The People Next Door Read Online Free PDF Page B

inside of her suddenly hot. Oh no, she thought. It’s happening again. The flag fell
     to the floor. Luckily her parents didn’t notice, and she scooped it up just in time.

7
    A slight breeze had picked up, studding the lake with diamonds for him to crush. Kyle leaned away from the boat, drawing almost
     parallel to the stern, looking at his family sideways now. The dentist’s boat was floating a hundred yards up ahead, but there
     was plenty of clearance. Dad was obsessed with safety; he would never drive them within two hundred feet of another boat.
    Kyle’s arms were cooked spaghetti. His mouth was dry, lungs heaving. He decided to take one more pair of turns and then drop
     the line.
    Briela mouthed something at him, then ducked.
    Kyle edged in briefly before swerving right. He glanced at the dentist’s boat – he was passing it now, less than fifty feet
     away – and saw long streaks of dark red across the white hull. A woman’s hand was hanging over the side, slapping against
     the fiberglass before withdrawing in a jerk, leaving a red handprint, the fingertips dripping in thick rows. He caught all
     of this in perhaps two seconds, looking back as he was towed away.
    Blood, holy shit, that was blood
–
    A wild ripple of adrenaline coursed through him,sliding the ski, and the hardtop of the lake turned to mush. The rope went slack and he flailed, yanking the handle up to
     his chin. His dad was still holding the throttle at cruising speed and Kyle knew he should let go, but his arms wouldn’t disobey
     the order so recently mastered. The Connelly’s tip snagged as the rope leapt out of the water, locked taut, and ripped him
     from the bindings.
    It was as if God flipped the lake with a spatula, the water rushing over his head as he somersaulted. His hands actually grazed
     the surface twice before he made a third revolution and his legs knifed in and he slammed to a halt chest-first in the water.
     It felt like running into a tree. The wind was knocked out of him and his brain seemed to vibrate in its casing. Something
     sting-grazed the top of his head and the Connelly javelined low across the surface, landing and skiing by itself for another
     sixty feet or so before tipping drunkenly on its side. Little ripples of water lapped at his throat. He closed his eyes and
     shivered as he bobbed.
    The evil suck had gotten him after all.

8
    ‘Down! Down! Kyle fell down!’ Briela raised the orange flag.
    Mick looked up from the depth finder – he had been hypnotized by the small school of digital fish beeping across the gray
     screen – and saw too much concern on his daughter’s face. He looked over his shoulder. The rubber handle was skipping across
     the empty wake, his son nowhere in sight, and only then did he remember to pull back on the throttle. The Bayliner came off
     plane as he made a laborious U-turn.
    Amy pivoted in her seat, a bottle of sunscreen in one hand. ‘Whoa, he’s kind of far back. How fast were you going?’
    ‘Not very.’ Mick frowned at Briela. ‘I’m sure he’s okay.’
    But when he saw the Connelly floating so far away, he wasn’t sure Kyle would be okay – it had to have been a fantastic wipeout.
     Mick pulled into neutral and the boat coasted in a circle. Kyle’s head was back, his eyes aimed at the sky.
    ‘Jesus, Mick, he’s bleeding,’ Amy said, scurrying to the back of the boat.
    ‘I’m okay.’ Kyle sounded dazed.
    ‘B, honey, wind the rope, would you?’ Mick said. She crawled onto the swim deck and began hauling the rope in. Kyle was paddling
     feebly toward them as Amy unlatched the ladder. ‘What happened, bud?’
    ‘Something’s wrong,’ Kyle said, blowing water from his nose, eyes scrunched in pain. Mick frowned, killing the engine. Kyle
     pointed toward Roger’s boat some two hundred feet behind them. ‘Someone’s hurt … blood … all over the place.’
    ‘His head is cut,’ Amy said. ‘Oh my God.’
    Kyle ran a hand over his wet hair. ‘I