Read Foreverland Is Dead for Free Online

don’t you start writing stuff down?”
    “Your cans are out of order. They need to be organized with the others.”
    “They will. I’m just looking, seeing what we’ve got. No need to be getting your hands on everything.”
    Roc stares. She doesn’t let go until Cyn looks away.
    “Look at this.” Jen digs to the bottom of the hamper. “Soap.”
    Cyn had forgotten what clean smelled like. She’s afraid to take the soap, nervous that if she gets clean she’ll just be more aware of the filth. Maybe it’s better to just wallow in it.
    At least for now.
    Miranda comes around the cistern, head down, hair in her face.
    “You all right?” Cyn pushes the hair away. Her skin is clammy, the color sort of yellowish.
    “Well, look who’s here.” Roc peeks out of the kitchen. “Don’t tell me you fed your breakfast to the outhouse. That’s a waste. Give her a demerit, Cyn.”
    “You need some water?” Cyn doesn’t wait for her to answer, whispers to Mad to bring a cup.
    “What’d you see in there?” Roc says.
    “Give her a second,” Cyn interrupts.
    “She’s had twenty minutes. What’d you see in there, Shiny?”
    Miranda hides her right foot behind her left. The shoes are scuffed but still reflective. She can’t hide them both; instead, she backs up.
    Mad hands a plastic cup to Cyn. “Here, have a sip. You don’t want to dehydrate.”
    Miranda holds the cup with both hands. She takes a drink.
    “Look, I know you’re traumatized.” Roc steps outside, gets between Miranda and Cyn. “It’s a big, scary house, but we could use a little help, here.”
    “I brought the food,” she mutters.
    “Yeah, thanks. But boiled yams ain’t going to call for help. Did you even look around?”
    Miranda shuffles her left foot behind her right.
    “Give her some space.” Cyn gently grabs Roc’s elbow. She pulls away, eyebrows wedged together. “Just give her a minute to think. Go count the food —she’s not going anywhere.”
    Roc continues staring. She doesn’t want to do what Cyn says, but she does it anyway. The cans slam together. Mad and Jen stand back.
    “Something’s dead in there.” Miranda doesn’t look up.
    “Did you see it?”
    “I could smell it.”
    “Where was it coming from?”
    She shakes her head. “The doors were all closed.”
    “Was i t coming from upstairs? Downstairs?”
    “Downstairs. I think.”
    There’s a dead body in the woods; no surprise there’s one in the brick house, too. Cyn feels sad for the old women. She knows she shouldn’t, because they were apparently living in luxury and the girls in filth, but she doesn’t like to hear that people are dead.
    “What else did you see?” Cyn asks. “Besides the kitchen.”
    The cup is shaking in Miranda’s hands. “It just looked like a nice house. The front room has a television and coffee tables with magazines. It was all very clean. The davenports aren’t faded—”
    “T he hell is a davenport?” Roc asks.
    “It’s a couch,” Cyn answers. “What about a phone or a laptop or tablet? Did you see anything electronic besides the TV?”
    She shakes her head.
    “Did you open any doors?”
    The water lightly splashes inside the cup. Cyn takes it before she gets wet.
    Metal cans tumble across the kitchen floor.
    “You didn’t even look.” Roc comes out again. “You just went to straight to the kitchen and didn’t even—”
    “I looked!” Miranda screeches. “There’s no phone, all right! There’s no one to call, it’s just a house with no one in there but a dead body, all right?”
    “Yeah, a house you woke up in. A house only you can go in. You didn’t look around, Shiny. You walked your little white ass in there and clicked your heels, hoping you’d be back in Kansas when you opened your eyes. And when that didn’t happen, you grabbed some food. Well, good for you, you’re a hero. We should all kiss your ass that we’ll starve to death in three months instead of two.”
    “I looked.”
    “No, you