Sisters of Misery

by Megan Kelley Hall

  Maddie’s breath came in ragged gasps. The water-stained walls felt like they were closing in on her, and Finn continued his story, his voice hard.

  “So,” he flashed the light directly in her eyes, “I heard about this hazing ritual you girls had planned for her. Kate was the one who came up with it, but she wanted to get the guys from school in on it, too. She told them to boat out to Misery sometime after midnight, that they would all get a chance to join in on the fun. Now, I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I knew that it couldn’t be good. Not the way they were laughing and carrying on about it, like it was friggin’ hysterical.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maddie stammered, trying to squint and avoid the bright light glaring into her eyes. “There weren’t any boys. It was just us girls out on the island, the Sis…”

  “Yeah, I know, the Sisters of Misery. I know all about your little sorority,” Finn snapped. “And I know what kind of savage crap you did to her…all that bullshit about fire and earth and whatever. It was just an excuse to beat the shit out of her. And you just stood there and let it happen. She was your cousin, for Christ’s sake.” He shook his head in disgust. “Yeah, I saw it. I saw everything.”

  Maddie’s emotions were out of control, swirling like the madhouse that had engulfed them. She was overcome by guilt, elation, fear, hope, and finally relief that there was someone who could finally give her the answers she’d been looking for all along. As she tried to absorb what Finn was telling her, tears started falling down her cheeks as she slowly backed away from him.

  “Finn, I…I never knew what they had planned. You have to believe that,” Maddie cried, her voice rising up and filling the space between them. “I never would have hurt Cordelia on purpose. And…and, I know that you’d never hurt her either, at least not on purpose.”

  “But they did. And they weren’t satisfied by just humiliating and degrading her.” His voice grew angrier and louder, echoing off the walls. “No, they wanted a bunch of Academy boys to come out to the island to hurt her even more. I heard them talking about it out on the sports fields. Your rich bitch friend Kate promised them ‘a night of fun’ with your cousin if they came out that night. ‘You can all have a shot at that slut, Cordelia,’ was what she said. All your old Hawthorne buddies planned on taking a boat out to Misery. But I beat ’em out there. I watched and I waited for the guys to show up. But while I was waiting, I saw what you girls did to her. And I’ll tell ya, I’ve seen a lot of shitty things in my life, but I’d never seen anything like that.”

  His voice grew thick with disappointment and disgust, even sadness.

  “So I guess the guys from the Academy never showed up then.” Maddie said. Finn allowed the flashlight to drift down from her face so that her eyes were able to adjust to the darkness again.

  “Are you kidding? Turn down a sure thing with the hottest girl to ever come through Hawthorne? Of course they showed up. But they never got close to you girls. I caught them as they were pulling their boats up to shore. Met Trevor and his football buddies at the beach when they showed up, ready for their big conquest. But I was able to change their plans for the night when I showed them my dad’s nine millimeter,” Finn laughed, remembering. “You should have seen those guys scatter. They were practically shitting in their Brooks Brothers pants, trying to get back into their boats.”

  His laughter subsided, and he grew more serious. “Anyway, by the time I got back to the center of the island, Cordelia had been knocked out and was bleeding. She was soaking wet and freezing, I’m sure, even though there was a fire built around her. I don’t know what happened to her jacket, but it had disappeared. You were passed out at that point. Took a big hit to the head by one of your Sisters.” He spat the word out like it was equivalent to a murderer or criminal. He probably wasn’t so far off from the truth.

  Maddie stumbled back a bit, shocked at this new information. All this time Maddie had doubted herself. The dreams she’d had about tearing at Cordelia’s skin, Kate’s insinuations that Maddie had somehow hurt her own cousin. All of it was untrue, and for that, Maddie was overcome by relief. Kate had taken advantage of her memory loss to plant a seed of doubt in her mind, fully aware that it would grow like a horrible, strangling weed.

