BY KITTY BULLARD & AMBER RENDON
PROLOGUE
She'd almost waited too long. The thunder sounded like the sharp report of gunfire from the east and she flinched as though she could feel shrapnel penetrate her skin. For hours now she'd been trying to sleep, but between the thunder in the distance and the shrill shrieks of laughter coming from her mother's room she was unable to find the peace she needed to help her drift off. Finally, she rose and began the laborious task of pushing her bed to the other side of the room just as the clouds burst open and the first few drops of rain began. Dropping back down on her bed she listened with bated breath, waiting for the water to start its slow drip upon the floor where her bed had just been. Maybe the sound would be the needed antidote to her insomnia.
Missy Jackson wasn't an ugly girl, though it seemed she tried too hard to hide the ugliness she felt inside as well as out. At the painful age of thirteen she'd began to dye her bright red hair, often in rainbow hues that could not be bought at the local beauty supply stores. Instead, she figured out that packs of 'Kool-Aid' worked just as well and were far cheaper at only ten cents apiece. Her current color of choice was 'wild cherry' which almost made her hair look pink in the right light. She had vibrant hazel eyes that seemed to look right through you; her mother often said her mouth was heart-shaped like Bernadette Peters which led Missy to believe she had a Kewpie Doll's face. In her opinion it wasn't that flattering a thought. Her father had left a long time ago and she lived in a half dilapidated, five room house just on the edge of town. She'd realized from the first day of school at Seminole High that she'd never be head cheerleader or homecoming queen.
The thunder came again and as if to punctuate the sound she heard her mother's witchy screech from across the hall. Groaning she tugged the pillow from beneath her head and brought it over her face, curling it around to cover both ears. She almost hoped she'd succeed in suffocating herself and end her teenage suffering once and for all. At the age of seventeen she'd already endured most of her high school years, and often times wished her mother had done the right thing when she'd been born. She felt she should have been put in a burlap sack, weighted down with cement bricks and tossed into Sportsman's Lake like some unwanted puppy. After all, her mother was nothing more than a bitch in heat it seemed, dragging up every man she could find that would give her the time of day. This new one was no different, she'd met him in the 3 Horse Saloon about two days ago, that meant his welcome was almost worn out and he'd soon decide he'd had enough, either that or her mother would grow bored with her new toy and move on to the next.
In pseudo silence she waited until she was at the point where air was almost completely depleted before she slowly brought the pillow up and turned her head to look over and up at the leak in her ceiling. She could see the iridescent illumination of each drop when the lightning flashed and had just enough time to watch its descent before it disappeared again into the darkness. It wasn't long before she felt hypnotized and her eyes grew heavy, it seemed there was no other sound at all, and then... he was there. Jerked from her reverie, she struggled to sit upright on the bed and twisted her entire body until she was Indian style upon the covers and waited for the next lightning strike to be sure she was not seeing things. It came, and as it did the one she saw lifted his head to gaze at her with amusement in his eyes and an impossibly leery grin upon his lips. She had not heard him enter, there was no way he could have gotten in without her door making a sound upon hinges that had not been oiled in far too many years to count.
Fear as thick as mud ran through her veins and her adrenaline kicked in as she stood quickly and began to fumble with a dresser drawer to find a flashlight. Once again her mother had failed to pay the electric bill on her meager earnings working at the 3 Horse Saloon. About the time her hand closed upon the stem of her flashlight and her thumb found the button, she felt strong arms go around her and a warm breath upon her ear. "Shhh... don't make a sound now, I'm not here to hurt ya." Missy closed her eyes; the voice was like velvet and had a slight twang to it. She hadn't even seen his face good enough to know what he looked like, but she could tell that no one could own a voice like that and not have the looks to match. "Wh... who are you... what the hell do you want?" Her own voice shook as she spoke, but she had one arm pulled slightly forward and bent ready to land an elbow to his ribs if he said the wrong thing or made a wrong move. Though she may have been enjoying the feel of his arms embracing her a little too much she was not about to just give in and let him have his way with her if that's what he was after.
