Chapter Seven

Quinn shivered in her canopied bed. The mattress was so lumpy, she couldn't relax, and she couldn't find her blanket. Daria must have snuck in my room, stolen my blankets, and put rocks under my mattress, again! Just because I drew some pictures in one of her dumb books. Wait till I tell mom!

Quinn yawned, her stiff fingers pulling up the sheets, which made a strange crackling noise. Her pillow felt hard and flat, too. Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense, Daria hasn't done that trick in years, not since we were just little kids, back in Highland! She's not even here right now, she's in college, back in Boston. We went to the Mall of the Millennium to buy Christmas presents, and...

Quinn's eyes popped open, looking up at the bare rafters of the snowbound cabin, and she raised herself on her elbows. She and Stacy were snuggled in on either side of a motionless Sandi. Only the visible rise and fall of her chest under her sweater showed she was alive. The three girls had all had old newspapers laid on top of them, with folded newspapers serving as pillows under their heads.

There was no sign of Tiffany, but Quinn noticed the pile of scrap wood next to the stove was bigger than it had been earlier, with broken pieces of wood from the shed outside in the pile. There was another pile of wood by the backdoor that was in wet, frozen chunks. Quinn guessed it was from the pile just outside the back door. She could hear a dull thumping from outside. The back door creaked open, and Tiffany staggered inside, limping, her arms full of wet wood, wearing Quinn's gloves. She carefully placed the wood down on the pile already there, visibly trying to be quiet. Trembling, limping painfully, she closed the back door, placing a thick wooden bar in it's holder to keep it shut. Quinn hadn't even noticed this old fashion type of door lock, earlier.

Smiling wanly at Quinn as she sat up on the floor, Tiffany sank down gratefully on a bench. Her shoes, and the legs of her slacks were soaked and dirty. The arms and front of her light, white jacket was wet too, covered with pieces of damp wood, and mud. Quinn had never seen the elegant Tiffany looking so, well, dirty. Felling a gnawing ache deep in her stomach from her hunger, Quinn quietly got to her feet, and walked over to sit down besides her.

Quinn whispered, "Tiffany! You've been working so hard, just rest a minute! How come you didn't wake up Stacy or me to help you?"

Tiffany whispered back, glancing at Stacy and Sandi, still curled up on the floor. "I just couldn't, Quinn. You and Stacy were so tired when you came back, and I felt so bad about scaring Stacy, that I just had to let you rest! I've tried calling out on all our cell phones, too, but I st-ill can't get a signal out. But I got all the wood I could find for tonight, and it's almost sundown..."

"Sundown! We've got to..."Quinn blurted out, before she glanced at Sandi.

Tiffany shook her head."No, I've been listening, and looking outside a lot, and I haven't heard any people at all. But if you need to use the bathroom, or do anything outside, you'd better do it before it gets dark."

Hearing the concern in Tiffany's voice Quinn looked closely at her friend. There was a deep fear in Tiffany's eyes. "Why, Tiffany, did something happen while you were here today, alone with Sandi?"

Tiffany just stared at the floor. "Quinn, touch Sandi's stomach, just under her bellybutton."

Quinn looked at Tiffany in confusion, then walked over and knelt by Sandi. Reaching out her hand, she lightly touched Sandi's stomach. She jerked back, holding her hand with a cry, staring at her numb fingers, then fell back on the floor with a thump. Still staring at Sandi, Quinn got up, walking back to Tiffany, who still just stared at the floor.

Tiffany said,"I thought she might have that, you know, appendages, thing, broke open, you know? It happened to my mom, and they had to rush her to the hospital. That would have given her a fever, and cramps. But it's cold, like ice! How can that be inside her, Quinn?"

Quinn shivered, struggling to hold down a burst of raw panic. Stacy's strange behavior came back to her, and she clamped her mouth shut. If she told Tiffany about that, she would probably run screaming out the front door, next.

Sighing, she said, "I don't know, Tiffany, I just don't know, but we won't be here much longer. You know our mom's are probably terrorizing the police right now, I know my mom is!"

