Chapter 8

AMELIA

I pace through the library door, pushing the newly borrowed book I was reading earlier into my bookbag. I know I have to walk home tonight since there's nothing much I can do. There's something wrong with the fuel tank in my car, and I can't get it fixed till they pay me by the end of this month.

The car I drive right now is an old second-hand Chevy Cavalier, from the nineties, and it breaks down every other month. With all the bills racking up in my life, I have made my peace with it not working on some days, and I'm grateful for the days when it does decide to work.

Otherwise, I'm okay with walking.

It's obviously good for my health.

Walking every day keeps the monsters at bay.

Fine, I'll stop with the wisecracks.

My run from the pharmacy after work to the hospital was a quick one. Some part of me thought if I paced to the library as if my life depended on it, there would be new stuff for me to read tonight.

I badly need the escape that books bring into my life.

Also, I had