The Reaping Read Online Free Page B

I was a prisoner.
    “I can understand that. It must feel different if you grew up in it.”
    How are the others? I wonder if they’re as at home there as Jessa is or if any of them have the same misgivings as I did.
    “Kai and her little girl are so sweet. Did Jessa ever tell you Kai named her Terra?”
    Sudden tears prick my eyes.
    “Really, she did.” He squeezes my hand. “Because of you she actually gets to enjoy her little girl. Lily is working in food prep or whatever you call it. She likes cooking. I’m glad the labor camp didn’t spoil that for her. Madge is still Madge. She’s a force to be reckoned with. Not very many people try to boss her around. And Jane is thriving. I don’t know if you’d even recognize her. She’s filled out a bit.”
    This makes me smile. Poor Jane with her sharp cheekbones and sharp elbows and knees. I’m glad she can let herself be happy. Then Jack falls silent and looks away from me. I lift my shoulders to ask, What? He rubs a hand on the back of his neck. I know who he hasn’t talked about yet.
    Dave?
    Jack lets out a long sigh and shakes his head. “He’s just not the same. After Mary died, he jumped right into his work—agriculture—and he barely said another word. I’d see him every day after my medical shift. I was lucky if I could get him to even look at me. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen, so of course people like your dad are proud of him and what he adds to the community, but he just isn’t healthy.” He stops walking, and I turn to look at him. “I don’t know if he ever will be again.”
    My head droops. I tried so hard to help my friends escape the ugliness here. But Dave didn’t escape, not with the glaring hole left in his life that Mary should be filling.
    Jack touches my shoulder “It’s not your fault, Terra. You did everything you could.”
    His words bring little comfort. I did everything I could? Would saying that make Dave feel any better either? I shrug Jack’s arm off and scurry over a crop of rocks. I scan the forest around me—I must look like a frightened cat with my back curled up—and then break into a jog in the direction of the cabin.
    “Terra!” Jack hisses as starts after me. “Wait!”
    But I can’t wait. Tears stream out of my eyes and I shove them away with the heel of my hand. I had ignored all of this for so long. I knew Mary died—Jessa told me months ago. But my heart was still iced over, and I shoved it aside just like I shoved my pain for Jack aside. But now he’s back and my heart is thawing out, and with it comes all the heartache I’ve been storing up for six months.
    Mary died, and from the sound of it, Dave isn’t much better. Both of the casualties weigh heavy on me, dragging my feet into the ground. My feet feel detached from the rest of me as they drag through the soggy undergrowth. I’m so used to being so quiet, but I can’t stop the sobs that rip out of me. My breath comes in hitches, but I keep running—away from the ocean and all the pain that lies buried beneath its surface. I need to get back to my cabin, back to the place that held me together. I need to get back there before I fall apart.
    I’m just about ready to pull myself over an enormous fallen tree when Jack yanks me back.
    “Terra!”
    I can’t look at him. I wipe my nose with my sleeve. Jack takes my face in his hands, but I train my eyes on the tree to his right, the sky above him, that bird staring at us with liquid black eyes. Anywhere but his face. I’m too ashamed for what happened to my friends—for the lives I was responsible for.
    “Terra, look at me.” His voice is soft but forceful. “Please.”
    Something in his tone compels me, and I finally meet his eyes.
    “It wasn’t your fault. What happened to Mary happened because there are horrible people on this earth. You are not one of those people. You brought hope back into so many lives. You’re just up here where you can’t see it. But when I was down