Chapter 1
West Texas, 1998
Abigail’s wide eyes said she chose flight. Her filthy bare feet scampered through the desert brush. Streaks of tears streamed across her freckled cheeks. She battered her clumpy red hair from her face amidst gasping sobs. Tears blurred the terrain in front of her. She steadied herself on boulders and muscled her way up the incline, that only gets steeper. She gripped a handhold on a large sandstone and lurched herself up. One last pull toward the top of the infinite landscape. Rock. Brush. Boulder. Gap. The repeating background of video game.
In a split second.
The pattern broke and the once steady rock has crumbled into a billion pieces. Time slowed and despair replaced the blood coursing through her veins. Crumbs of rock were strewn through the air like stars filling the sky. Her unsure grip blew her feet from under her and she bellyflopped into the hillside. She slid backward, reaching for anything she could to break her fall as the rugged terrain sliced her torso like a high-tech kitchen gadget.
Abigail’s shriek echoed across the vast basin.
The sun was about to quit for the day.
Beyond the reverberations of that guttural cry, over the hills but not so far away. Fresh dirt flew through the air and piled up next to a shallow grave. Abigail’s father, Issac gathered with the rest of her family. The two boys dug the hole.
“That oughta be deep enough,” the older one said.
They rolled the lifeless body of a young female into the pit like a sack of potatoes. Abigail’s mother gripped her children’s hands and they prayed in unison. Everyone’s eyes were tight except for Issac. His worn old face scrunched as he examined the distant hilltops. Esther, the youngest of the lot, looked to her father.
“You think she’ll come back, Pa?”
Issac’s gaze remained fixed on the ridge line.
“Listen,” he said.
Esther looked out across the basin. Her eyes darted back and forth, unsure what it was. The dry desert brush rustled, breaking the weary silence. She squinted to hear better. The gentle breeze carried forth the howl of a dozen coyotes.
“The good Lord will do as he sees fit,” Issac said, “Believe.”
A sourness engulfed Esther.
