Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Do not ever compare me to that monster again,” I hiss, even though deep inside, I’m terrified of what I just did.
“You ever lay a fuckin’ hand on me again,” he begins, but I cut him off by sliding out and walking to the door, shoving it open.
“Get out.”
He turns, and his eyes pin me. “You don’t want to keep playin’ this game with me, Kitten. I will win.”
With that, he walks out of the room.
I slam the door behind him before turning and pressing my back to it. Settling a hand over my chest, I exhale and close my eyes.
I’m playing with fire, and I’m quite willing to get burned.
I just hope it isn’t enough to take me out completely.
4
Turning the television on, I move into the small kitchenette to make a coffee. I very much plan on going to see Harry again today, to find out if he is able to open my mother’s case once more. I need to find out what happened, and I want answers for her. I haven’t got a great deal of memories including my mother, but she is my mother all the same, and she deserves justice.
“A twenty-three year old woman has gone missing overnight under suspicious circumstances. Police are asking anyone who might have seen anything to report it immediately. Nia Harris was last seen walking home from her friend’s house at approximately five thirty on Sunday afternoon. She hasn’t been seen since.”
I spin around when I hear the news reporter speaking on the television. I stare at the picture of a pretty strawberry blond woman on the screen, a dazzling smile on her face, and my heart skips a beat. I can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu staring at the screen, after spending so many years watching as the Shadow Butcher tormented the town, when all along, he was right in the house with me.
I flick the television off, shaking my head.
It’s probably nothing.
Gathering my things, I leave the hotel and begin the walk to the police station. It’s only when I’m getting closer to the busier part of town that I notice people staring and whispering. It’s not unusual, everyone in this place has made it known that they don’t like me being here, but today it seems a little extra.
Putting my head down, I focus on getting to where I’m going.
“What did you do to Nia? Where is she?”
The words have my head jerking up, and I pause, turning toward the voice. A man around thirty stands out front of a café with his wife by his side. She is somewhat tucked behind him as he speaks, almost like she’s scared. The man is staring at me with disgust, like I am the scum of the earth.
“Excuse me?”
I generally try not to speak to these people, but his comment got the better of me.
“There hasn’t been one problem in this town since the day you and your father were removed. Now, you return to town and a girl goes missing under the same circumstances as the crimes your father committed. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
My blood runs cold.
They think I am responsible for Nia going missing, purely because I am the child of a killer?
I knew people would stoop low, I just never thought it would come to this.
“I have never, nor would I ever, hurt anyone.”
The man shakes his head. “Evil runs in your blood. You lived with that man while he was committing horrendous murders, and you want us to believe you never knew?”
Heaving, I turn away, not wanting to say another word to this person who has decided he knows me. My skin prickles and my body hums as I pick up the pace toward the station. I can’t breathe, and when I try, my lungs burn. By the time I step through the door, I’m on the verge of panic.
Harry is there before I can even say a word to the receptionist. She must have called him out before I walked through the front door.
“Mera, are you okay?”
Harry places a hand on my shoulder as I struggle to catch my breath.
“Those people think it was me. They think it was me.”
Harry pauses, then he ushers me down the hall to his office. Once inside, he closes the door and helps me take a seat. I drop my head into my hands, fighting back tears as I try to process what just happened. Silence fills the room for a moment before Harry finally speaks, and when he does, his words cut me to my core.
“You know I have to ask the question, Mera. Do you know what happened to Nia?”
I jerk, and my head whips up, the tears I was holding in come rushing down my face. “You can’t honestly be asking me that question? You, of all people ...”