightened child if she was going to keep her sanity. She wouldn't let herself develop Stockholm syndrome and feel sorry for the creep. She was going to get away. She was.
    They went through the barn door and Macy looked around, trying to figure out what he had in mind. She half-expected to see the barn converted into a torture chamber, but it was just a barn. A couple of horses stood to the left, some cows off to the right, and she could hear sheep somewhere. The smell of manure was all around, but after being trapped with the smell of her own vomit, it was a welcome scent.
    Rays of light shone through some of the rafters above, and dust danced through them. The fact that the sun could get through the walls encouraged her. She probably could too if she tried hard enough. They walked through the length of the barn, and stopped near some empty stalls.
    He bent over, forcing her to join him as he clutched her arm. He brushed aside some hay from the floor and lifted up a round piece of metal. A trap door opened up.
    Macy held her breath. She'd been wrong. He'd built the torture chamber beneath the barn, not inside it.

 
     
    Frantic
     
     
    Alyssa stood from Macy's bed, clutching one of Macy's teddy bears. Trying to figure out a status update wasn't doing any good. Her daughter was gone…gone. It wasn't the time to play detective. Alyssa needed to get out there and find her daughter. She set the bear on a pillow.
    She ran down to the front door, throwing it open without even taking the time to put on her shoes. She ran down the driveway, frost crunching under her socks. They started to get wet, but she didn't care.
    Willis from across the street was out in his front yard, doing some yard work. Alyssa ran to him.
    He looked up, appearing shocked. "Alyssa. Are you okay?"
    "Have you seen Macy?"
    "Not this morning. Is everything—?"
    "No! No, it's not." She felt like her throat was closing up. "If you see her, bring her home."
    "What's going on? Can I help?" Willis asked.
    "She's missing!" Tears spilled out onto her face. Admitting it to someone she barely knew felt like defeat. "She's gone," Alyssa whispered. "I have to find her." She burst into a run, heading down the street.
    As she ran in her socks, she stepped on a number of little sharp rocks. Failing to put on shoes now seemed like a stupid decision. She was only slowing herself down more when what she needed was speed. She had to talk to as many people as possible.
    She saw another neighbor loading her kids into the car. Alyssa ran to them. "Jane, have you seen Macy?"
    Jane shook her head and Alyssa ran off. She didn't have time to explain anything to anyone. What she needed was to find someone who had seen Macy.
    Alyssa ran as fast as she could through the neighborhood, only stopping to ask anyone she saw if they had seen her daughter. It was a pretty tight-knit community, so at least everyone knew their family. She didn't have to deal with explaining what Macy looked like.
    Finally, she circled back around to her house. No one had seen her. Of course they hadn't. Not if Macy had been gone since the night before. She ran back to her house and once inside, she pulled off