The Girl Behind the Glass Read online

  Mildred didn’t answer. She couldn’t admit what she had done.

  The wind blew. A leaf tore loose and whirled past Mildred’s face. Of course she ignored it. She let Emily lead her back.

  Mrs. Zimmer came out of the house. “I thought I recognized the car.”

  Emily introduced everybody to each other—except of course me.

  “I’d invite you in, but we’re just here to pick up a few things,” Mrs. Zimmer said.

  “I’m glad to see you took my advice. We’re leaving too. Come on, Lydia, help your great-grandmother,” Emily said.

  Lydia took Mildred’s arm and walked toward the car.

  Hannah and Anna came out of the house. Hannah was holding my book. She carried it over to Mildred. As she walked, loose pages fluttered to the ground.

  “What’s this? I can’t see. What book is it?” Mildred said.

  “The Bastable children. The Story of the Treasure Seekers,” Hannah said.

  Mildred covered her mouth with her hand. She thought, Ruthie. She said nothing. She touched the book with a bent finger. “Where did you find it?”

  “In the attic under the floorboards. Ruth told me where it was,” Hannah said.

  Emily turned to Mildred. She expected that Mildred would put a stop to this. But Mildred had turned white and dropped her cane.

  “How did you know her name?” Mildred said.

  “She told me,” Hannah said.

  Emily picked up the cane and took Mildred’s arm. “My grandmother is a very old lady. Please don’t upset her any more.”

  Mildred shook off Emily’s hand. “The girl is right. My sister’s name is Ruth.”

  Emily’s mouth dropped open. Ha! Too bad she didn’t swallow a bug. “How could I know? You never said.”

  “Nobody talks to each other in this family because nobody listens,” Mildred said.

  Then an amazing thing happened. Emily did listen. In fact, everybody stood there for a whole minute trying to hear me.

  “Is she talking to you now?” Mildred said.

  Yes.

  Hannah nodded.

  “I can’t hear anything,” Lydia said.

  “Can you hear her too?” Mildred said to Anna.

  “Not as well as Hannah. But I have heard her. That’s how I knew Hannah was drowning in the swamp,” Anna said.

  Mildred pressed her lips into a line. She stroked the chewed edge of the book. “Did Ruthie tell you about the … accident?”

  Accident? Oops, I dropped the gravy boat. Oops, I spilled the milk. Oops, I tore the page in your movie magazine.

  A wind blew up Mildred’s skirt. Her underwear was shocking and she knew it. She frantically beat at her skirt, trying to make it go down.

  “Stop it, Ruth!” Mildred shook her fist at the sky. “You always were a pesky brat. Being dead hasn’t made you into a better person.”

  You’re still selfish and vain and cruel.

  “Cruel?” Hannah said.

  “Is she talking to you?” Mildred said.

  Hannah nodded.

  “Talk to me. Why won’t she talk to me?” Lydia said.

  So I did. I went right to her and said, Shush.

  Her eyes got wide and she put her hand over her ear. And she shushed.

  “What happened to Ruth?” Hannah said.

  “Did she drown?” Anna said.

  “Over there?” Hannah pointed to the yellow grass.

  Mildred nodded. Tears rimmed her eyes. “It really was an accident, Ruthie.”

  It wasn’t an accident. It was Mildred’s fault. Did she hear that? No. She never listened to me—alive or dead.

  “Then what about Lieutenant Maplethorpe?” Hannah said.

  “You know about him too?” Mildred said.

  “Not much,” Hannah said.

  “His family lived on the far side of the pond in a splendid house. After the war, the lieutenant wasn’t quite right. Years later, he thought he was still on the front lines. He kept defending his property.”

  Pacing back and forth and back and forth.

  “Mother and Father always told us just to leave him alone. Do not go on his land. Do not go near the pond. Do not go past the ditch.”

  Everybody turned to look at it. Mildred plucked at her skirt.

  “I’ve never talked about this. We weren’t supposed to. The Maplethorpes were a powerful family. Their son was a war hero. When they said it was an accident, we couldn’t argue. We moved away. We had to.”

  You left me.

  “I felt so bad. But Ruthie was already dead. She couldn’t be hurt anymore.”

  Everybody thinks the dead have no feelings. They’re wrong. The dead are nothing but feelings. They have no bodies to be comforted.

  “She is hurt,” Hannah said.

  “Could you tell her I’m sorry?” Mildred said.

  What good is being sorry?

  “You can tell her. She’s listening,” Hannah said.

