Shock Point by April Henry

Author:April Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

part two

twenty-two

June 1

Cassie was already awake when the screaming began. Even though the Respect Family’s room was at the other end of the building from OP, and one floor above, screams penetrated the walls as if they were cardboard. It was impossible to tell if the scream came from a boy or a girl. Cassie had learned that everybody sounded the same when they were being hurt.

When she had first arrived at Peaceful Cove, the screaming had bothered her. Now she found herself wishing that whoever was screaming would just shut up. She wrapped her towel around her head and tried to go back to sleep.

A few minutes later came the wake-up call—Mother Nadine shouting at them to get up. She was always grouchy in the mornings. In silence they got up, bunched up their sheets, and folded their wooden beds against the wall. The room was now completely bare, except for the row of battered milk crates at one end.

Cassie found the crate labeled with her last name. In went her sheet and her pajamas. As quickly as possible, Cassie put on her underwear and the least soiled of her uniforms. She had been here six weeks now, but even if it had been six years she didn’t think she could get used to the complete lack of privacy.

Mother Nadine was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, so Cassie risked a smile at Hayley as she stood on tiptoes to stack her crate. Cassie was rewarded with a wink. From watching Hayley, Cassie had learned how much she could get away with. And it was quite a bit. Most of the staff didn’t have the energy or the will to ride the kids all the time. They took catnaps, read magazines, flirted with each other or sometimes the older kids. Only the sadistic ones—and they were a minority—tried to find ways and reasons to hurt them.

Clutching their toothbrushes and towels, the Respect Family lined up single file and went out into the hall, becoming part of the silent commotion. In family groups of twenty, two hundred young men and women spilled downstairs and into the first-floor hallway. Even in flip-flops, their feet made enough noise that a few people risked a whisper or two of conversation.

Out in the courtyard, they lined up for head count. The day was already hot, the sky a hard blue bowl turned over them. The only sound, aside from the crash of the waves, was the guards counting in Spanish. Across the yard, the boys had lined up in their family groups. Occasionally, people would rub the sleep from their eyes or yawn, but for the most part they were still, hands dangling at their sides, staring at some invisible point in front of them.

As she did every morning, Cassie looked at the sea out of the corner of her eye. The ocean, with its infinite stretch of horizon, was like a taste of freedom. As she watched the white-capped waves roll in, Cassie wondered if it were true that every seventh wave was higher than the ones before.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.