but ellie had fallen on the stairs and kirsten had plunged down them , her eyes wide open , full of shocked surprise , ralph did n't think she 'd known what was happening , and if he could hold onto anything he would hold onto that , that it had all happened too fast for her to have any real idea , and then she had hit , she had cartwheeled , feet flying first upward and then backward , and there had been this sound , this awful sound like a branch breaking under a weight of ice , and suddenly everything about her had changed , he had seen the change even before she came to a stop at the foot of the stairs , as if that were no little girl down there but a stuffed dummy , headpiece full of straw .