deep and dark and dangerous by mary downing hahn

'I've done plenty of dumb things,' I said. Sissy gouged the moss savagely, tearing up bits of it and revealing the dark soil it grew from. 'She didn't think you'd jump in the water.' 'When Dulcie came along, I thought she was going to be my friend, but then she had to go and throw Edith in the lake and ruin everything. 'All I really wanted was a friend.' She poked at the moss with a stick, scratching lines in it. I'll be gone soon.'Ĭautiously, I sat down a few feet away from her, scared to get too close. 'If I wanted to kill you, I'd have drowned you and Emma both when I had the chance.

I hesitated, rubbing my arm to warm the spot she'd grabbed. 'Don't you like me even a little bit?'Ĭhilled by the touch of her hand, I pulled away and jumped to my feet, ready to run. When I slid away from her, she laughed out loud. When it broke with a loud snap, I tossed the pieces away. My discomfort returned, and I twisted the twig again. 'That's for me to know-and you to find out.' 'Where are you going?' I asked, forgetting for a moment she wasn't an ordinary girl about to leave on a trip. 'I'm not sure how much longer I can stay.' 'That's good.' Her sigh was as soft as a breeze in the treetops. It bothered me to talk about her burial with her sitting beside me, as real as ever. 'The day after tomorrow, I heard.' Uncomfortable with her question, I toyed with a twig, bending it this way and that, avoiding her eyes. 'I couldn't take it anymore, either,' I confessed. Even when they can't see you, being famous is hard on a person.' All those people running around, asking questions, taking pictures. With a sigh, she sank onto the mossy ground beside me, closed her eyes, and rested her head against the tree. Sissy stepped out from behind the tree, cradling Edith in the crook of her arm, her silvery hair bright against the gloomy woods. 'Everyone in the state of Maine and probably the rest of the country, too.' 'They all know now, Sissy,' I said to myself. Safe from reporters and tourists, I sat down and leaned against a tree trunk.

Deep and dark and dangerous by mary downing hahn