Page 21 of Siccitas

She leans back against the couch cushions and begins to kick her feet absentmindedly.

The silence that sits between us is actually comforting. I haven’t enjoyed such a thing in many years, but I guess having some semblance of Darby with me makes me feel like everything is going to be okay.

“Wanna know a secret?” Skylar suddenly asks in a loud-stage whisper.

I hold up my pinky finger to let her know that I’ll keep whatever she tells me between us.

She chews her lower lip nervously as she cranes her neck to try to see into the hallway.

Tucking her hair behind her ears, she looks at me again, her eyes now dark with a twinge of fear in them.

“He’s a bad man.”

Chapter Fifteen

Von

“So, did you need anythingelse?” I ask him curiously. My left hand is on the back of the door, ready to slam it shut in his face at the first sign of a false move.

His eyes bore into mine, burning with such an intensity that I’m scared my soul will become scorched from them.

Then a smile appears on his lips. He shakes his head, chuckles, and glances away for a second before looking at me again.

“Just be sure she gets home tonight,” he says in a gravely tone before he cracks his neck, then turns and walks away.

I linger in the doorway as I watch him head toward his pickup truck that’s still parked a few houses away.

He pulls the door open and eases himself in a little slowly, but I’m assuming that’s because of age and nothing else.

When he turns his vehicle on, I shake my head and finally close the door.Jocelyn’s probably wondering what’s taking so long. Not to mention, I want to finish my food;I think as I turn and walk back toward the living room.

But when I get there, it’s empty.

There’s no Jocelyn, no little girl that kind of looks like her in a weird way.

Not even the dish that held my pancakes or the fork I used to eat them with.

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