Read Malevolent for Free Online Page B

likely to file a missing persons report on their victim.”
    “Got that right. The police circulated her picture through all the national databases, sent it to schools and churches, and even did those commercials, but they didn’t get any hits.”
    The reality of Shaye’s situation crashed into Emma like a freight train. “If Shaye has no memory of her abuser, then she has to assume that anyone she comes in contact with could be her attacker. My God. Every day is some form of nightmare.”
    “I would imagine so, although she seems to have found a way to balance it out and try to live a normal life.”
    “That’s why you thought she’d believe me…because of her own extraordinary story.”
    “I think it’s no coincidence that Shaye became a private investigator. She doesn’t have answers for herself, and my guess is she doesn’t want anyone else to live in the shadow of darkness like she does.”
    Emma took another drink of her now-lukewarm coffee, trying to fathom what a normal day was like for Shaye. For all intents and purposes, Shaye was born at age fifteen, with a lifetime of baggage and no claim ticket to tell her where it had come from. The fact that she was sane, much less accomplished, was a testament to Shaye’s strength and Corrine’s determination.  
    For the first time in weeks, Emma’s bleak outlook cleared just a little. If Shaye could go through all that and come out the other side not only sane, but educated, and eager to help others, then Emma had a chance of regaining her own life and sanity.

Chapter Three

    The room was dark and damp. The old bricks that made up the walls were crumbling in some places and growing moss in others. She didn’t know the length of the room in feet, but she knew it was exactly thirty steps long and twenty steps wide. When it rained, water crept in where the brick met the concrete floor. If it rained hard, the entire floor was drenched. She stood as long as she could, but if it rained for too long, her weakened body couldn’t keep her upright and she eventually had to sit down. The water soaked into her clothes and made the room freezing in the winter and sticky hot in the summer.
    She couldn’t remember how long she’d been in the room. Several summers and winters had passed. Maybe five. Maybe more. When you sat in the dark every day, it was hard to know how much time passed. But as bad as the room was, it was worse when he came to get her. He’d stick her with a needle and she would go to sleep, but not completely. She could remember what happened, how he bathed her and dressed her, then took her to the red room with all the candles. There were other people in the red room. People who hurt her, along with the man.  
    But she didn’t want to think about that.
    Thinking about the red room made her want to die.  
    She’d tried to kill herself once. Had slit her wrists with a piece of broken brick. The man had been so angry when he found her. He’d wrapped her wrists to stop the bleeding. Every day, he’d returned to the room to make sure the cuts didn’t get infected, and every day, he’d made her pay for her attempt to escape her prison. Made her pay so badly, she’d never tried again.
    Thunder boomed outside and she slid to the center of the room, curling her arms around her legs. Her right foot throbbed from the minimal movement. Maybe it was broken, but as long as it couldn’t get infected, the man didn’t care. Her teeth began to chatter, and she hoped the storm was short. She wouldn’t be able to stand on her foot, not for more than a minute.
    As the water began to creep into the room, she squeezed her arms tighter around her legs and prayed. God hadn’t heard her yet, but he was the only thing she had left.

    Shaye bolted upright in bed as thunder shook her bedroom walls. She squinted a bit as the bedroom light hit her eyes, then zeroed in on the baseboards, looking for water. The old hardwood floors were as dry as a bone. She flopped back