Switched Read Online Free Page A

gasp.
    I blinked several times, but the gruesome scene refused to go away.
    I grabbed the doorframe with both hands and stared down in horror at the dark puddles of blood. The slashed bodies sprawled on the floor.
    And then I opened my mouth in a scream I thought would never end.

chapter

4
    M y legs trembled so violently, I fell. Landed on my knees.
    My whole body shuddered. I fought back the nausea that choked my throat.
    Lucy’s parents lay dead on the living room carpet. On their backs. Their bodies slashed and ripped. Their clothes cut and soaked with blood. Eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling in wide horror.
    And the blood . . . The puddles . . . So dark and wide . . . beneath their cut, twisted bodies like wine-colored rafts.
    Like deep, dark holes in the shaggy white rug.
    The Kramers. Lucy’s parents. Murdered. Dead on the living room floor.
    â€œLucy. Lucy. Lucy.” I don’t know how long I repeated her name.
    I don’t know how long I remained there at the living room doorway, on my knees, trembling all over, blinking rapidly, staring at the horror.
    Staring at the slashed bodies of Lucy’s parents.
    Repeating my friend’s name in a low chant. “Lucy. Lucy. Lucy.”
    I could have been there for only a minute or two. Or it could have been an hour.
    â€œLucy. Lucy. Lucy.”
    Waves of red rushed before my eyes. Hot waves of red blood washed over me, blinding me, choking me.
    â€œLucy. Lucy. Lucy.”
    Rubbing my eyes, trying to rub away the ugly scene of horror, I struggled to my feet.
    And staggered to the front door.
    â€œGot to tell Lucy,” I murmured out loud.
    I couldn’t think of anything else. The horror was too fresh, the blood too red.
    â€œGot to tell Lucy.”
    I stumbled out the front door. My new body still felt strange. I had to concentrate on placing one foot in front of the other.
    Lucy and I will have to switch back now, I realized. We’ll have to return to that gray wall in the woods and switch back.
    Poor Lucy.
    She wanted to try a new life. But now . . .
    Every time I blinked, I saw the dark puddles on thewhite carpet, saw the Kramers’ blank, staring eyes. Saw their clothes all cut . . . all cut . . .
    Somehow I made it to my house. My ponytail had come undone, but I made no attempt to fix it. I had torn the yellow tights.
    The sun had lowered behind the houses, cooling the air. But I was drenched in sweat.
    I must have run the whole way. At least six blocks. I didn’t remember running. But I was gasping for air, my chest heaving up and down, as I crossed the street to my house.
    Over the front lawn. The grass freshly mowed. Moist blades sticking to my sneakers as I ran.
    Onto the front porch. “Lucy! Lucy!” My voice breathless and shrill as I frantically called her name.
    I stopped outside the front door. Stopped to catch my breath. And to think.
    How could I tell her what I had seen in her living room?
    How could I tell her?
    How?

chapter

5
    I ’ll have to get her alone, I decided.
    My parents will think I’m Lucy. They’ll wonder why I am bursting in at dinnertime. They’ll wonder why my hair is all disheveled and my clothes torn. They’ll wonder why I am so upset and out of breath.
    There will be so many questions, questions, questions.
    I’ll drag Lucy outside. And then . . . I’ll tell her there’s been an accident.
    Yes, an accident, I decided.
    I won’t break it to her all at once. I’ll be careful and considerate. I won’t just blurt out that her parents have both been murdered in their living room.
    I won’t tell her about the blood . . . the blood . . . the blood . . .
    I swallowed hard. Cupped my hand over my mouth as I started to retch.
    I couldn’t hold it back any longer. The horror I had seen was too overwhelming.
    Bending over at the bottom of the driveway, I