Parting the Veil by Jay Davis

Author:Jay Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2004-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

FRESH FROM HAVING CHECKED herself out of Clark County Hospital, Holly Mandylor was sitting in a gaudy red booth in the Roadside Casino’s Old-Time Cafe. Next to her on the seat lay a green soft-sided overnight bag, filled with only the barest of necessities. She had left her apartment ten minutes earlier, and although she hadn’t been particularly hungry, as soon as she’d seen the cafe it had suddenly seemed like a very good idea to get something to eat before heading out of town.

Staring out at the parking lot and the highway beyond, her mind barely registered the busy surroundings. The memory of the suicide attempt and the shame of being held for psychiatric observation still smarted keenly, and the anger and despair that had landed her there had abated only slightly. She supposed she should be grateful that Tina had come by the apartment last night and let herself in when Holly didn’t answer—and she was glad to be alive, or rather she was glad she wasn’t dead—but she still felt adrift, with no real direction. So here I am starting all over again, she mused guiltily. Always giving up and running somewhere else.

In her heart that felt wrong, but in her head it felt right. Now that she had run out of options in Las Vegas, the only thing she could think of beside suicide—which, after last night, she had solemnly vowed she’d never try again—was to make a fresh start in a brand-new place. She had always lived her life by one simple rule: never get so attached to something or someone that you can’t walk away. Now that rule seemed more practical than ever. The mountains, the desert, the glamour of the casinos, most of her belongings, her history and friends—she would leave them all behind and try not to look back, hoping for a future that was kinder than the past.

Now all she had to do was figure out where she wanted to go, which wasn’t going to be easy, considering she could barely function, much less make a complicated decision. She stared at the place mat, a colorful U.S. map that highlighted all the routes leading into (and out of) Las Vegas, and considered the possibilities. She thought about California first, but discarded the notion; everybody thought about California, and half of them moved there. Besides, the cost of living was too high, and to someone without a job, that was reason enough to look elsewhere. She briefly considered Reno and then rejected that, too; it was different from Las Vegas, but not different enough. As she idly moved on to thoughts of Arizona, her waitress approached the table and set down a Pepsi.

“Your food’ll be up in a minute,” the woman said. There was a smile on her face, but her voice was indifferent, bordering on petulant. Fiftyish and trim, she had dark curly hair and a pretty but sharp-featured face that looked as if it might go from laughter to anger without missing a beat.

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.