a halt on the wide gravel

the cab and carried her in long, hurried stri

straight up the stairs and laying her down gently

Arthur stepped out of the room, his large frame blocking the doorway. He pulled the heavy w

was the soft rustle of the wind blowing thr

small, framed photograph on her nightstand. It was a picture of her standing next to a young man. The moment she s

pathetic, desperate servant, constantly trailing behind Cha

sickening, fake pity. She heard him reciti

She saw her own hands opening the old tin biscuit box where Maria kept the emergency household cash. She saw herself

ise her anything. He didn't even hold her hand. He just s

e Chauncey had complained about the tough, rationed meat the town provided. He wanted fresh game. He wanted wild be

ly into her own palms. The modern woman inside her felt a wave of abs

ene changed to the town's distribu

ntion. Ernest Jenkins had been carrying a heavy crate of supplies. He had accide

lf scream at him. She watched herself point a manicured

es. She mocked his poverty. She brought up the political stain on his family's

e curled into fists so tight the knuckles were stark white. The veins in his thick

r air, her chest heaving. A cold s

mocking scoff in the woods. She under

lic, she wouldn't have thrown a machete to sav

to breathe. She was paying the price for the original owner's sins. But she was also dee

the ceiling fan. The confusion in her eyes

s dead. She died in the

e was never going to let that hypocrite Chauncey suck another drop of blood from this family. She w

cold-faced man who took her i

ht then and there. She would pay back that heavy debt. She would find a way to

rass doorknob turned. The wooden do

ater. Her eyes were swollen and red. Right behind her was John Pierce, t

d at her parents,It was time to figh