McKinty, Adrian - The Chain by McKinty Adrian

Author:McKinty, Adrian [McKinty, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Mystery
ISBN: 9780316531269
Google: 3r23vQEACAAJ
Amazon: B07K6HCYPY
Barnesnoble: B07K6HCYPY
Goodreads: 42779092
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Published: 2019-07-09T05:00:00+00:00

36

Sunday, 4:00 p.m.

Kylie finally comes down the stairs. She’s got her iPad in one hand, her phone in the other, and Eli over her shoulder.

“I had over a hundred and fifty Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter notifications,” Kylie says, trying to sound upbeat.

Rachel smiles. So much for her idea of going full tinfoil hat and killing social media. Kylie returns her mother’s smile. Both of us faking it for each other, Rachel thinks. “You’re a popular girl,” she says.

“I talked to Stuart. Everybody seems to have bought the whole sickness story. And I texted Grandma too. She’s fine. I even e-mailed Dad.”

“I’m sorry I made you do that.”

Kylie nods and doesn’t say It’s OK because it’s not OK to make your daughter lie to her friends and family.

“You were careful what you said?”

“I was.”

“If you say one thing on social media, the whole world sees.”

“I know, Mom. I can’t ever tell anyone, can I?”

“No…are you OK, my darling?” Rachel asks, stroking Kylie’s face.

“Not really,” Kylie says. “I was so scared down there. There were times when I thought I was going to—I don’t know—disappear? You know that thing where some people think that if other people leave the room, they just don’t exist anymore.”

“Solipsism?”

“That’s what I thought was happening to me down there in the basement. I thought that I was starting not to exist because no one was thinking about me.”

Rachel hugs her tight. “All I did was think about you! Every minute of every second of every day.”

“And then there were times when I thought that maybe those two would just leave me there. Maybe if they thought they’d been discovered, they’d go, and the food would run out and the water would run out and I would just die.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Rachel says. “I wouldn’t. I would have found you no matter what.”

Kylie nods but Rachel sees that she doesn’t believe it. How would she have found her? She wouldn’t have found her. Her daughter would have been trapped down there forever.

Kylie walks to the screen door and looks out at the basin.

“Your flip-flops are onomatopoeia-ing,” Rachel says, trying to shift the mood.

Kylie turns to face her. “Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“They explained to me that they couldn’t release me until you continued The Chain.”

Rachel looks at the floor.

“Mom?”

Rachel swallows hard. She can’t lie about this—it would make everything worse. “That’s right,” she says.

“So, wait, did you…have you…” Kylie asks, horrified.

“I’m sorry. I, I, I had to.”

“You kidnapped someone?”

“I had to.”

“You still have them?”

“Yes. I can’t release them until The Chain continues.”

“Oh my God!” Kylie says, her eyes wide. “Where?”

“We found a…I found an empty house on the other side of the basin. A house with a basement.”

“They’re over there right now? Alone?”

“That’s where Pete is.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“The less you know, the better.”

“I want to know!”

“A girl,” Rachel says, feeling great waves of shame course through her.

A great river of shame as brown as shit.

“Can’t you just let her go?”

Rachel fights her gag reflex and the flight response and forces herself to confront the present reality.

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