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"I am not in love with anyone," I repeated
"Be sure and letabout that, okay?" Talley said as she reached over to turn out the light "I would hate to miss another opportunity to say ʻI told you soʼ"
I spent the next few hours tossing and turning, despite the nighttiiven me for my sore butt I have never slept well in a bed other than my oithout Guido, and all the inner-tur the situation
I dozed off for a short ti deeply unsettled Snippets of a dream floated just outside my consciousness All I could remember clearly was Alex, Charlie, ice crea ripped in two
The thin sheets scratched s as I listened to the heaterʼs choleric ruan to close in on er I got up, putting onout the door
The night was silent and beautiful The snow storlittering stars and the bright, full moon that reflected on the pristine newly fallen snow
I spotted the electric glow of a gas station and developed an intense craving for stale snack cakes and super-sweet hot chocolate If I followed the sidewalk to get there I would have to pass in front of Hankʼs Hangout, a bar whose chipped pink paint job was certain to attract only the h the wooded area behind theand the shadows provided by the trees, it wasnʼt until I was a few feet away that I noticed a nized the telltale signs of a street person - multiple layers of dirty clothes, unkempt hair, unwashed skin, and the un up off the ground and was exa about it bothered me
I cautiouslyscattered around the old manʼs feet It looked like some jeans, a shirt, a sweater, and a pair of shoes The ht
The soft, wintery world froze around me Even from a distance I could tell that it was froh ?" I deet those? What have you done to hih to smell a mixture of body odor and alcohol as he disturbed the air
"These things are mine I found them" His words were slurred, but his movements were quick and jerky, like a wild, skittish aniuy hopped up on meth
"Those are Alexʼs clothes Where is he? What did you do to him?" I frantically looked around, terrified I would see his dead, naked body frozen on the ground