On Christmas, Melinda received a sketch pad and she considers “...almost [telling] them right then and there… I’m sure they suspect I was at the party. Maybe they even heard about me calling the cops. But I want to tell them everything as we sit there...When I was stuck at home that night, they weren’t in the house. Both cars were gone. I was supposed to have been at Rachel’s all night long- they weren’t expecting me, that’s for sure. I showered until the hot water was gone, then I crawled in bed and did not sleep… They leave the room” (72). The use of foreshadowing in this section, indicates that a traumatic event has occurred, but she has not yet brought it forward to the readers or other characters in the story. Doing this, readers can
