Page 161 of Creeping Beautiful

It’s called I-Know-What-You-Did-To-Nathan-St.-James.

CHAPTER THIRTY - TWO - INDIE

You have this image of people.

They are strong, and loyal, and truthful, and protective. They say things like… Write it down, and Eat your vegetables, and Do it just like I tell you.

They are tall, and handsome, and smart.

They give you a home, and your own bedroom, and a swamp filled with fireflies, and a duck lake with a boy on the other side whose mere presence convinces you that this is all gonna be OK.

And you believe it.

Because you are small, and young, and scared, and lonely.

You write it down, you eat those vegetables, and you do it just like they say.

But then one day you realize you’re not so small, or young, or scared, or lonely. You realize you’re bigger, and older, and braver, and surrounded. And you see them for what they really are.

Just people.

Just men.

Just humans who make it up as they go, like the rest of us.

They are liars, and cheaters, and killers.

They are sick, and twisted, and ruthless.

They are afraid, lonely, and scared, just like the rest of us.

But they are yours.

They are mine now.

They are all mine.

I did drug them. And that was all me. I wanted what I wanted and I wanted them. I will not apologize for that.

But they are mine now.

They are all mine.

So I keep that secret to myself.

But picking those berries with my daughter. Telling her they were delicious. Mixing them up in the frosting.

None of that was my idea.

It was his.

I failed. None of the people he wanted to kill that day died.

I don’t feel bad about that because it wasn’t my failure.

It was his.

EPILOGUE - ADAM