Gloria by Bentley Little

Author:Bentley Little [Little, Bentley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications
Published: 2022-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

NINE

Her grandmother was gone by the time the police arrived.

Gloria found this out from Myla and Sadeen when she returned the next day with Benjamin to pick up more of their stuff. She had taken Jeannie to her friend Susan’s house, not wanting her daughter to be exposed to…whatever might happen.

But nothing did happen. Her grandma was gone, and from what Gloria could tell, the old woman had taken nothing with her. How she had left and where she had disappeared to was a mystery. Her grandmother had no car, no nearby relatives and, as far as Gloria knew, all of her old friends were dead. She had taken off somewhere, though, and Gloria assumed the police were looking for her whereabouts, although finding her was probably a low priority. No doubt they had much more urgent crimes to deal with.

It made Gloria uneasy, however, knowing her grandma was out there somewhere. She imagined the old lady hiding in some small space all day long, like a nocturnal animal, then emerging at night, crawling through the city wearing only her bloody shift, twisting the heads off various pets.

Did her grandmother know the location of Benjamin’s house?

Gloria didn’t think so, and for that she was grateful.

“I’m going to kill him. You know that, don’t you?”

Her biggest concern was that Benjamin didn’t seem to be taking the threat seriously enough. Oh, he believed that her grandma was crazy. And he had always known that she didn’t like him. But, considering what she’d done to the Lhasas’ cat, he should have been more worried.

“We’ll be fine,” he assured her.

Gloria was not quite so confident.

But as the days passed and there was no sign of her grandmother, she began to relax a little. Not a lot, but a little. She would still not let Jeannie out of her sight, walking her all the way to her classroom each morning, arriving early to pick her up after school, though “Gram-Gram” had made no threats against the girl. And she still made Benjamin call her from work during his breaks and at lunch, while also keeping her apprised of his whereabouts at all times. But she started to allow herself to hope that her grandmother was gone for good.

The best case scenario? The old lady was dead.

Gloria felt awful for even considering such a thought, but it was the truth.

On the fourth Saturday after they’d moved out, exactly a month after her grandma had disappeared, Gloria awoke feeling good. The feeling of oppression that usually settled over her upon wakening did not arrive, and the sense of contentment engendered by last night’s lovemaking still held sway. The delicious smell of waffles wafting in from the kitchen made her feel—

Smell of waffles?

Gloria sat up, wide awake, realizing only at that moment that Benjamin was not in the bed next to her. She saw instantly that he was not in the bathroom either, and without bothering to dress or put on a robe, Gloria rushed over to Jeannie’s room.

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.