It Happened to Anna by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Author:Tehlor Kay Mejia [Mejia, Tehlor Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2024-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

13

The next day, Sadie went home early from the graveyard. It was all part of Mal’s plan. Her dad wouldn’t be home from work for another hour or so, but she had to get to work right away if she wanted to have enough time.

From the kitchen, she retrieved a big knife, and from the garage a sharp metal shovel for gardening. She pulled out her dresser just a little, and with a feeling of uneasiness, she began to hack at her bedroom wall with the knife.

It took the better part of thirty minutes to make a small hole. When she had, Sadie stuck the shovel inside, scraping, widening until it was just big enough for her fist to pass through.

Then she carefully hid the evidence and waited upstairs until she heard her dad’s car.

“Dad!” she cried, the moment the door opened.

“Sadie? Are you okay?”

“Come up here, Dad! It’s gross!”

“What’s gross?” he called, his feet taking the stairs loudly, two at a time.

“Look!” Sadie said, pointing in disgust and horror at the hole she had scratched through the plaster. The structure of the wall was visible inside, like a ladder of dark wood with countless cubbies where vermin could live.

“What the—” her dad replied, kneeling down to peer closer.

“I thought I heard scratching from back here the other night, and I heard it again today and got scared, and— Ugh!”

“I’m sorry sweetie,” her dad said, moving the dresser the rest of the way out. “Looks like we have critters in here.”

“Disgusting!” Sadie cried in her most convincing grossed-out voice. “What do we do? Like, get traps?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to pick some up from the hardware store,” her dad said, getting to his feet and rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

He looked tired. Sadie felt guilt, heavy in her stomach again. But what could she do? Mal had already been nice enough not to get upset about her failure earlier. And it wasn’t fair to ask Mal to get the traps—not when her parents were barely ever home and Mal’s nanny was so mean and suspicious.

“Okay, well…get a lot,” Sadie said, still looking warily at her handiwork. “Just in case there’s more than one.”

“You got it, kiddo,” her dad said. “Hey, let’s go out for pizza tonight, huh? Get your mind off things?”

Sadie almost immediately said yes. She had loved going out for pizza with her dad when she was younger. He had taken her and Anna sometimes, when it was a special occasion. Let them play pinball with the spare quarters he saved up in a big jar.

But there was only one pizza place in Corfield, and it was popular. Sadie knew she might see someone from school, from the GNC. How would Mal feel if Sadie ran into someone? Had to be polite because of her dad?

“I actually have a lot of homework,” Sadie lied, feeling awful when her dad’s face fell. “Another time?”

“Sure,” he said, ruffling her hair like he hadn’t in a long time. “I’ll order one for pickup, okay? And grab those traps on the way back.

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