• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

went black.

31

Amanda Davies sat in the high-back leather chair and stared

out the window. She wanted to call Henry, desperately wanted

to hear his voice if only for a moment. Several times over the

last few hours she'd reached for the phone, felt the plastic

beneath her fingers, only to retract like she'd touched a poisonous plant.

The office was empty, dark except for a desk lamp and her

computer screen. The minutes seemed to stretch into hours.

She watched the phone. He'd called once. She waited to see

if he would call again. He didn't.

She'd told Henry she was coming here to sleep. She knew

sleep wouldn't come easy. Not last night and not tonight. Not

after what she saw.

Since joining the Legal Aid Society, Amanda had witnessed some horrible things. Mothers and fathers who beat

their children within an inch of their life, starved them. Made

seven-year-olds wear diapers for days and weeks on end.

Boys and girls who were found caked in their own excrement

while their parents were out drinking, stealing or fornicating.

And no matter how hard they worked, how many children

they rescued, it was like putting a Band-Aid on a busted dam.

204

Jason Pinter

There wasn't enough manpower, not enough funding. As long

as society remained this screwed up, as long as there were

hedonistic parents who put themselves over their child, there

would always be children without homes. Just like her. Until

she met Henry.

She thought about Mya Loverne. Hated the fact that she

felt even a whisper of sympathy for the girl. But she did. It

was tearing her apart, because she could still see Mya's arms

wrapped around Henry's waist, their lips touching, Henry

seeming to give in.

He should have ended it months ago. He should have

severed all ties with Mya Loverne. But he hadn't, and last

night showed why. He wasn't ready to give her up. Amanda

lost the one person she could turn to, the one who showed her

that there were relationships beyond her diaries.

She couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed the phone,

nearly spilling a cup of water all over the desk, and dialed

Henry's cell phone. She waited as it rang, hoping that any

second he would pick up and she would hear his voice,

hoping there was more to the story. Henry was not a bad guy,

like so many of the douche bags and deadbeats desperate

women seemed to flock to. Guys who smelled like skunk

residue and wore enough hair gel to paste King Kong to the

Empire State Building. Henry wasn't like them. She couldn't

picture him cheating on her. Being with another woman.

Pressing his lips

(stop it)

Henry's voice mail picked up.

"This is Henry. Leave a message and I'll get back to you

as soon as possible."

She bit her lip, then spoke.

"Henry, it's me. We need to talk. Call me when you get this."

The Guilty

205

For a moment, fear gripped Amanda. What if he was with

Mya? Couldn't be. He wasn't like that. He wasn't...

She hung up. Looked out the window again as the sun began

to dip below the clouds, casting a golden hue over New York

City. In a city of millions, Amanda had never felt so alone.

32

Wake up, Parker.

I heard a voice in the distance, like a dream beginning to

fade into the reality of morning. There was a beeping noise,

like an alarm clock. Then just as abruptly it stopped. A gush

of water hit me in the face, and the dream was shattered. I spit

it out, coughed it out of my nose. My eyes opened. When I

realized where I was, I wished I was still dreaming.

I was on the floor. Sitting up against the radiator. My hands

were strapped behind my back. I couldn't see what was

holding them together. My head throbbed and my neck felt

sticky. My legs were numb, the tingling sensation of poor circulation. I had no idea how long I'd been here, but every

muscle in my body felt some measure of pain.

The room was dark, a faint amber glow dying on the

carpet. The sun was going down. How long had I been out?

My heart beat fast, fear and adrenaline spreading quickly, my

pulse racing