The first book in the Fear series

Five years ago

Sssshhhh. Half consciously, she made the sound out loud. "Sssshhhh." But it was a breath of sound. Less than that. She had to be quiet. He might hear. He might get angry at her. He might change his mind.

She kept herself very still and tried to make herself very small. Don't draw his attention. Don't give him any reason to change his mind.

She'd been lucky so far. Lucky or smart. Because he'd said so, he 'd said she was a good girl and so he wouldn 't hurt her. All she had to do was take the medicine and sleep for a while, and then be still and silent for a little bit when she woke up.

Count to five hundred when you wake up, he'd said. Count slowly. And when she was done-

"-and when you're done, I'll be gone. You can move then. You can take off the blindfold. But not until then, you understand? If you move or make a sound before then, I'll know. And I'll have to hurt you."

It seemed to take forever to count to five hundred, but finally she got there. Hesitated. And counted to six hundred just to be safe. Because she was a good girl.

He'd had her lie down so that her hands were underneath her bottom, her own weight holding them flat and immobile. So he didn't have to tie them, he'd said. She could put her hands underneath her like a good girl or he could tie her up.

He had a gun.

She thought her hands were probably asleep by now, because she felt the medicine had made her sleep a long time. But she was still afraid to try moving, afraid he was somewhere nearby, watching.

"Are-are you there?" she whispered.

Nothing. Just the sound of her own breathing.

She shivered, not for the first time. It was chilly, a little damp. The air she breathed was stale. And in the tiniest corner of her mind, way back in the dark where a terrified little girl crouched, was an idea she didn't even want to think about.