  “So you were the last person to see Cordelia that night,” Maddie said, recalling the police report, and yet another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

  Finn nodded. “Now you know why I couldn’t tell anyone. Those kids would never admit to what they had done to her, what they were planning on doing. They’d all stick together and pin it on me. And I was the last person seen with her before she disappeared. Imagine how that would’ve looked. I could’ve gone to jail. I’m eighteen. The worst that coulda happened to those guys was that they’d get sent to juvey—and that would never happen ’cause their parents wouldn’t let it. Plus, Cordelia swore me to secrecy.”

  “What did she say to you?” Maddie asked, her curiosity growing with every word he uttered.

  “Well,” he said, scratching the side of his face. “I gave her my coat—man, she was freezing—and helped clean her up a bit. Luckily, I had some blankets and a first aid kit in my dad’s boat. She was beat up bad. We took the boat back to the mainland. She was still bleeding pretty bad, so I wanted to walk her home or take her to Bell Hospital. I told her to go to the police, and she said that she had other plans for the kids that did this to her. She never told me what she wanted to do. Cordelia was probably right about not going to the police because they wouldn’t have listened to her. Hell, those Hawthorne Academy kids have parents that practically own this town. They’re not going to care about a girl like Cordelia.”

  Maddie nodded and waited for him to continue.

  “I asked her why she went along with the whole ritual thing in the first place. She told me that they gave her an ultimatum at the start. It was either gonna be you or her going down that night.”

  Maddie inhaled painfully.

  She saved me, Maddie realized, tears streaming down her face. Cordelia sacrificed herself for me. An intense rainstorm kicked up outside. A streak of lightning lit the darkness, followed closely by an earthshaking boom of thunder.

  “Maddie,” Finn said, his voice rising to be heard over the heavy rains that echoed off the roof, “she knew that you weren’t strong enough to take whatever crap they had in store. Plus, she didn’t want to be responsible for you getting hurt. She couldn’t live with that. And she figured that whatever they had planned, she could take it.”

  Maddie nodded, tears spilling down her face. “And that was the last time you saw her?”

  “I was going to walk her home. But she said she had some unfinished business to attend to. She had someone she needed to talk to.” Finn stopped talking and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing sharply. “Now, this is something I have regretted until this day. Probably gonna regret it the rest of my goddamned life. I never should have let her walk home alone. But I was an idiot. I was scared of a guy like me walking a girl home looking the way Cordelia did—like she’d been to hell and back. Plus, I was still carrying the gun I’d stolen from my dad. How do you think that would look if we were stopped by anyone? A punk kid like me with a beautiful girl like Cordelia, all cut up and shit. I mean, what if Cordelia tried to pin the blame on me for some reason?”

  “She wouldn’t have done that,” Maddie offered quietly.

  “I know,” he said in a strained voice, almost quivering. “And that’s what gets me. That maybe she’d be here if I’d only…” Finn’s voice trailed off. He shook his head as if willing the surge of emotions away. His voice cracked when he said softly, “I really loved her. And instead of protecting her, I spent my time writing her sappy letters like some love sick puppy. I should have known better. I should have watched out for her. I-I,” he said with growing anger as he punched the wall, cursing loudly.

  Maddie wanted to tell him that she was sorry for suspecting him and
that she shared his overwhelming sense of loss. But words just didn’t seem like enough. Finn was the one who wrote all those beautiful letters to Cordelia. It was all making sense. Maddie suddenly wondered if he knew about the pregnancy. Was the baby his?

  “How close were you exactly? I mean, did you know—did she say anything about…?” Maddie’s voice trailed off. What exactly was the etiquette for asking a guy if he’s the father of an unborn child that may or may not still be alive?

  Finn abruptly turned and punched the wall, “Dammit!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the barren hallways. He regained his composure and turned to Maddie, tears flooding his eyes, “Tell me that I might be a dad? Yeah, she mentioned that. She wasn’t sure. If she had told me before that night out on Misery Island, there’s no way I would have let her go out there at all.” He shook his head emphatically, “No way, man. No way would I have let her go through that shit.” He was silent for a moment.

  Maddie was confused. If Finn was the father of the child, why did Reed give Cordelia money for the abortion? And how could Abigail possibly even know about that?

