The Girl Who Never Came Back Read Online Free Page B

even smart. You're just being stupid all the time, like it's some kind of hobby!"
    "No," Charlotte replied, "you just -"
    "You think you're being funny when you say stupid things," Ruth added, clearly warming to her theme, "but really you're just being an idiot. Everyone thinks it, Charlotte. You're the only one who thinks all these stupid things are actually impressive. Everyone else just thinks you're a little idiot."
    "Actually -"
    "They all laugh at you behind your back," Ruth continued. "Everyone always talks about how stupid you are. They make fun of you and say that you're really stupid." She paused, getting a little out of breath. "They can all see right through you. Even Daddy!"
    "Shut up about Daddy," Charlotte replied, as the pain continued to rumble in her belly. Something was wrong, but she didn't know what.
    "Daddy thought you were stupid too," Ruth said with a cruel smile. "I heard Daddy talking to Mummy one day, and he was saying that he thought you were really dumb and that you'd probably always be dumb and you'd grow up to just be a big dumb -"
    "Shut up !" Charlotte shouted, lunging at her sister and knocking her down onto the living room floor, before trying to pin her arms to the carpet. "Shut up!" she shouted again. "You're so -"
    Before she could finish, Ruth slammed her knee into Charlotte's stomach and pushed her away, quickly following through with a kick to Charlotte's leg.
    "Mummy!" Ruth shouted. "Charlotte's hitting me again!"
    Charlotte turned to Ruth, ready to punch her, but at the last moment she heard the door open.
    "What's going on in here?" her mother shouted. "Charlotte, what are you doing to your sister?"
    "Nothing," Charlotte growled.
    "She hit me," Ruth said, getting to her feet and running over to the door, while rubbing her hand over an imaginary injury on her arm. "She hit me twice because I told her she was being stupid when she jumped into the water today."
    "Is that true?" her mother asked, rolling Ruth's sleeve up. "I don't see anything, darling," she said calmly, before turning to Charlotte. "Did you strike your sister?"
    "No!" Charlotte shouted, close to tears but determined not to let her emotions show. "She's lying!"
    "She jumped in the river," Ruth said. "Smell her hair. She stinks. And then she wanted to hide it by brushing her hair, but she didn't have a hairbrush so she went to the cave because she said that imaginary witch could give her one."
    Charlotte took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears.
    "Charlotte, is this true?" her mother asked.
    Although she knew she should lie and claim that none of it happened, she also didn't want to give Ruth the satisfaction of thinking she'd caused her to get into trouble. She figured she might as well just own up to everything and show them both that she wasn't ashamed.
    "I just wanted to go swimming," she muttered, already painfully aware that she was losing this argument. It was at times like this that her mother and sister seemed to gang up and work together to make her feel as if she was an outsider, and she was already starting to feel hot and sweaty at the thought of being looked down upon yet again.
    "Okay, Ruth," their mother said after a moment with a weary sigh, "why don't you go to the kitchen and get some juice or something."
    "But -"
    "Please, Ruth."
    Obediently, Ruth turned and headed to the door, but not without glancing back at Charlotte and flashing a self-satisfied smile that made it clear she felt extremely pleased with herself. Yet again, she'd managed to win the day and leave Charlotte looking like the bad sister.
    "So what's this all about," their mother said once Ruth was out of the room. Fixing Charlotte with a strict, stern gaze, she waited for an answer. "You're eight years old," she continued eventually, "and yet you still spend your time willfully disobeying my rules and going on about some kind of ridiculous fantasy -"
    "There's a witch in the cave," Charlotte whined, with tears rolling down her