Free Emily Kimelman - Sydney Rye 04 - Strings of Glass by Emily Kimelman Page B

hands. Her skin was clammy and the bruises on her
face suddenly terrifying in the bright sunlight that caught her cheek as she
leaned toward me. She swallowed. “I’ve always thought,
what if I became like him? What if it’s like an infection? He got it from his
uncle and then he infected me. What if that’s what I turn into?”
    I shook
my head. “Anita, you are here, in this jungle, talking to whatever I am,
because you are nothing like him. You are fighting for these kids,
not destroying them.”
    She bit
her lip and then grimaced. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
    She
turned away from me and stood. I wondered about her parents. What kind of a
person would let their child believe all the things that Anita thought?
And they must have known what was happening. Why would
any parent ever let their child near a monster like that? “Anita?”
She looked back at me. “Do you have siblings?”
    “Yes,
a brother and a sister.”
    “Were
they…?”
    “I
don’t think so.”
    “You
never asked?”
    “We
don’t have that kind of relationship. We don’t talk about anything real.”
    “But
it’s happening to other kids now?”
    “Yes,
not kids like me though.” Anita played with the hem of her shirt.
“They won’t get therapy or anything else.”
    “What
do you mean?”
    She
looked over at me. “He doesn’t mess with kids who have anyone who cares. I
guess the man learned to be more discreet. Now he buys the children like
livestock and uses them much worse. And everyone…”
she sneered, “everyone
pretends like it’s not happening.”
    “Why?”
    She
frowned. “I don’t know.”
    I stared
into the trees and chewed on my lip. “They don’t see it,” I said.
    “Yes,
they do.”
    “People
don’t see what they don’t want to see.”  I stood up and wiped at my pants,
dusting off the red-brown dirt that clung to
everything. Lulu barked and circled me, excited to be back on the move. We
started down the road again, Blue staying close to Anita’s hip. We walked in
silence listening to the birds chirp and the rustle of creatures in the brush.
    “Is
your family still in Ahmedabad?” I asked.
    “My
parents and brother live there, my sister is in America.”
    I looked
down at her ring finger. Seeing my glance she held it up for me. A tan line
marked where rings used to sit. “Not anymore,” she said.
    “Recently?”
    She
pursed her lips. “Yes, perhaps that’s why I’m here. To escape him.”
    I
stopped again and she turned back to me. “Not really,” I said.
“You’re not here because of a husband who did you wrong.”
    “No,
I did him wrong. I never should have married. Way too
fucked up. It wasn’t right to pretend I could love him forever, for real.”
    I felt a
clench in my chest hearing my thoughts about Dan said aloud.
    “So
you came for closure?”
    Anita
laughed deeply. “God, yes. Wouldn’t that be amazing. To close this. To end
it. But that’s, that’s not possible.” She looked up at the blue swath of
sky above the road. “I’ll never be free of him, of these feelings.”
    “Maybe
not,” I said knowing that she was right. I’d never be free of what
happened to my brother. His murderer was dead but he still had a hold on me,
still controlled my thoughts. Made me so angry, so dangerous. Anita was right,
it was an infection. “You know what?” I said. “If you can’t get
closure, I suggest revenge.”
    “Is
that what you did?” There was that look in her eye again. That reporter’s
curiosity.
    I cocked
my head. “Can I trust you?” I asked.
    She
licked her lips. “You saved my life. I owe you forever.”
    I
nodded. “Then yes, that’s what I did.” I started walking again.
    “Did
it work?” She asked, her eyes widening with hope.
    I
smiled. “Well, I’m in this jungle now, talking with whatever you
are…”
    She
laughed. We came around a bend and the guest house was only a hundred
yards away. A single story, Portuguese-style Goan home, its roof