Strings of Fate by Deirdre Dore

Author:Deirdre Dore
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Pocket Star
Published: 2014-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

21

SHE KNELT IN FRONT of him, her hair pulled into a tidy ponytail, the blue T-shirt she wore for her new job clean and neatly tucked into her jeans.

“Are you sure?” he asked her, lifting her chin so she was meeting his eyes. Hers were wide and a little unfocused, like a woman experiencing an epiphany, her fast, shallow breath blowing over his wrist.

She nodded.

He was surprised, really, how easy it had been to change her, so fascinating to watch the strings of her world slowly fade, until there was only one left, black and thick and connected to him like a leash. He tugged it, very gently, and her mouth opened, breath shivering out.

He never felt anything like it; it was beautiful, so beautiful. He wanted the Creator to surrender to him in such a way.

“You’ll do it for me, then?”

“I’ll do anything for you,” she replied obediently.

“That’s good, then.” He stroked her hair. “That’s very good. Go over to the table.”

There was a dog tethered there, a Chihuahua mix; it was shivering, its tail tucked between its legs.

She walked over to it, her body tensing as she approached the animal, which looked at her with liquid brown eyes and wagged its tail. Joe could see the deep pink string that connected the dog to the woman even though the woman’s had faded to black on her end. The dog still loved her, didn’t understand why she didn’t pet him, love him, take him home.

She tensed. “Badger.” That was all she said, but the little dog’s tail tucked even farther between his legs. He looked uncertain now, like maybe he didn’t know her.

“He remembers me,” she said quietly, her voice shaking.

“You know what you have to do,” he told her, and turned away, only vaguely curious as to whether she would go through with it. If she didn’t, he would take her strings.

He turned to his computers; his Creator had yet to return to her computers for that day. She’d been busy with the FBI, he thought, though he wasn’t certain. He hadn’t followed her after she left the cemetery that morning. Instead he’d gone to see what had fascinated her so much in the old graveyard.

On Sunday, it hadn’t occurred to him to check the cemetery when the women had visited there after church; he’d assumed they were visiting a grave, but this morning he’d been curious about what had held her attention, what kept her so still in front of the tree, almost as if she were in a trance.

He’d seen the little cross with the frayed, faded ribbons, and the name Summer Haven. Her friend—the one they searched for. He thought maybe that was the key to forcing his Creator’s surrender and decided to find out more about the missing girl.

The task had taken him most of the afternoon and several visits to the Fate library, where a helpful librarian—with a few faded, raggedy strings and one deep red one that looked cut in half—had helped him locate microfiche from 1986.

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.