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“Go on and get! And don’t you ever fucking come back here!” he shouted With his hands on his head, he spun around and waved his arms in the air in frustration “I don’t need that kind of trouble here Go, girl! If I see you again, next ti you out”

He left , his back fat bouncing up and down as he disappeared behind a door with amarked OFFICE He drew the shade the instant he stepped inside

I stood on shaky legs and wiped gravel from the wounds onMy twisted ankle sent sharp pains through my shin with each step My already bad limp became much more severe

King apparently had reach But how far? If I had any chance of seeking help for an’s Beach, but I didn’t even know if I was going the right way

My foot dragged behindon, like cans tied to the bumper of a car

Hours passed, and although I’d been walking the entire tione very far I could still see the apartment complex in the distance behind me

Not a single car had passedits e My face and ears were hot to the touch The soles ofnu

I trudged on

For every inch the sun sank into the horizon, ain about to be cloaked in the darkness of night

I came upon an old, abandoned bank with boarded up s just as thunder rolled in the distance The sky flashed as lightning jumped from cloud to cloud I smelled the rain before I felt the first drop splatter on the tip of my nose

I hobbled toward the covered awning of the drive-through, but I didn’t make it The sky poured itself over me before I could reach shelter By the ti wet fro brown as the water rinsed off the ainst the out of order ATM ainst my knees

I felt defeated And somewhere in the back ofto ju to strike me dead Dead was better than unwanted

Dead had to be better than this