  “Anyway, she told me if there were ever consequences from that night…that I should get you out of town fast. That’s why I wrote all those notes to you. When Cordelia disappeared, I figured that whoever took her would be coming for you next. Cordelia had this weird way of knowing that something bad was going to happen. I just wish…I wish I had known at the time—then I…I…well,” he choked on his words with sobs coming from deep within his chest.

  Maddie lunged forward and clasped Finn tightly in her arms. Both of their faces were wet with tears. He squeezed her into his chest, and she listened to the strong beat of his heart mixed with the sound of his ragged breath.

  She pulled back and said gently, “Finn, you know you were a suspect. You were put down in the police reports as the last person to see her. Why didn’t you tell them any of this?”

  He looked at her fiercely. “I never talked to any of the police—I was never questioned. How do they know I was the last person to see her? Who could have known that?”

  She shook her head, not knowing what to say to him.

  He laughed a short, curt laugh. “I’ll bet one of those asshole Hawthorne guys set me up. They wanted to cover their own asses if Cordelia ever came forward. They’re probably the ones who made sure that she couldn’t report anything on her own.” He punched the wall. “If they hurt her—if I could have protected her…if only I hadn’t been such an idiot and made sure that she got home okay. Damn it!”

  “You saved her, Finn. No matter what happened to her that night, you were her savior. You have to remember that always,” Maddie said, placing a hand on his damp cheek.

  “And YOU KILLED HER!” shrieked a voice from above where they were standing.

  They both looked up, and there inside the steel cage of the staircase was Rebecca, illuminated briefly by a flash of lightning from the storm outside. Her hair was wild and ragged, and a dirty nightdress clung to her thin frame.

  Maddie wasn’t sure how long Rebecca had been listening to them, but her face appeared shiny and slick with tears.

  Maddie grabbed the flashlight out of Finn’s hands and aimed it at Rebecca. “You killed my baby! You all did!” Rebecca screamed, digging her fingers into the steel mesh that caged the stairwell and shaking it so hard that debris and dust took flight into the musty air around them. “I knew that those girls were evil! I warned you!!”

  Then she turned and ran up the staircase, her footsteps echoing as she fled away from them down the hallway. Finn and Maddie raced toward the steel cage. Finn fumbled with his keys.

  “Hurry up,” Maddie yelled. “We’re going to lose her.”

  “I’m trying, hold on!”

  He spun the key in the lock, and the door screeched open. They ran up the stairs, following the demonic sounds of Rebecca’s screams.

  Chapter 28

  WUNJO REVERSED

  SORROW

  A Time of Sorrow, Strife, and Raging Frenzy

  Finn and Maddie raced, climbed, and stumbled through the decrepit maze of Ravenswood. The rumors of it being haunted seemed more real than ever—it was alive with a buzzing electricity she’d never experienced. The walls seemed to be moving, breathing, churning with energy. Instead of fearing it, however, Maddie was channeling it to propel her forward.

  They finally caught up with Rebecca in one of the turrets of the sprawling madhouse. The rain-soaked winds swarmed into the cavernous room through the smashed blue-black glass of the window frames.

  “Rebecca, please,” Maddie begged her aunt, “don’t do anything dangerous. We’re here to help you. We want to bring you home.”

  Rebecca stared at her, her eyes flat and lifeless.

  “Home? I don’t have a home anymore. Cordelia was my home, and now that she’s gone, I have nothing!” Tears streamed down her face as she hissed, “Do you have any idea of the evil that was unleashed on that island? You’ve cursed us all. Cordelia is gone, and now I have to go to her.”

  “What do you mean cursed? How are you going to go to her? Rebecca, do you know where Cordelia is?” Maddie wanted to keep her aunt talking until she could figure out how to get them all safely out of Ravenswood.

  Rebecca’s mouth gaped open, and she let out a maniacal laugh. “Do I know? DO I KNOW? What do you think, Maddie?? I knew all along that those girls were somehow responsible, but I just couldn’t believe that you were a part of it. I didn’t know about the island and the black magic that took place out there. I warned you! I warned Cordelia! And she did it all to save you—to take care of you! How could you let this happen to her?”

