The Suffering [Paperback]

<p>Breathtaking and haunting, Rin Chupeco's second novel is a chilling companion to her debut, <em>The Girl from the Well</em>.</p><p><strong>The darkness will find you. </strong></p><p>Seventeen-year-old Tark knows what it is to be powerless. But Okiku changed that. A restless spirit who ended life as a victim and started death as an avenger, she's groomed Tark to destroy the wicked. But when darkness pulls them deep into Aokigahara, known as Japan's suicide forest, Okiku's justice becomes blurred, and Tark is the one who will pay the price...</p><p><strong>Chapter One</strong></p><p>Tag </p><p>I'm no hero, believe me. I've never rescued babies from burning buildings. I've never volunteered to save humpback whales or the rain forest. I've never been to protest rallies, fed the hungry in Africa, or righted any of the eighty thousand things that are wrong with the world these days. Heroism isn't a trait commonly found in teenage boys.</p><p>Stupidity though? We've got that in spades.</p><p>Stupidity is why I'm huddled behind a large sofa bed, underneath a heavy blanket, drenched in my own sweat despite the AC humming in what is otherwise silence. The television is tuned to the least scary show I could find: a Jersey Shore rerun-horrifying in its own way, but not in the way that matters, which is the most important thing. I stare at the TV screen-and not because I'm eagerly awaiting Snooki's next freak-out. I watch the screen because I want to know when it's coming to find me.</p><p>Earlier this evening, I'd taken a raggedy-looking doll-its cotton stuffing already scooped out-and replaced it with uncooked rice and a few fingernail clippings. And I'd sewed it up with red thread. When you've done this as many times as I have, sewing becomes as good a weapon as any. Then I waited for three a.m. to roll around befol˜