The Scales by Paul Sating

Author:Paul Sating [Sating, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror
Publisher: Paul Sating Productions
Published: 2019-12-05T18:30:00+00:00

24

A coyote howled in the deep cavity of the night. Even its pitched scream couldn’t stir Serenity.

She was dead inside.

Momma.

Jerrod.

In the hands of the Black Suits, made to suffer until Hilliard was happy with whatever information he would get from them. The cold of the desert night was better than she deserved. The sandy slope of the ditch she hid in all night protected her from the wind and the eyes of any Black Suit, but it wouldn’t protect her from the guilt burning inside her chest.

She’d ran when Hilliard sent his last bully after her. She hadn’t thought about whether her mother was okay or if Jerrod was even alive. When the man lunged toward the front door at Hilliard’s order, she’d reacted, nothing more.

Serenity dry-heaved into the dead brush, trying to purge contents that never came. She choked, gagged, cried over enfolded arms that rested on her raised knees.

A string of clear mucus strung toward the desert sand. No one in the Tri-Counties was more pathetic. Every time someone needed her, she let them down. George needed her to understand the history behind the Screecher, and she turned her back on him, multiple times, because he didn’t give her what she wanted when she wanted it. Had she stayed, maybe things would have turned out better for everyone.

Twenty-six people dead.

Serenity picked up a rock and set it arcing through the chilled air. It crashed into the dry bush twenty feet away and clattered to a stop. The desert went still.

Life didn’t give her an easy road. But then, who had it easy? Not anyone in the Tri-Counties, that was for sure. Even when things were good, life felt unsatisfying. Her mother had given up her entire life for her children to make sure they had everything they needed. Serenity dreamed of a life away from the Tri-Counties, of escaping to see a different part of the world, a place where people weren’t the people she'd spent her entire life around. The dream also included an education, of pursuing the sciences at a level that far exceeded anything the community college in town could hope to provide. But that day was distant.

No, Ida Dorsey wasn’t the only one who’d sacrificed. Jerrod had too. Patch. Deputy Rodgers as well. Serenity realized, sitting on the sand, she couldn’t say the same about herself. The truth was bitter, emotional corrosion.

A lonely wind whistled through the valley of the ditch. Serenity shivered, wrapping arms around her knees, pulling them toward her chest.

Another round of sobs rushed at her. This time at the memory of all the difficulty and attitude she’d given her mother when Ida simply needed help around the house because she was too busy working multiple jobs to do it herself. Sixty-hour weeks did that to a person, robbed them of their life. Serenity had seen the creeping toll, how it wore Ida down.

I’m a horrible daughter.

Even the times she capitulated weren’t without resistance, a mouthy word, and, far too many times, with her mind somewhere else.

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.