Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I stiffen at his words.
“He went to prison for two years for the molestation of two young boys at the school where he was a teacher.”
The molestation of two young boys.
“I know this because I make it my job to know. I’m part of an organization who bait-trap and expose pedophiles. We also keep track of recently released sex offenders, too. That’s where I … focus my efforts.”
“And by focus your efforts, you mean …”
He glances at me. “I do what’s necessary to make sure they don’t hurt another child.”
I take in a sharp breath. “And to what extent do you go to ensure that?”
“Are you asking if I killed him?”
I pull my lower lip into my mouth, not sure if I want to know the answer to this question. But I nod despite myself.
“The answer is no. But, after I dropped you home, I went to his house. I waited for him. And … I hurt him. I’d warned him. Told him what would come if he was seen in the vicinity of children. He hadn’t listened. So, I followed through. But, if it came to it … between a child being hurt and killing one of those sick fuckers, I wouldn’t hesitate, Carrie.”
I think of the child I’m carrying inside me and know that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect her. But would I go to that extent for other people’s children like he is?
And I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.
“So, you’re a vigilante, who is part of a group working to protect children from pedophiles.” I need to say it out loud, so it’s clear in my head.
“I don’t think of myself as a vigilante. I’m more like … the antitoxin before the disease.”
“But you can’t possibly stop every bad thing that happens,” I say softly.
“No, I can’t. But I can stop more than if I sat back and did nothing. And, if I can save just one kid from enduring the horrors of that kind of abuse, then it’s worth it.”
“Don’t you worry about getting in trouble with the … law?”
He laughs. It’s a hollow sound. I can understand why.
“No. What’s the worst thing they can do to me?”
“Put you in prison,” I whisper.
“Trust me, Red; that wouldn’t be the worst thing that’s happened to me.”
I worry my lip with my teeth.
“You’re wondering why I do this,” he says in a low voice. “Why I would want to help stop other people’s children from being hurt.”
“Yes,” I say quietly.
The silence is long. My heart thuds hard with every second I wait.
His voice is agonizingly, painfully low when he says, “Because I was one of those kids, Carrie. I was hurt by someone who was supposed to care for me.”
God, no.
My throat thickens with tears. I swallow roughly.
I knew something bad had happened to him. The thought that it had been this passed through my mind … but to hear him say it …
It’s hard to hear. It hurts me more than I ever thought possible.
The tears fill my eyes. I’m afraid to look at him because, if I do, I know they’ll flow freely.
“W-was it … your stepdad?” My voice trembles.
“Yes.” His voice is like ice.
I take a controlled breath to steady my voice. “Is that why your mom killed him? Did she find out that he was hurting you, and she shot him?” I know that I would do the same if it were my child.
He lets out a ragged breath, and I finally lift my eyes to his. The tears I was holding back overflow and run down my face.
He slowly shakes his head. “No, Carrie. That’s why I killed him.”
Carrie
“What?” I shift back in my seat.
He killed his stepdad.
I don’t know what he sees on my face, but whatever it is, it makes his pale.
“Shit. Carrie, I’m not going to hurt you.” He holds his hands up, like he’s surrendering.
“What?” I stutter, realization quickly dawning on me. “Oh God, no. I know you won’t hurt me.”
If he was going to hurt me, then he would have by now. And a man who hunts down sex offenders to protect children is not a man I need to be afraid of.
I move closer to him to reassure him that my reaction was not one out of fear.
“I’m not scared of you. I’m just …” Stunned. Lost for words. “I don’t know what I am. Shocked, I guess. It’s a lot of information to take in, in one go.” I’m blinking furiously, trying to clear my mind and gather my thoughts. “But you were just a child when he … when you …”
He exhales a breath and nods, eyes fixed on the wall ahead. “I was eight when I killed him. It … the abuse had been going on for a long time prior to that. Things were … getting worse. I couldn’t tell my mom what was happening because he said he would kill her if I did, and then I’d be left with him. Just me and him.”