Page 73 (1/2)

But it was her ue felt withered, like desiccated old leather And there wasn’t enough saliva to keep it fro Not dead yet,for sure

She didn’t want to believe that, but she kneas true

Somewhereso No, runized it

A chain saw

But it was so far away So very, very far away

Time passed She counted not by days, but by drea

Soentle voice, reassuring her that she was okay That she was still "his girl"

An i eyes and sandy-colored hair

But the voice was all wrong It wasn’t the boy’s voice she heard

Still, the voice was there And he lifted her head and cradled it gently, giving her water She drank until she choked Until she gagged She felt the water trickle down her chin to her neck And then he’d lay her back down again, and he’d wipe her dry, holding her hand and waiting until her body stopped convulsing

Then she was alone again

The , she nearly whimpered out loud But somehow she held it back She didn’t want to draw attention to herself; she didn’t want the voice to know she ake again

She rolled her eyeballs onetherewfirst on her right side, and eventually, on the left one too

She didn’twhen you’d wake," the voice said froht beside her, she realized

She blinked, glad that she could, and let her head follow the sound, trying to locate him

He wasn’t hard to find; he sat beside her on a bed In a roo in froht fixture overhead, and it was bright enough to let her see her is

She saw varnished pine walls, a checkered quilt, a ruffled canopy overhead It was a little girl’s rooht you’d led to remember the last tier than just one day

She tried to focus on his face, but her vision blurred She blinked again, this ti thee and elusive way She couldn’t quite put her finger on where she’d seen him before, but that didn’t dispel the unease she felt in his presence The prickling sensation warned her that he was not to be trusted