Uncovering You: The Contract Read Online Free PDF Page A

turns red. The sun starts to set. I can’t spend another night down here.
    I look at my pile. It’s already up to my waist. But my feet sink when I step onto it. I still can’t reach the floorboard.
    “Lilly! Lilly!”
    The male voice is so faint that I think I imagine it at first. Then it comes again.
    “Lilly? Lilly!”
    My heart swells and relief splashes over me like ice water.
    “Here!” I cry out. My throat is so parched and my voice so weak that I barely hear myself. “Here!” I try again.
    “Lilly? Lilly!”
    The voice is getting fainter. Alarm fills me as I realize he’s going the wrong way.
    I clamber to the top of the mound and fill my lungs with air.
    “ HERE!”
    I wait. And wait some more. My chest heaves with anxiety. Did he hear me? Why doesn’t he answer?
    “ HERE !” I scream. “I’m down here! Help me ! I’m here !”
    I can’t hear my name being called anymore. Nothing breaks the silence except the rustle of wind through the trees.
    A crushing pain explodes in my chest. The man did not hear me. He will not come.
    I fall to my knees. I try to blink away the tears, but I can’t. My despair is too great.
    My entire body shakes as I start to sob. He did not find me. He did not hear me.
    “Lilly!”
    The voice comes from right above me. I look up, and see Paul’s face. For a half-second, I think it’s a mirage. But when he reaches down, and the shadow of his arm is cast along the floor, I know he’s my savoir.
    “Give me your hand, child!” he urges.
    I lift one trembling arm up as high as I can, fighting through the tearing pain it causes my shoulder.
    His hand grasps my forearm with a grip as strong as iron.
    “I’m going to get you out,” he promises. “Can you stand?”
    I nod, dumb with amazement.
    “Give me both your arms. I’m going to lift you up. Ready? Three, two…”
     

Chapter Eight
    (Present day)
     
    My eyes shoot open in the dark.
    Paul rescued me? No. No, that can’t be right .
    Falling into that cellar was a defining moment of my young life, because I saved myself . I remember building the dirt pile. It’s been a long time since I thought about it, but I was always certain that I was the one who got myself out.
    Paul never gave two shits about me. That’s what my mother hammered into my head when we moved away a few weeks after that summer. He didn’t give two shits about me, or her.
    But… could I have repressed the true memory of my rescue? Could I have made myself believe that my escape plan worked after what my mother told me about him?
    Why? Why would she lie?
    Childhood memories are always tricky. But, I remember that my mom started drinking later that year. Right when I turned thirteen. And when she drank, she always talked about Paul.
    Alcohol was the catalyst that deteriorated my relationship with my mother. Could her regret over leaving him, coupled with the booze, have driven her to deceive me?
    Not that any of it matters now. There is no Paul to pull me out of this hole. I have only myself.
    If the most comforting memory I have is false, what hope do I cling to now?
    I fold my hands under my head and lie on the floor. The cold tiles leech away my body heat. The only thing to do now is wait.
     
     

Chapter Nine
    (Present day)
     
    In the dark, the hours all mesh together. I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about the vile collar around my neck.
    I need to find some way to get it off. My fingers have explored every millimeter of it. There is no weakness to be found.
    Every minute that goes by brings me closer to tomorrow’s confrontation. What will the contract say? What demands will my captor have of me?
    It does not matter. I will never sign that filthy sheet of paper. I will never willingly surrender my freedom.
    My mind keeps turning back to those initials: J.S. I’m sure I’ve seen them before. I—
    In a brilliant flash, all the lights in the room go on.
    I curse and squeeze my eyes shut, pressing my forehead to the cool floor