The Ravine by Robert Pascuzzi Page A

a sound she had never heard before. She stared straight ahead and abruptly stopped crying. She put the receiver back in the cradle, and calmly walked to the steps leading to the upstairs bedrooms. She had an overwhelming desire to hold the high school photo of Rachel and her that was sitting on her dresser.
The one where Rachel is planting a kiss right on my cheek
, she thought.
We always get a big laugh out of that!
    She felt Rachel’s presence and pictured her wide eyes and welcoming smile that first day. “You look like you could use a partner. I’m Rachel. What’s your name?” Like a little girl reciting a rhyme, with each step she climbed, she repeated out loud: “I’m Rachel.”
Step
. “What’s your name?”
Step
.
    She bargained with God to let this chant reverse what had happened and wake her from this nightmare. However, the instant she touched the photograph, the brutal reality consumed her and she collapsed on the bed.

    Mitch had just walked into a meeting with a client who had travelled from Oregon to meet with him and his team. Mitch would lead the pitch about why he should select Xanadu Architects, Inc., to design his new chain of organic food supermarkets, which hoped to compete with Whole Foods. This account presented many challenges, but could be quite lucrative if the idea took off. The client was interviewing several firms and made it clear he could devote only one hour to meeting withXAI because he had a plane to catch. He appeared tired, bored, grumpy, and impatient—just the sort of challenge Mitch relished.
    At the outset of Mitch’s presentation, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket, but chose to ignore it. A minute later, just as he was launching into the second slide, it buzzed again, and he ignored it again. The client was already starting to look antsy and Mitch couldn’t risk losing his rhythm once he got his mojo working. He was just starting to get to the part about why their unique mix of creativity and practicality would be a perfect fit for this project when his phone rumbled again. Now he was concerned, so he asked a colleague to take over the presentation. The client made sure Mitch noticed he was annoyed as he excused himself and stepped outside the glass-walled office to check his phone.
    His father-in-law, Joe, had called three times. That wasn’t like him, so Mitch guessed something important must be happening. Joe picked up on the first ring and got right to the point.
    “Mitch, you had better go home right now. Mom’s over at the house with Carolyn, and she is not doing well.”
    “What? What is it? Did something happen to one of the kids?” Mitch felt panic about to set in.
    “No, son, but there has been a terrible tragedy with your friends Danny and Rachel, and Carolyn is going to need all the support she can get.”
    When Joe told him the details, Mitch ran to his office, grabbed his car keys, shouted to his assistant that he would be gone for the rest of the day, and headed out of Cleveland in a complete state of confusion. Danny, Rachel, and Evan all dead? Danny killed them all, and then killed himself? What in God’s name could have happened? He knew Danny was struggling with some financial issues, and that Rachel had caught him cheating, but that was a few years ago, and they had seemed fine the last time they had dinner together up at Johnny’s.
    He slowed down a bit on I-91, after he cut off a semi driver who blasted his horn. He realized he wasn’t thinking straight in his desperation to get home. He was upset, but he knew that Carolyn must be devastated. He couldn’t imagine how she had taken the news, and he feared that his wife would never recover. Then his thoughts went to Christopher.
Oh, my God, that poor little boy was left in his house alone. Who knows what he witnessed, before his father abandoned him to the horror he created?
    For the first time, the enormity of the situation enveloped Mitch, and he banged the steering wheel and