Page 45 of In Their Hearts
I will save her from herself.
If there is revenge in what I’m doing, then so be it. It ends with what needs to happen.
Revenge, when done properly, is curation.
I decide. I’m the one in charge for now. Then I will be no more, but she will always remember.
People will draw their own conclusions. They always do.
I’ve already begun the preparations. The parts are moving.
As for Jo, she will carry my words longer than she wants to. I know her type. She absorbs blame like a bruise, pretends it doesn’t hurt, but I know better.
This will burn… slowly. Painfully.
Eventually, years later, she will try to move on. She will tell herself she’s suffered enough. That she deserves happiness. That what happened wasn’t her fault. But it won’t work; she will fail.
That’s when my work will be finished, because doubt, once planted, does not need tending.
I don’t need her destroyed.
I need her unsettled. Forever.
It isn’t long enough, but it will have to do.
And they will be gone. I won’t let them suffer. They’re going to be my work. My message.
I fold my hands in my lap and look out the window, where the light is fading into the evening.
Her fantasy is ending.
It will be corrected.
And, now it’s almost time.
Patience, Shelly. Patience.
24
Grant
I never thought he would leave.
Mr. Walden will talk to anyone and everyone. He’s the only person I know who can ask a hundred questions about a yardstick and somehow make it feel important.
I watch as he backs his truck out of the parking lot and disappears down the road. I shake my head, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. He really is a nice old man, even if he just kept me trapped for nearly an hour.
I should check on Clay and see what kind of mess he’s made in the back while organizing. I turn back towards the store.
The sound rips through the air.
BOOM.
CRACK.
BOOM.
The world drops out from under me, and I hit the ground hard. My chest slams so violently it hurts. For one horrifying second, my brain insists I’m being shot at.
