Todos los capítulos de When Their Sacrificial Lamb Is Gone: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

"Where did Jewel run off to now? We're getting hit by a major hurricane tonight!" my mom, Lucinda Parker, said.She paced back and forth through the living room.It was already pitch-black outside. The wind sent a metal basin rolling across the yard, clanging against the base of the wall.The town's emergency broadcast had already sounded three times."Red alert! Evacuate the entire town! Evacuation vehicles will arrive at the town entrance in 20 minutes!"Mom whipped around to face me. She looked furious as she snapped, "You! Get out there and find Jewel!"I looked out the window. The rain wasn't just falling—it was coming down in sheets.The palm trees were nearly bent to the ground. The chicken coop by the wall had blown over, and several chickens flapped widely as they scrambled under the eaves."Mom, Jewel said she went to a friend's house. With the weather outside—"Mom cut me off. "Like I care whose house she went to! Go get her now! If you can't find her, don't come ho

It was Jewel calling. Her voice was shaky with tears as she said, "Alice! Are you okay? Where are you?""I'm okay." I gritted my teeth to keep my voice from trembling. "Did you make it?""Yeah! We're at the emergency shelter hotel in the city. There's hot water and blankets. The staff even made us some tea," she replied.Jewel started sobbing again. "Alice, I'm so scared. What are you going to do all alone at home?"A deafening crash came from above me. The other half of the roof had been torn away. Wind and rain rushed inside, soaking me from head to toe.I screamed and nearly dropped my phone."Alice, what happened? What was that?" Jewel yelled."It's… It's nothing. The wind just blew off bits of the roof," I replied.The signal started cutting in and out, and Jewel's voice kept breaking up. "Alice… Can you… hear—"The signal came back, but there was only one bar.I could hear Jewel crying out on the other end of the line. "Mom! The house around Alice is collapsing. You hav

Mom was still holding the soggy apology that Jewel had written.She stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "Doctor, are you and Alice trying to fool me? She has always been good at pretending."She started toward the ER, yelling, "Alice Skinner, get up! Stop pretending you're dead. If you don't get up now, you're not getting any of those new dresses!"The ER was silent. No one answered.A nurse pushed out a gurney with a white sheet over it. Mom rushed over and pulled off the sheet.I lay still on the gurney. My face was deathly pale, and my lips were blue. Cold water was still dripping from my hair.Mom raised a trembling finger and held it beneath my nose. There was no breath, not even the slightest.Mom jerked her hand back as if she had been burned. "Allie?"She shook my shoulder, and my head fell to the side, lifeless."Alice, don't play this joke on me!" she said.The sound of hurried footsteps came from the end of the hall. Two police officers in raincoats

Jewel pulled her suitcase straight out of the door. Dad hurried after her and stopped her at the end of the alley. Then, he pulled a wad of crumpled bills from his pocket and tried to force them into her hand."Jewel, be good. Please, come home with me!" he said.Dad's eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice trembled. "Alice is gone. I can't lose you too. I know you're hurting, but so am I!"I wanted to save Alice too, but you know what your mom's temper is like."Jewel looked down at the money. Then she looked up and knocked it out of his hand."Who are you putting on an act for?" She sneered, staring at him."When Mom held Alice's head under the water, what were you doing?" she asked. "When Mom forced Alice to eat uncooked pasta until her mouth was bleeding, what were you up to?"That day, even Goldie had a seat on the evacuation vehicle, while Alice had to stand out in the storm. What did you do then?"Dad went deathly pale. His lips trembled as he responded, "I… I did say som

On the day of my funeral, Larkton was hit by a torrential downpour.The rescue team brought over my only belonging, a small notebook swollen from the water. It was my diary.Dad limped his way to my grave, stumbling with every step.Jewel had rushed back from out of town, looking like a mess.Mom sat helplessly in the wet mud, clutching my diary to her chest.With shaking hands, Dad opened the first page. There was an entry from when I was eight years old.I wrote, "Jewel broke a vase today. Mom was really angry. I told Mom I broke it, and she whipped me three times with a belt. "Jewel got scared and cried. She said she would never break anything again. That's good. Now she'll remember. It doesn't hurt."The next entry was from when I was ten years old.I wrote, "Today, Jewel went swimming in the river without telling Mom. Mom held my head under the water. It was so cold. There was sand in my nose too."But I saw Jewel sobbing on the bank. She won't go near the river again.