The Girl in a Coma Read Online Free Page A

down the stairs one step at a time to prevent them from creaking. She poured a little water from the jug directly into one hand and dabbed at her eyes. She combed her long brown hair and braided it, then wrapped it around her head and secured it with the wooden comb her oldest brother, Christian, had carved for her when she turned thirteen.
    She took two apples from a basket on the table and tore off a piece of dark brown bread from a loaf in the breadbox. She wrapped the apples and bread in a small bundle. She did not want to take more than her share.
    She pulled on her boots and put on her black bonnet with the white trim. She lifted her heavy gray shawl from the back of the door and slipped out into the night. She bent to lace up her boots, then wrapped the shawl around her shoulders and began walking.
    Her parents would be horrified.
    Johannes and Margaret Haun would not worry about her safety. She was a very resourceful girl. She was smart and she was independent, a quality not admired by Mennonites but one that would give them comfort. No, they would be horrified by how she was going against the law, God’s law and man’s law.
    Their God would be angry at disobedience. Running away, even for a good reason, was disobedient. Running away for the sake of a man, or a boy, who might have broken the Lord’s Commandment against murder, that was an unforgiveable sin.
    Her father would have no choice but to forbid her return. The moment she stepped out the door into the starlit night, she knew there would be no turning back. But the same God, whose wrath she invited, knew she was moving into the darkness for love. If not for love, for justice and mercy.
    Surely their Lord knew Jacob was innocent. The least she could do was to warn him that his father was dead. And that he was wanted for stealing Old Bess.
    The unspoken vows between them demanded that much, even if those vows were in ruins.
    It was cold but the moon cast its light across the fields, making the frost glimmer like a fairyland. The road was a ribbon stretched tightly across the landscape in front of her. She huddled into her shawl for warmth and walked briskly.
    When the sun came up and her brothers and sisters were out of bed, they would discover she was gone. Daniel, Luke, and Matthias, Sarah, Rachel, and Ruth would all scurry around looking for her. Christian, who was the oldest, was away in Massachusetts, studying the Bible at a college in Concord near Boston.
    Rebecca knew her mother and father would be frantic with worry. They would know where she was going. But they would not come after her.
    She had made her decision.
    The rest was out of their hands.

    Allison
    I’m awake now. Reluctantly. It must be morning but I want to stay with my dream. I’ve got to figure this out. Who killed Noah Shantz? If her father won’t follow Rebecca to bring her back home, she had better find Jacob or she’ll be completely alone in the world. Except for me.
    And, yes, last night my watcher was back. If he was the guy who put a bullet in my brain, he is a sadist like Hannibal Lector and he’s getting his kicks seeing me suffer.
    Am I suffering? That is an interesting question. I don’t feel any pain. That’s a good thing. I don’t feel anything at all.
    And yet I have feelings. Just because I can’t cry doesn’t mean I don’t want to. When David tells me a joke, I wish I could laugh. I’d love to tell my mom it isn’t her fault. She thinks it is, because she’s my mom. I feel sorry for her.
    I feel like I’m walking through the starlit night into the dawn but the sun won’t ever come up.
    My days can seem long. I take imaginary trips to entertain myself. Today I tried to imagine I was in the fashion section of a department store. A really expensive one. Women were coming and going, trying on clothes that I’ve seen in magazines like Vogue . I’m more into People and Seventeen . Not Cosmo , I find