Chapter 23

"I'm sorry," I said softly. There was such pain in her voice, such sorrow, that I felt any words I used would be inadequate to comfort her.

She nodded in acknowledgement. "Moving here was great for dad but not so great for mom," Jeanie said wistfully. "Dad fit right in, but Mom had a really tough time adjusting. They started arguing, yelling at each other. Everything got so tense ... and I couldn't help but think about what had happened to Audrey; what had happened to her parents and then to her. I wondered if history were repeating itself somehow. If whatever had happened in that house had somehow spread here. I wasn't sure I could take my parents getting a divorce."

"Dad moved out to the bunkhouse for a bit," there were new tears in her eyes now. "I ... I started getting depressed. I wasn't sleeping because I was having such horrible nightmares. I would cry myself to sleep at night, wake up from a nightmare and cry some more. I hated being in this house, hated being in this town, I