  “I swear I didn’t know that any of this would happen,” Maddie cried. Finn backed slowly out of the room, Maddie kept her eyes on Rebecca, trying to keep her talking. And considering that no one had heard the woman speak in months, she was certainly making up for lost time. Please, Finn, go get help, she silently willed. “Rebecca, I had nothing to do with Cordelia’s disappearance—or that black magic or whatever you call it. I promise you.”

  “LIAR!” Rebecca wailed. “I found these, and they told me the truth. These belonged to Cordelia. She never went anywhere without them. They kept her safe. Safe from people like you!” Rebecca held up the same rune stones that she had hurled at Maddie during her visit to Ravenswood.

  “Those aren’t Cordelia’s. You sold them in the store, remember? You had lots of them. It doesn’t mean anything,” Maddie explained. “And the things that happened on the island…I thought it was just a silly ritual. But it got out of hand. Yes, those girls were horrible to Cordelia—and I’m ashamed that I did nothing to stop it—but they didn’t make her disappear.”

  Maddie stepped closer to Rebecca.

  “Rebecca, you need to listen to me.”

  “No!” screamed Rebecca and in a flash she was perched at the edge of the open window. “You all must pay for this. I need to find Cordelia, bring her home. She was cursed on that island. Our family has been cursed. She had no choice but to leave, and now she’ll never return. Never! And it is all your fault!”

  “Madeline had nothing to do with it, Rebecca,” a voice said from behind them.

  Maddie spun around quickly, shocked to see her mother standing in the doorway. Abigail stepped slowly into the room, careful not to excite Rebecca any further.

  “Maddie had nothing to do with Cordelia’s disappearance. It was all my doing.”

  “Mother, what are you saying?” Maddie hissed incredulously.

  “I’m saying that it is my fault that Cordelia’s gone,” Abigail said stoicly. “There is no one to blame but me.”

  Maddie looked back and forth between the two sisters, her mentally disturbed aunt and her secretive mother. She noticed Finn edging back into the room from one of the arched corners, entering through a hidden passageway. Maddie noticed him shoving his cell phone into his jacket pocket, but didn’t want to call any attention to him.

  “I
knew it,” growled Rebecca. “I knew that you were the reason for Cordelia’s disappearance. I’ll make you all pay for this.”

  “Rebecca,” her mother snapped, “keep Maddie out of this. She doesn’t know anything about what happened. She never did. It’s all my fault. I’m the one who should be punished, not Madeline.”

  “Why?” Rebecca shrieked. “Why did you do it?”

  Maddie was becoming more and more confused.

  My mother killed Cordelia? Madeline thought incredulously.

  “How? I—I don’t understand,” Maddie whispered, afraid of her mother aggravating the situation any further, terrified of what Rebecca would do if she became more agitated.

  “I’m saying,” Abigail said as she strode past Maddie toward her sister, “that it’s my fault that Cordelia’s gone. It wasn’t intentional. At least that’s what I’ve told myself again and again. I made a mistake, but then again, we all are guilty of making mistakes, aren’t we, Rebecca?” She paused for a moment. “I’ve had to live with my actions. If you are looking for someone to punish, to blame, to hate, then hate me, Rebecca.”

  Rebecca fell down off the window frame to the floor in a mass of sobs and howls. “Why?” she cried again and again. “How?”

  Maddie watched her mother in horror. It just couldn’t be possible.

  “I think you should start explaining, Mrs. Crane,” Finn said, moving out from the shadows and over to Maddie’s side. “Not only to us, but to the police as well. I called them earlier. It’s only a matter of time before they arrive.”

  Abigail no longer paid any attention to Finn or Maddie; she was confessing her sins to her older sister, seeking forgiveness by finally speaking about her actions.

  “There were so many reasons, Rebecca. You knew that I didn’t want you back here. Hawthorne is my home. You left it behind and created a life far from here. But, you see, I never wanted anything but this town, this life. And then, all of a sudden, you’re back—you and Cordelia. Don’t you think I heard what the people in town said about you, how they looked at you? Didn’t you ever once think about how you and your wild daughter’s actions would reflect on me, on my life, my reputation?”