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But the cherry on the shit sundae that was my life story was that they’d found a body just down the street fro corpses in this city wasn’t exactly breaking headliner news, there was a prickling on my skin that told me this wasn’t just any death

“So that body they found?”

“Yeah?” I waited to see if she’d give more information or if I’d have to press a little harder I didn’t watch the news and didn't want to be any more depressed than I was And the news that tended to be throughout Desolation was always the sa wars, deaths fro addiction And of course there was rape and sexual assault

She leaned in close and looked around as if she was afraid soh nobody that frequented cared In fact, they probably had a hand in many of the news stories that had come out over the years

“This isn’t public knowledge, not yet anyways, but I have a friend orks at the local paper who has connections with a guy orks at the police station Apparently the body they found not only had his hand cut off, but he also had a wound on his…” She pointed down to her crotch region “The wound was so substantial that he bled out fro hand”

My heart jumped in my throat at the brutality of his death

The front door opened, and we both looked toward the entrance My heart, that had been beating fast and erratic froht of the hts andon with my body for the last two months

He took his usual seat, but I didn’t aze locked on mine

“Why is he watching you so—”

“Yeah,” I said before she could finish “It’s intense” I glanced away, because his eyes on me were heavy, so heavy it was like a cloak over me

But I found aze htened as he no doubt saw thebared even from across the restaurant

“Yeah, he screams, ‘Stay the hell away’”

I snappedat him, but she quickly looked away I didn’t miss how she shivered and then shook her head, her focus on her hands

“He looks at you like he wants to eat you up until there’s nothing left,” she whispered before clearing her throat and pushing away fro about him that scares the hell out of me” Her voice was soft, and she finally looked up aton a smile, which I could tell was forced “But the men I’ve been around and this shitty city have kind of ruined it for all others”

This would’ve been a good time for us to bond, for me to tell her she wasn’t alone, that I, too, knew all about badI didn’t even know if I would have been able to say anything Connecting with people wasn’t a strong suit of mine

I looked back at hith Inet and I the positive I was drawn to hihter the closer I got

When I was right in front of his table, I held the pad in one hand and a pen in the other My fingers shook, and I tightened theaze flickered down, and I knew he sawhe could read me better than I could read myself

When he was looking back at hten, that pain fro itself known once ered on h his outward appearance seeht, subtle clench of his jaw, the sa

I foundit overI could do about the attention to the marks either “The usual?” I hated that htly shaky And it didn’t have anything to do with anxiety