Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger and Dale Halvorsen

Author:Sam Beckbessinger and Dale Halvorsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan Books

21. WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?

DONNA RAMIREZ

MONDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 1996

It’s long past dark when she finally unlatches the gate to her home. Every part of her aches from the long hike. She is shivering, parched, half-delirious and covered in scratches from stumbling around in the dark. The last hour was the worst, once the sun had set fully, and it felt like there were eyes on her. She kept tripping over roots and sliding on mud, able to see nothing but the image burned into her mind: Donna Ramirez’s face, lying next to the other bodies in that dark place.

There are lights on inside the house. She’d been hoping, vaguely, that her dad would have been late coming back from work, that he might not have noticed she was gone. But she’s not going to be that lucky. She can see the shadow of him through the curtains, pacing back and forth by the window.

She closes the gate behind her, pushing slowly to avoid the rusty creak, and walks up to the house as quietly as she can. The shadow behind the curtain twitches, he must have heard her coming.

Fuck. Too late, she realises that she’s got Kat’s yellow backpack slung over her shoulder. She left the others where they were, hidden behind the rock near the gorge. But she couldn’t bear to leave this one. It feels like the last bit of Kat she has left.

But how is she going to explain it? She’s going to be in so much trouble. Jesus, she’s such an idiot. She rushes over to the window of her bedroom, which has mercifully been left ajar in the late summer heat, and slides the bag through it onto the floor of her room, just as she hears the rattle of the door handle, and her father spills out onto the porch.

“Ay!” he yells, incoherent, pulling her into the living room. He grips her shoulders, firmly, as though checking that she’s real. His jaw is set in a way that she’s never seen before. Furious, she realises. He’s furious.

He goes off in a stream of Spanish, so fast that she only catches half of what he says. She gets the gist of it, anyway. Questions that aren’t really questions. Where has she been. How dare she put him through this. What the hell was she thinking.

“Sorry, Papi, I need a minute.” She runs to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her. Her father continues raving in the other room. She just hopes that he doesn’t go into her room and notice the little yellow surprise she dumped through the window.

She sinks onto the toilet, gripping the seat tight, trying to catch her breath. Through the door, she hears her dad pick up the phone, and talk to someone she can only assume are the police. “It’s OK, she just came home. No, she’s fine. I’m sorry to bother you. No, no, of course.” His voice slurs with rage.

Her back muscles are cramping all up one side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.