PROLOGUE

Blue Creek, Montana

1915

Eloise runs through the woods faster than she knew her legs could take her. The leaves from the low-hanging branches of the trees slap her face, parts of her dress get caught in thorns and she hears the ripping sounds of a few tears in the hems, but she does not care. She does not stop. She cannot afford to; not after what she just saw. 

Just before she leaps over a log of wood, Eloise takes a second to look back into the dark woods and notices for the first time that she is no longer running alongside Mary Lou. Her best friend must have taken a turn towards her own house, neither of them collected enough to tell the other goodbye. They had both witnessed what was probably the worst thing either one of them had ever seen. 

As she runs out of the woods and heads down the pathway that leads to her house, Eloise decides to slow down. Running through the town at such speed will raise eyebrows and cause people to ask her questions that she is not willing to answer. Besides, if she runs past anybody who notices her, her name will be the first such person will say if news of what she and Mary Lou just saw ever breaks out. Eloise says a silent thanks when she does not run into anyone until she turns the corner to her street. It is very-well past nine so most of the town might be asleep. Thanks to the Wheatley family living just two houses from hers, Eloise’s street is the busiest in the entire town. Unlike Eloise and her father who live just by themselves in their little two-bedroom house, the Wheatleys have a big family of six children and seven grandchildren in addition to the matriarch, patriarch and the wives of the first two sons in their duplex. 

“Hello, Eloise, why are you out so late?” Mrs. Erin Wheatley, the ample-bodied Wheatley matriarch greets Eloise as she passes in front of their duplex. She is standing on their lawn with the youngest Wheatley baby whose name Eloise cannot remember in her arms.

“I was with Mary Lou, ma’am,” Eloise says as gently as she can. She does not want to be too dismissive as not to cause suspicion.

Eloise heaves a sigh of relief when the woman lets her go without further questioning and runs straight into her house. She calls out for her father but gets no response. The house is empty. She does not intend to tell her father; she just needs the assurance of safety that comes with knowing that he is home. When she calls him two more times and gets no response, she falls in their living room and begins to weep. She wants to scream and cry as loudly as she can, let out all of the anguish that she is feeling but she knows not to. Blue Creek is a small town and someone is sure to hear her. 

Eloise gathers herself from the floor of the living room and walks to the window. The moon and the lamp are doing a poor job of lighting up the dark night so she cannot see much but one thing is clear to Eloise, she cannot be in this town for much longer; not after what she just saw.