The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters

Author:Erica Waters [Waters, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062894250
Google: 5t0DEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0062894250
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2021-07-26T23:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Della

Da and I drove back to the prison as soon as the police were gone. We decided it was too dangerous to leave Momma there, that they might decide to do a thorough search of the place after all, or at least increase security. So now Momma is locked in our basement. This is where we tried to keep her when she was first changed, but the noise was so bad we couldn’t sleep, and she kept trying to lure Da down there. Once, I found him trying to get through the barricades in front of the door at three in the morning, desperate to reach her. After that, I moved her to the prison. So I guess I’ll be locking Da in his room tonight too.

Isn’t this every daughter’s dream—to be her parents’ jailer? Our farmhouse will sound like a horror movie tonight, and I’ll be lucky to snatch even an hour’s sleep. I can only hope to move her back to the prison once the police lose interest. I know now that, whatever Miles might want, ending her life isn’t something I can do. And despite how angry he is at her, I don’t think Miles would be able to do it either.

It’s only eight o’clock, but I already feel tired, deep down in my soul. Momma was angry at being left so long and even angrier to see Da. Somehow, between the two of us, Da and I got her into the back of his car. Once, she pulled my hair from the back seat, and then she tried to make Da run off the road. But we made it home in one piece and shuffled her straight off to the basement, with stores of food and water. She’ll probably shred her cot and punch holes in the walls, maybe yank the electrical wires from the washing machine. But there’s nothing else we can do, nowhere else she can go.

“Let her roar,” I whisper to myself. The roaring isn’t what’s dangerous. It’s when she goes quiet we have to worry. Or worse, when she starts singing.

I’m feeling sorry for myself, I realize—as if I have any right. How can I complain when Rochelle Greymont’s body lies in a morgue somewhere and her family weeps for her? When Natasha has had her sister ripped from her, has had to see the carnage with her own eyes? I’ve been trying not to think about Natasha, but she’s haunting me, in a way I didn’t think a customer ever could. She’s more than that now—only there’s not a name for it. But her scream is lodged in my brain, and her burning eyes are always on me now. Is she my victim, like her sister is Momma’s?

As if she knows I’m thinking about her, the river siren starts to make a terrible noise downstairs. It sounds like she’s banging a frying pan against sheet metal. Da is silent on the couch, his expression one of misery. Da might try to escape it, but he’s as bound to the monster as I am, especially now.

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.