  No, I wasn’t. What was the point? It wouldn’t change anything.

  “I’m sorry for what I said,” Mildred said.

  “What did you say?” Hannah said.

  “I was over there with the Andrews boy.” She pointed with her cane to the far side of the pond. “We came out here to get away from her. She had already cut up all my dresses, including the one I was going to wear to the dance that night. And she came sneaking around the other side of the pond. Spying on us.”

  You told the soldier I was there. You said, “Enemy approaching.”

  “You called her the enemy,” Hannah said.

  “No, no. He was the enemy. I was trying to warn Ruth about him.”

  She was lying.

  “He was sneaking up on her. He had this stick he thought was a gun. He hit her in the head. She fell into the pond. Right about where that red tree is.”

  Everybody looked at the tree.

  “I ran around the pond as fast as I could. I waded out to her. Her hands were clutching the weeds. I couldn’t pull her up. I was too late to save her.”

  Hannah put her arms around Anna.

  “If only Father had let us learn how to swim,” Mildred said.

  I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say.

  “Ruthie? Can you hear me? I’m so sorry. Can you know that? I’m sure you hated me all these years. Maybe now you won’t quite so much.”

  Tears streamed down her face again. I knew how terrible she had felt all these years. I knew she had suffered too.

  Emily got out the handkerchief. It was still wet from the last round of tears. When Mildred tried to wipe her face, it just smeared the tears around. So I blew gently at my sister’s cheeks.

  When she realized what I was doing, she cried even harder.

  Then I blew her skirt up again. I didn’t want to hang around all day drying tears.

  There had been enough crying.

  They didn’t leave right away. Lydia wanted to see the writing on the closet door. Mildred had to use the bathroom. Everybody sat on the porch steps.

  Now Mildred was eager to tell all kinds of stories. Her memory wasn’t very accurate. She said I had cracked the hall tree mirror, when she was the one who threw her hairbrush at me. Did she think it was my fault because I ducked?

  “Ruthie always had her nose in a book. Usually this one.” Mildred was holding my copy of The Story of the Treasure Seekers.

  “I want to get her a new copy,” Hannah said.

  “One with all the pages,” Anna said.

  They were trying to be nice. They knew they would all be leaving soon. And I wouldn’t.

  It was sad. But I didn’t blame Mildred anymore for what had happened to me. I was glad she had lived long enough for me to see her again. I still didn’t care that much for Emily, but I liked meeting Lydia. She looked more than a little bit like me. I could tell Mildred thought so too.

  I went to my sister. I thought as hard as I could. I’m sorry I hated you.

  Mildred clapped her hands. “You know, I t
hink I heard her that time.”

  “What did she say? I want to hear her again,” Lydia said.

  “It’s a secret between me and my sister.” Mildred turned to Hannah. “Do I have to answer out loud?”

  “No. She reads your thoughts,” Hannah said.

  Just like we do, Anna thought.

  Hannah smiled. She was also glad to have her sister back.

  Mildred thought how much she had missed me all these years.

  And I was happy.

  Suddenly I understood why I had been unable to leave. I would have gone to her with anger. And caused more and more hate.

  That wasn’t the only bad thing I had done.

  Anna and Hannah sat side by side on the steps. They looked like twins again, even though Hannah was a little pale and Anna’s hair still had all those braids. It had been very wrong of me to try to come between them. It had been dangerous too.

  Luckily Anna had been able to listen to me. She had saved her sister. And my sister had tried to save me. I knew that now.

  I felt something get lighter in my heart.

  I blew gently on my sister’s cheek one last time.

  Then I lifted up and soared away from the humans, away from the golden field, and far, far from the house on Hemlock Road.

  I only looked back once, to see the red car drive off. Hannah and Anna stood with their arms around each other, waving.

  Good-bye, good-bye. Thank you for helping me be free.

  I hoped the twins could hear me. I was traveling such a vast distance. And yet I was certain they knew how happy I was. Just like with the story of the Bastables, everything had all come right in the end.

  I soared on and on, through the day, into the night, and beyond the stars.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book wouldn’t exist without the expert guidance of my editor, Shana Corey. I’m also grateful to my agent, Linda Pratt; my husband, Lee; and my daughter, Sofia, for their wonderful advice and support.

  JANE KELLEY is the author of the middle-grade novel Nature Girl. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, her daughter, and a black cat who sometimes cries in the night for no apparent reason. You can visit Jane’s website at JaneKelleyBooks.com.