Chapter 4

Margaret rushes over and yanks Miss Ruth's arm away.

Then she shoves the rag even deeper into my mouth.

"She's acting up again!"

She turns to Miss Ruth with a smile.

"Miss Ruth, this girl has a nasty mouth."

"Last time, she bit one of the nurses so hard she nearly took off a finger."

"Please don't touch her. I don't want her hurting you."

Miss Ruth pulls her hand back and looks Margaret up and down.

"You city people always discipline your kids like this?"

"You lock them in a pigpen?"

Margaret's smile freezes for a second.

Richard pulls a wad of cash from his pocket and presses it into Miss Ruth's hand.

"Here. Take this."

He pauses.

"Help us hold her down."

"We need to draw some blood."

"If she starts fighting, pin her down as hard as you have to."

Miss Ruth looks at the money.

Then she looks at me.

"All right."

She stuffs the cash into her pocket, crouches down, and presses both hands against my shoulders.

Margaret opens the medical cooler and takes out syringes, a tourniquet, and seven empty blood collection tubes.

The nurse is called over from the SUV.

She climbs into the pigpen, ties the tourniquet around my arm, and taps the inside of my elbow.

The needle goes in.

One tube.

Two.

Three.

Richard leans against the fence, scrolling through his phone with the volume turned up.

A video starts playing.

It's a recording of a speech he gave at a charity gala.

"...As business leaders, we have a responsibility to care for the most vulnerable people in our communities..."

Thunderous applause comes through the phone.

Four tubes.

Five.

Six.

My lips are completely drained of color.

The nurse checks my pulse and hesitates.

"Mrs. Whitmore, if we keep going, she could go into shock."

Margaret doesn't even look up.

"She won't die."

"When you're done, cover the needle marks."

"I don't want blood everywhere. It's disgusting."

The seventh tube starts filling.

My vision goes black around the edges.

My whole body goes limp.

Miss Ruth's hands tighten on my shoulders.

I can feel them shaking.

When it's over, Margaret lines up the blood tubes inside the medical cooler one by one.

Then she zips it shut.

Richard crouches down and pats my face.

"We'll do this again tomorrow."

"If you behave, after that it'll only be once a month."

"No more than this."

"But if you don't behave..."

He doesn't finish.

He doesn't need to.

They pack up their things and leave.

Miss Ruth is the last one to stand.

She stays beside the fence for a moment, looking down at me.

Then she sighs.

"Girl, I'm sorry."

"I've got more than a dozen kids in this town depending on me."

"I really do need the money."

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out half a roasted sweet potato.

She slips it through the fence.

"If you can eat, have a few bites."

"Don't let yourself starve."

Then she turns and walks away.

The pigpen goes completely quiet.

I lie on the stone slab and stare at the half sweet potato by the fence.

It's still warm.

Every winter when I was little, Miss Ruth roasted a whole batch of sweet potatoes.

Every kid in town got one.

I always got an extra half.

She said I was the youngest.

I needed to eat more if I wanted to grow.

I don't know how long I wait.

Eventually, I'm sure there's no one around.

I roll onto my side and press my back against the corner of the wall.

There's a sharp edge of exposed stone sticking out.

I start rubbing the rope around my wrists against it.

Back and forth.

Again and again.

The stone tears through my skin.

Blood runs down my wrists.

I bite down on the rag and don't make a sound.

I don't know how long it takes.

Finally, the rope snaps.

I shake it off.

Then I turn sideways and squeeze through a gap at the bottom of the pigpen.

There's no moon outside.

Black Hollow is so dark I can barely see anything.

But I know the way.

Past the crooked tree up ahead.

Elias's house is right there.

I drag one leg behind me and move forward one step at a time.

Twenty steps.

Ten.

I'm one step away from making it into town when a cold voice comes from behind me.

"I knew you were only pretending to behave."

"Now I'm going to show you what happens when you don't listen."