ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 36
steps. The little girl grinned, clearly amused. He was good with kids,
everyone used to say so. They were drawn to him.
Suddenly, her face disappeared from the window, as if it had never
been there at all. In that moment, without her eyes locked to his, he
was once again acutely aware of the storm. The frigid air washed
his bare arms in gooseflesh, turned his breath into mist. Gusts of
wind threw spray back in his face, biting into his skin. Slowly, the
hair on his arms quivered and stood on end, charged with electricity.
Something like fear stirred in the pit of his stomach. There was no
escaping this.
“Hello out there!”
It was the little girl, venturing from the safety of her veranda. She
wore a plain cotton dress that only just brushed her knees, and her
feet were bare. She shivered in the cold, vulnerable. Just like before,
he forgot the rain. He took a step forward to see her more clearly.
“Hello,” he said, his teeth bared in a smile. “What’s your name?”
She paused, considering, perhaps, whether to tell him. At last, she
gave him a dimpled smile.
“Lucy.”
Lucy. It was a beautiful name—it suited her. Up close, she looked
almost like a doll. She seemed fragile, delicate. But he liked that she
wasn’t afraid.
“My mommy’s out for groceries!” She said, her eyes gleaming.
“Would you like to come in out of the rain?”
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He didn’t wait to be asked twice. Quickly, eagerly, he hiked up
the sloping lawn towards her, hunching his shoulders against the
