Natural Selection Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Should I be worried, Detective? Is there a psychopath out
there stalking teenage girls or did Mariah get caught up in
something awful?”
    “ That’s what I’m trying to
figure out, Miss Hoffman.”
    I made myself walk out of the room and
the office beyond. As soon as I was in the hallway I started
running and didn’t stop until I was outside in the rain, breathing
deeply with my hands on my knees. Mariah’s death was upsetting, but
I didn’t understand this reaction. I’ve never been prone to
overreaction, but something about that symbol made my insides turn
to mush. It scared me more than the idea of somebody killing
teenage girls. And that made things even worse.
    I was saved from dwelling on it too
long by hands grabbing my shoulders. My face was pressed into a
muscular chest and the tears finally spilled—so hot I thought they
would burn me. We stood a long time with the rain slowly soaking us
as strength flowed into me from hands gently rubbing my back. I
knew it was Nathanial. I recognized that mysterious connection I
felt at his touch. Suddenly, the soggy Dashiki shirt he wore was
too much, and I needed his flesh against mine. I reached under the
thin fabric and placed my hands on his bare back, but it wasn’t
enough. I pulled away, fighting the need to tear his clothes
off—not in a sexual but just to feel his skin. I met his eyes and
saw a peculiar expression I couldn’t begin to decipher, something
deep and powerful lingering there. His expression turned grim, and
he reached out toward me, but I backed away, shaking my head. I
didn’t understand what was happening between us, and I was still a
little afraid of him. But more than that I was terrified how far
things could go while I was so emotionally raw. Turning around, I
ran down the street heedless of the rain or the puddles slowly
soaking my skirt.

 
     

    SOMETHING WAS WRONG with me, and I
didn’t know what it was. I needed my mom in a way I’d never needed
her before, and I was prepared to run the whole way if need be.
When I saw the familiar gold sedan pull up to the curb, I nearly
sobbed in relief. I wasn’t sure if the school had called her after
my hasty departure or if Nate did, and I honestly didn’t care. I
collapsed into the passenger seat and buckled in, hugging my knees
to my chest. I almost wanted my mom to yell at me for having my
feet on the seat. I think I just needed something normal to put the
whole mess into perspective. She stared ahead in silence as we
drove through the lightly populated streets toward home. I began to
shiver, so cold I didn’t think I would ever get warm again. She
reached out, placed a hand on my knee, and turned the heat up. Her
smile was meant to be reassuring as we pulled into the driveway,
but it couldn’t penetrate the haze.
    I felt like a little girl again as she
helped me change into dry clothes and gently dried and combed my
hair. She did all the right things in the way only a mom knows how.
Before I knew it I was telling her all of it: the police at school,
the symbol and its strange effect on me, even trying to tear Nate’s
shirt off so I could touch his skin. By the time I ran out of
things to tell her, we were curled up in my bed with my head
pressed to her chest so I could hear her heartbeat, her arms
wrapped tightly around me. After I stopped talking, we lay there
for a time in silence listening to the rain on the roof.
    “ There’s a lot you need to
know, Lia. Stuff about you and our whole family. It’s been coming
for a while, but I’ve been trying to put it off as long as
possible. I think it’s time you knew. Let me call your father and
get him home.” With that she stood and walked out of my room,
leaving me alone with the rain on the roof and a growing sense of
dread.
    When Dad got home about twenty minutes
later, he came into my room and sat at the foot of my bed the way
he had since I was a little girl. He held my eyes with his own moss
green ones, and I felt safe. Nothing