Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 119746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
“It’s Lainey’s,” I say, my voice barely audible. “Her journal.”
Jensen crouches beside me, his shoulder pressing against mine as he shines the light closer. “What else is in there?”
I set the journal aside momentarily, carefully extracting the plastic-protected documents. Birth certificates. Death records. Adoption papers yellowed with age. All connected to one name: Josephine McAlister.
“Those look familiar,” Jensen says. “She had those on her. Research. Proof.”
I start paging through them in disbelief. Everything she collected about the McAlisters, about Josephine. The connection to our family.
One document in particular catches my eye—a copy of an adoption record from 1847, for an infant named Josephine, her birth parents listed as Thomas and Amelia McAlister, both deceased. The adoptive family’s name is partially obscured by water damage, but enough remains visible: Wells.
“She was right,” I whisper, the truth I’ve been avoiding since Jensen first told me about my possible connection to the Donner Party now irrefutable in my hands. “We are descendants of Josephine McAlister.”
“Keep looking,” Jensen urges, his voice gentle despite the tension thrumming through both of us.
With trembling hands, I return to Lainey’s journal, opening to the first entry dated nearly four years ago.
March 15, 2021
Found something incredible today. Birth records for Josephine McAlister showing she was adopted after the Donner tragedy. The family name matches ours—Wells. Could be coincidence, but my gut says no. This is the connection I’ve been searching for, the reason the mountains have always called to me.
I flip forward through the pages, watching my sister’s journey unfold through her own words.
May 3, 2021
Mom knew. She must have. All those stories she told us about the hunger, about the thing in her blood that was passed down through generations. I always thought it was the schizophrenia talking, but what if it wasn’t? What if she was trying to warn us?
July 18, 2021
Adam thinks I’m obsessing too much. Says I need to let this go. He doesn’t understand. How could he? This isn’t his family, his blood. He hasn’t felt the mountains calling like I have, hasn’t had the dreams of snow and hunger his whole life.
My heart constricts as I recognize the pattern unfolding in these pages. Lainey’s growing obsession. Adam’s attempts to control her. The same toxic dynamic I’d witnessed in the brief times they’d been together at my apartment, but worse than I’d realized.
September 2, 2021
Adam took the car keys. Says I need a “break” from my research. As if he gets to decide what I need. As if he owns me. I may have to tell him what he wants to hear for a while. Play along. Make him think he’s won. It’s the only way I’ll get the chance to continue.
“Jesus,” I mutter, anger flaring hot in my chest. “He was isolating her, controlling her. Classic abuser tactics.”
I continue turning pages, watching my sister’s descent into obsession and Adam’s escalating attempts to stop her.
January 10, 2022
The dreams are getting worse. More vivid. I can taste blood in my mouth when I wake up. I’m starting to understand what Mom meant about the hunger. It’s not just a metaphor or a delusion. It’s real. It’s in our blood, passed down through generations, dormant until something wakes it. Something in these mountains is calling to me, Aubrey. I wish I could tell you. I wish you could understand. But I need to protect you from this. From becoming like me. Like Mom.
My name jumps off the page, sending a shock through my system. Lainey had been writing to me all along, leaving these words knowing—or hoping—I would find them someday.
March 5, 2022
Adam caught me packing. Big fight. He hit me for the first time. Said he wouldn’t let me destroy myself with this “crazy obsession.” Said if I loved him, I’d stop. I told him I’m going to the mountains with or without him. Something in him changed when I said that. He got very quiet, then said if I’m determined to go, he’s coming too. “To protect me from myself,” he said. But the look in his eyes scared me more than his anger.
April 22, 2022
Found someone who might help us. A guide named Jensen McGraw who knows the mountains better than anyone. Adam doesn’t trust him, but I do. Jensen has his own connection to these mountains—I can see it in his eyes. He understands there are things here beyond ordinary explanation. Tomorrow we head up to search the area where the McAlisters were supposed to have lived. Where Josephine was born in blood and hunger. Where it all began.
I glance at Jensen, who meets my gaze steadily despite the pain evident in his eyes. “She trusted you,” I say softly.
“And I failed her,” he replies, voice rough with emotion.
“You couldn’t have known what was waiting up here.” I turn back to the journal, to the final pages, my heart racing with dread at what I might find.