Cry For Help by Clara Lewis (books for students to read .txt) 📕

Jennifer led her through another part of the house, one that Evelynn had no chance to look at. They passed the living room and entered a narrow hallway. Jennifer walked to the first door. It opened with a creak, leading into a room. She held the door open for Evelynn and ushered her inside.

“Sleep well. We have to start practice early in the morning. There’s a talent show this weekend!”

Evelynn almost laughed. Sure, bring a kidnap victim to the local talent show and win the blue ribbon. She walked into the room and didn’t relax until the door had closed. She only let out the breath she’d been holding when she heard the lock click.

Evelynn huffed when she realized that she hadn’t seen her phone lying around anywhere in the house. All she needed was one opportunity to grab hold of it. She needed to send a message.

Step one of being a kidnapper: remove anything that can enable your victim to contact the outside world.

“At least you have a bed now,” she whispered to herself.

The room was a typical room for a thirteen-year-old. Evelynn was sure that Emily hated this room. No seventeen-year-old would accept the pink wallpaper and the princess theme. The pink hurt her eyes.

Another reason would be that this room was essentially a prison cell.

Maybe this room had something that could help her escape. Evelynn walked around and laid a palm against the wall. She looked through all the drawers and knocked on them softly just in case there was a false bottom. Nothing.

Evelynn tried her best to stay silent. She had to move the bed to feel the wall behind the heavy bedframe. As quietly as she could, Evelynn pushed the bed. It caused a loud scraping noise and she stopped immediately. With bated breath, she stood still and stared at the door.

She heard Jennifer stir and rushed into the bed. She threw the covers over her and pretended to sleep.

Sure enough, the light in the hallway turned on and Jennifer’s footsteps made their way to Evelynn’s room.

“Emily? Are you all right?”

Evelynn said nothing and buried her face into the covers a little deeper.

The lock turned and the door creaked open. Jennifer stood at the doorway and whispered something. Evelynn wished for her to go away.

She didn’t.

Jennifer walked toward Evelynn, sat down next to her and started to stroke her hair. Evelynn resisted the urge to curl away from this woman’s touch.

“I was going to become a star.”

This sounded good.

“They said I wasn’t good enough. Do you know who will be good enough?”

Evelynn almost answered. Her sarcastic retort was on the tip of her tongue.

“You will be good enough, Emily. You will show them that you’re my blood and that we are good enough.”

Evelynn wanted to scream. Jennifer continued to stroke her hair until her hand stopped. Evelynn began to relax but suddenly pressure was around her throat. Jennifer kept on pressing and there was only so much Evelynn could take.

Evelynn’s eyes shot open and the sight of Jennifer looking down on her was outright terrifying. She closed them again, willing Jennifer to leave. It was something that would haunt her nights starting from tonight.

“You will be perfect for me.” Jennifer whispered.

Her hand went back and gave Evelynn’s hair one last stroke. Evelynn couldn’t prevent herself from flinching away. Thankfully, Jennifer didn’t notice. She just got up and left the room.

The lock clicked and Evelynn sat up in bed. She took in deep gulps of air and held a hand over her heart. It was beating like crazy. Her hand went to her throat and traced where Jennifer’s hand had been. She would have a bruise come morning.

“I have to get out of here,” she sighed.

Chapter 7

Evelynn barely slept. Jennifer was highly unpredictable, and Evelynn jolted awake every single time she heard footsteps.

Just like the piano room, this room had no windows. Evelynn had no idea as to what time it was. Judging from the chirping of the birds outside, she guessed that it was morning. The sound of Jennifer’s car starting up had proven her theory.

Jennifer had work in the morning and wouldn’t be back till around three in the afternoon. That gave Evelynn ample time to look for a way out. When she heard the car door slam and the car back out of the driveway, she got out of bed.

She resumed her search of the room. Evelynn pulled the heavy bed away from the wall and felt along it. She placed her palms on the walls and pushed. Evelynn’s heart soared when one of the boards squeaked.

For a moment she stood still and waited for any sound that would indicate that Jennifer was home. Evelynn allowed herself a small smile when she didn’t hear Jennifer’s footsteps headed her way. She was gone. She was at school. With excited hands, Evelynn pulled on the loose board in the wall.

It came away easily and she looked inside. The opening wasn’t big enough for her to stick her head in to look. Evelynn stuck her arm inside and pushed on the wall across from her. It gave way and cracked loudly. The loose board hadn’t fallen over to the other side, but there was a big enough hole for Evelynn to see the living room. And there… just beyond the living room, was the front door.

Evelynn’s heart beat faster when she realized that she finally had a way out.

However, she couldn’t fit through the hole created by one loose board. She had to make the hole bigger for her to crawl out and escape. Evelynn pulled on another board, and when it came loose, she silently cheered.

As Evelynn pulled on the board, something fell out and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Evelynn put the board aside and inspected it. It was a diary: an old, tattered and yellowed diary. Its pages had already been filled a long time ago, but as Evelynn paged through the diary, she saw the handwriting of