EXCERPT FROM BETRAYED - A romantic suspense novel | Page 48

MORGAN ST. JAMES

Beulah did what she could to put food on the table, pay the
rent, and send her boys to school in clean clothes, but except for
birthdays and Christmas rarely had any money for toys or
extras.
Sometimes, during the summer, she let them amuse
themselves after dinner by searching through the lot, but it was
winter now, darkness came early and they knew they weren’t
allowed out of the house at night.
~~~~

Cold. I was so cold. What sounded like high, young voices
broke through my jumbled mind. Faint—far away.
“What is it?”
“Dunno. Looks like—a body.”
“Wow! It’s all bloody. Think it’s dead?”
“Dunno. No, wait—I think I hear somethin’. Come here,
Gerard. Get down really close like me, okay? Do you hear it,
too?”
The other voice quavered, “Omigod.” Then silence.
I tried to cry out to let them know I heard them, but couldn’t
make a sound.
“It’s a beaten-up lady. What should we do?”
Through my haze of pain, I heard a strange wailing sound.
As it continued, I realized it was coming from me. I struggled to
breathe. My moaning got louder, but I couldn’t seem to get
enough air. I was so weak I couldn’t even shiver.
Warm little fingers touched my nearly frozen face. The
child’s arm pulled back when I moved.
“Man, she’s hardly breathing at all. Just wait till the guys
hear we found a beaten-up naked white lady. Think she’s gonna
die?”
The other said, “No, stupid, she won’t die because we found
her. You stay here. Watch her. I’m gonna get Mama. I bet she’ll
call the police, or an ambulance or somethin’.” The first one
whined, “But, Randy, we’re not ’sposed to be outside. Mama

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