The Anniversary Read Online Free PDF

her.
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    But his gaze is focused on some distant point, beyond the steel mesh 24
    fence.
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    There are no cars left in the parking lot. It must be very late. His S 26
    arms grow tighter around her, and he steers her into the fence. He R 27
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    A M Y G U T M A N
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    presses up against her, hard, until the metal cuts into her back. She 2
    tries to push him away, but his weight knocks the breath from her.
    3
    Then his mouth smashes down on hers, and there’s nothing but this 4
    sensation. Heat shoots up between her legs as she molds her body to 5
    his. They kiss for what seems like a very long time, his hand wrapped 6
    in her hair.
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    I’m in the mood, I’m in the mood, I’m in the mood . . .
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    His hands slide down her body. She arches up toward him.
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    Then, stronger than desire, a flame of fear leaps up.
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    Something’s wrong. This isn’t real.
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    She has to get away.
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    Adrenaline courses through her. She lunges forward, wrenches away, 13
    then sets off running. A fog has descended over everything, and she 14
    can barely see. Not far behind, she hears his footsteps, rapidly closing 15
    in. If she can just keep going, she’ll get to the church, and there she’ll be 16
    safe from him. She skims across the murky landscape, almost as if she’s 17
    flying. Then a blow to her back. Her feet cut out from beneath her.
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    She feels the knife before she sees it, pressed against her arm. By 19
    now, she’s given up. She isn’t afraid anymore, doesn’t feel much of 20
    anything. Just a vague curiosity about what it will be like to die. She 21
    watches the blade slice through her flesh, silent and unforgiving. A thin 22
    red trail springs up through the paper-white skin of her arm. The color 23
    of roses or apples. Of Christmas wrapping paper. So beautiful to look 24
    at. Strange that it should hurt.
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    Again, he lifts and lowers the blade, draws it through her flesh. This 26
    time the knife goes deeper, almost to the bone.
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    No. Please. Stop.
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    In the distance, she hears the wail of sirens. The knife floats down 29
    again. I’m here I’m here I’m here. Whose voice is that, screaming?
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    The sirens are all around her. Why don’t they make him stop?
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    She woke up crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. Which 32
    wasn’t unusual. It had been this way since childhood, at least 33
    once a week. As if some deep enveloping sadness were staking its 34
    claim on her. Once her older sister, Sarah, had shaken her awake.
    35 S
    “Why are you crying?” Sarah had asked. “I’m not,” she’d insisted.
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    And believed it, until she’d touched her face and felt its salty 1
    dampness. The dream, though, where had that come from? She 2
    hadn’t had it for years.
    3
    She pulled on a robe, then went downstairs, found Anna at the 4
    kitchen table. Anna was already eating breakfast: leftover choco-5
    late cake. Her hair, jaggedly parted, was yanked in a ponytail, the 6
    strands pulled back tightly above the delicate shells of her ears.
    7
    Callie almost said something — “Chocolate cake for break-8
    fast?” — then decided that it wasn’t such a big deal just this once.
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    “Did you take your vitamin?” Callie asked.
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    “Yes.”
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    “Good girl.”
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    Callie got a glass from the cupboard and poured it full of milk.
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    Instead of arguing about the cake, she could simply supplement.
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    “Here. I want you to drink this up.”
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    “But I don’t like milk, Mom.”
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    Callie set the glass by her plate. “Drink it anyway.”
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    Turning back to the counter, Callie started the coffeemaker.
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    She felt fuzzy and disoriented, almost as if she’d been drugged.
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    The nightmare hung in her mind and also something else. Happy 20
    Anniversary, Rosamund. I haven’t forgotten you. For a moment, she