Chapter 14
By Erin

Summary

Lindsey cases George Harvey’s house. She is also training for soccer tryouts: hoping to be the first girl to make the all boys team. She uses her runs to examine Mr. Harvey’s house. Mr. Harvey notices her watching and begins to get nervous. Harvey remembers previous towns and previous victims, as well as previous lies he’s told to families, and strangers and police. He uses his latest victim (from his last town) as the basis for his now dead wife, gaining pity as a widower.

During a run with the soccer team a few days later, Lindsey watches Mr. Harvey leave his house, as he does daily. On the next lap Lindsey fakes a cramp and makes her move. She runs to a basement window and tries to open it. Since it’s locked, she rolls her sweatshirt around her feet and kicks it with both feet until it smashes. She climbs into the basement, and despite the creepy feeling there, continues up the stairs. As neighbors, Mr. Harvey’s house and the Salmon’s are nearly identical, and childhood memories of Susie flood Lindsey as she creeps through the house. Susie is trying to guide Lindsey through the house, but her efforts are making Lindsey dizzy. Lindsey’s presence in Harvey’s house also affects Susie, and she is flooded with information about Harvey’s past victims: their names, their ages (youngest 6, oldest 49) and the year they were each killed. Lindsey continues to search the house, in Harvey’s bedroom (the same room in the Salmon house that was Susie’s bedroom) she finds a sketchbook, and (as Mr. Harvey pulls into the driveway) on the final page is a drawing of a room and the caption “Stolfuz cornfield”. Lindsey realizes this is where Susie died and tears out the page. Downstairs Mr. Harvey is in the kitchen getting food, and hears a floorboard creak. He hears another and runs up the stairs, while Lindsey opens the bedroom window, kicks out the screen and rolls off the roof. She hits the ground as Mr. Harvey reaches the room, and he watches as she runs away.

Memorable Quotes

Mrs. Salmon: “No one seems to realize that we have a family. We have a family, a family and a son, and I’m going”.

“Each time I told my story, I lost a bit, the smallest drop of pain. It was the day that I knew I wanted to tell the story of my family. Because horror on Earth is real and it is every day.”

Questions

If Lindsey didn’t believe her father about Harvey, why do you think she broke into his house?

Do you think we can really effect the loved ones we’ve lost as much as they effect us after they’re gone?

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