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She looked hesitantly atin my chest in a way that was alrip on the nasty old bear tightening

I opened up one of the Popsicles—cherry,cold to eat?”

Her gaze went to the alreadyPopsicle and she licked her lips, but she hesitated I thought that was incredibly se “I …”

I took a few steps closer and sat down on the dry grass beside her “Here, it’s good Cherry is the best flavor in the box”

Little fingers latched onto the stick, and I noticed that they trembled a little as she took the cold treat from me As she lifted the Popsicle to her lips, I saw the first bruise It was big, or maybe it was just because her ar The bruise was all kinds of colors starting with dark blue on the outside and ending with a yellow-green in the h it had to be at least a week old

I could tell how old the bruise was easily enough I had spent years with those same bruises all overon me My birth mother had sat back and let him have his fun For a while, even after she had killed herself, I had thought she enjoyed watching her only kid being smacked around for sport It wasn’t until her sister—the woman I felt was my true mother—had come into my life that I had realized that my birth mother had probably just been happy that the old bastard wasn’t using her as the punching bag

“My nahts of her being hit like I once had been filled my mind “What’s yours?”

“E-ember”

“That’s a cool na to let her see that I was harmless I would never hurt anyone the way I had been hurt, especially this little baby “How old are you?”

She held up her left hand “Five,” she said before biting into the Popsicle

“I’m fifteen” I opened the second Popsicle and bit it in half Orange wasn’t my favorite, but it would do “When did you move in?” I hadn’t seen her before, and the trailer beside mine hadn’t been rented out in a while I could hear movement inside the beat up home on wheels, so assumed her parents were in there

“Thisbite of the sweet treat “We used to live in West Virginia, but Momma said we had to move”

I couldn’t help but sone When her gaze went to my half-finished Popsicle, I quickly offered it over “Here, take it” I wiped ers on my jeans “I don’t want it anyway,” I lied

Midnight Caller