Ripple Effect by Amy Rivers

Author:Amy Rivers [Rivers, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

TILLY

Tilly’s mind was beginning to play tricks on her. She’d been sitting for hours, knife clenched firmly in her hand, waiting. After a while every noise made her startle and soon, the ebb and flow of adrenaline making her sleepy. She nodded off, waking each time her head sank down to her chest.

Sometimes the knife was still in her hand. Other times, it lay on the mat beside her, having slid free of her grip while she slept. Each time, she grabbed it again, clenching her fist tightly around the handle as if it held the key to her survival.

In a half-lucid moment, Tilly swore that she saw Hannah’s face in the window. She cried out, “Run!” but then the image faded. She got up to stretch, walking to the window just to be sure Hannah wasn’t there, and then scolded herself for letting her imagination get away from her.

She kept telling herself she had to stay awake, stay alert, because at any moment she might have the only opportunity to take revenge on Rick. But every time she woke up with a start, she was more disoriented.

When she finally heard the door being unlocked, she was too slow to react. Mark walked in alone, bent to retrieve the bag and to give her a clean bucket, and then walked out without a word.

At that moment, Tilly realized she was going to die. Not that she had been deluding herself into thinking she’d make it out in one piece, but the inevitability of her death—the reality that she would be leaving Kate behind, leaving her life and her work behind—came crashing down on her.

She collapsed onto the mat and curled into a ball as wave upon wave of unfettered sorrow and grief came pouring out of her. She didn’t care if she ever rose from this position again. In fact, she was beginning to hope the door would stay locked, that no more food and water would be forthcoming—that she would be abandoned. She could lie there and wither away with thoughts of her family, Jim, Dan, and Hannah, held close to her heart.

The knife forgotten, Tilly lay still and silent through two more visits from Mark. If he brought her food and water, she didn’t look—didn’t acknowledge his presence. If he had someone with him, she didn’t know. All the fight had gone from her and she was left with a hollow feeling that her entire life, from the moment she was born, had been a sad waste of breath.

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