Tiffany sighed, "your mom, sure, my mom, and Stacy's mom, you mean."

Quinn was stunned to see tears running down Tiffany's face. She knelt in front of her, holding her cold, limp hands. "Tiffany! Don't cry, it'll be all right, we'll make it through this!"

Tiffany sniffled, her head still bent low. "It's not just that, Quinn, "she said in a dull monotone, 'look at Sandi's arms and legs, too."

Quinn looked down at Tiffany, then crossed back over to Sandi, and kneeling down, pulled Sandi's sweeter sleeve up her arm and gasped. Sandi's arm were covered with bruises. Checking Sandi's arms and legs revealed the same battered state. Tears ran down Quinn's own face as she hesitated, then pulled up Sandi's sweater. Bruises covered her ribs as well.

"What is all this, Tiffany?" Quinn said in a small, quiet voice.

Tiffany dully answered, "You know that Sandi has been having a lot of fights with her mother, right?"

Quinn said, her eyes still on the limp Sandi, "Her mom did this?"

Tiffany nodded, "And her brothers. Sandi and her mom had been arguing at the top of the stairs in their house, you know? Sandi turned away from her mom, and Linda shouted, "Don't you dare turn your back on me!" Sandi turned, but fell down the stairs, like she did before. She didn't break her leg this time, but she got really bruised. Linda just stared down at her, and called Sandi's dad, Tom, to take care of his daughter. Sandi was all bruised, but okay otherwise. Her brothers have always been rough with her, but once they found out that Linda didn't care what happened to Sandi, it got a lot worse."

"Why, Tiffany? Why were they fighting so much?"

"You, and your mom, Quinn."

"What?"

"Linda has always been really pushy, you know? She and your mom competed for the presidency of the Lawndale Businesswomen's Association, and she won. When she found out Sandi had invited you to be in the Fashion Club, Linda hit the roof. She calmed down when you and Sandi were fighting all the time, but things got worse when the Club dissolved, and you were still friends. Linda would never say anything to you, and her brothers thought by hurting her, they got even with their bossy sister, and you might approve. Linda got mad over how bad Sandi was doing in school, too. She's been saying that the only thing Sandi can do right is dress herself."

Tiffany looked up at Quinn, her eyes still brimming with tears. "I found out about this by accident. I didn't know how bad she was until I saw her arms a little while ago. My mom's really nice, Quinn! She'd never do something like this to me. Mr's Rowe is as sweet as Stacy is, you can see why she is the way she is. I know you've had fight's with Daria, but she's never bruised you, and your mom is really nice, and..' her voice trailed off

Quinn just stared down at Sandi. Little bits and pieces were coming together in her head. Sandi's dad getting quieter and quieter, her brothers being more and more pushy, her mom speaking less

and less, their never meeting at Sandi's house anymore. Sandi had worn slacks for several weeks now, never a dress, and hardly dated at all, anymore.

And now they were trapped in a cabin, miles from anywhere. Nobody knew where they were, they didn't have any food, they couldn't call out. Something was inside Sandi's battered, abused, body, and maybe in Stacy, too, something strange, even spooky. And she was in charge, Quinn Louise Morgendorffer, "the pseudo intellectual poser, with accessories from the street fair" as Daria had once called her.

Sandi had been really trying with her studies, too, trying to catch up with Quinn and Stacy. She would catch herself falling back into her old "As President of the Fashion Club", tone, and deliberately catch herself, cut herself down, turn it into a joke. And all this had been happening. And Sandi hadn't said a word.

Quinn stood up and stretched. "Let's wake up Stacy and Sandi. I don't want to go outside after dark either in this place. Please don't say anything to Stacy. You know how proud Sandi is, she'll be embarrassed. She'll probably need help getting outside, too, and using the bathroom."

Tiffany made a face, her sadness momentarily lifting, "Eww, Quinn, I can't believe you said that. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman!"

"Tiffany, you watch the strangest things on tv."