The Nowhere Girl: A completely gripping and emotional page turner by Nicole Trope

Author:Nicole Trope [Trope, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Now

Alice

* * *

I curl my arm, bringing the hand weight to my shoulder, feeling the burn and watching the muscles in my shoulder separate. Next to me a man strains as he lifts a heavy weight and I breathe in the smell of sweat, not minding it because at least it’s not the stench of vinegar. A country music song is blasting in my ears and I try to concentrate on the singer’s words about loving and missing his wife, but it’s not working.

Instead, even as I stare in the mirror and can see that no one is touching me, I feel his hands everywhere.

Alice is afraid. Alice is disgusted. Alice is thinking about dying.

I have hidden the stuffed green frog in the back of my closet but can’t stop myself from going back to it every few hours.

This morning I googled Vernon, just to check, just to be sure. I thought I would find nothing but there are two newspaper articles. One, dated 2002, talks about what he did, and the other, from 2003, is about his sentence.

The Courier Mail

15 March 2002

Sickening Attack

Police and paramedics were, last night, called to the Blackwater Tavern in Sunnybank, Queensland, where a brawl had erupted between two men. Paramedics found Micah Jones (19) on the footpath. He had suffered catastrophic injuries after allegedly receiving a single punch from Vernon Howell (44). Despite Mr Jones being on the footpath and not in a position to defend himself, witnesses say that Mr Howell continued to kick and punch the man until police arrived. A young woman, Leslie Saunders (19), was also injured in the incident. Mr Jones was taken to hospital but died en route.

Mr Howell is now helping police with their enquiries.

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