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When Samantha woke up, she looked around her for the car, the paramedics, and her parents "Mom? Dad?" she called out in a hoarse voice When she heard nothing but her own voice echoing, her an to return to the present

They were dead Both of them Her parents had died on the mainland, in the desert Pryde hadn't killed her mother and abducted Samantha; her mother had been dead before that "No," she whispered "It's not fair"

For five years she had drea to the mainland to find her parents So Now after five years of hoping, wishing, and drea, she learned they were both dead

"It's not fair!" she screamed She scrambled to her feet and for emphasis she kicked the pile of clothes When that didn't sate her appetite for destruction, she kicked the rest of the piles Then she grabbed a dress out of the pile and tore it in half She threw the pieces aside and then reached for another dress

After she finally expended herself, she collapsed on the floor again She used the remains of a yellow dress to wipe at her eyes It all seeht her here and wiped her memory so that for five years she could hope to see her parents again And now, on the eve of her going to look for theht her here so she could relive their deaths

"It's not fair," she mumbled She reached into her pocket for the picture on Pryde's bulletin board They had been so happy, just a normal, happy family It had all been taken away from her first by a reckless driver and then by Reverend Crane

She stared at the picture for a while, until her rational ain Not all hope was lost If her parents had died when she elve, then she one to live with sorandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins Not even Mr Pryde could have taken theone to live with another faht have foster parents who loved her as ive up yet

As she pushed herself up to her feet, she felt so warm and sticky in her underpants Sae red spot dotted the white fabric of her underwear Her period, that hat her ain, which had brought back the memory of that horrible day