Silencing Joy Read Online Free PDF Page A

stunned.
    “That’s him. He’s dead... Oh hell, he’s dead,
Jen.” Jen and I wore the same astonished face.
    “I shouldn’t have listened to him. I should
have taken him to the hospital.” I started getting hysterical.
Guilt flooded through me, and my hands shook like they never had
before. Tears stung my eyes. “It’s my fault. I should have done
something. I should have gone inside with him. I should have told
the police like you said.”
    My phone rang. We both jumped a mile. I got
up automatically to pick it up off the counter, but was all thumbs
and dropped it. With trembling fingers, I finally managed to get
the phone to my ear.
    “Hello?”
    “I’m coming to get you. Get rid of your
friend,” a man’s voice said from the other end of the line.
    “Who’s this?” I stammer.
    “I said, I am coming to get you. Pack your
things.” It was a weird, dreamlike sensation. Terror struck me
through the heart with a vice grip on my breath.
    Jen leaned over the back of the couch,
watching me.
    “Who is it, Joy?”
    Fear for Jen paralyzed me. This situation was
spiraling out of control. My protective instincts for Jen kicked
in. I can’t let anything happen to her! I hit the end button
on the phone.
    “Wrong number.”
    “Thank goodness, you went even paler than you
already were,” Jen declared, sounding relieved. She looked at me
with a comforting expression. “Now, there was nothing you could do
about Will. He told you not to take him to the hospital. You didn’t
know him. You did the best you could by taking him home. It’s not
your fault. You can’t blame yourself.”
    “Yeah, um...I know...” My stomach knotted up.
Nausea set in. “I think a shower might make me feel better,” I
lied.
    “Good idea. I am going to make us some
supper, and I’ll come back in about an hour. Try to get some rest.
How does chicken sound?” Just the mention of chicken made me want
to hurl where I stood.
    “That would be great. A nice hot shower and
dinner is just what I need.” I tried to force a resigned smile. I
wasn’t sure if Jen was going to fall for it, but, when she starts
towards the door, I knew I had won.
    “See you in an hour.” She closed the door
behind her.
    As soon as the door clicked shut, I raced to
the bathroom to expel everything that was in my stomach. I retched
and retched; my nerves would allow me to eat next to nothing in the
past few days since the beating and my attack. Today, all I had had
was the ice cream that was splattered all over the floor by my
couch, and now my toilet bowl.
    I took a shower and cleaned myself up. I put
my wet hair in a ponytail and pulled on some sweats. Without doing
much thinking, I dampened a dishrag and began cleaning up the
broken bowl and ice cream.
    Panic had made me hit the end button on my
phone, but I knew whoever was coming for me would find me no matter
where I went. I was in this deeper than I thought, even though I
didn’t know what this was.
    I called Jen to tell her I was going to take
a nap instead of eating dinner. I asked her to wake me at eight. If
the call was a crank, I would sleep, then get up and eat a late
dinner with her. If it was real, then I would have to face it head
on. I didn’t want to involve Jen. I cared about her like the sister
I never had. Her friendship had been constant and unwavering for
years. She was important to me.
    Thirty minutes after the phone call, I sat on
my bed with my baseball bat across my legs. I positioned myself
against the wall to wait. My eyes grew heavy, and I lay down.
    I must have dozed off. I blinked my bleary
eyes until I shook off the sleep. A glance at my digital clock
showed it was seven-thirty. The bat had rolled off me and lay by my
side.
    Clink, clink. Rattle.
    The sound came closer. I twisted my head
towards the noise emanating from the fire escape. My heart thudded.
The streetlight shone in through the window as I stared blindly at
it, waiting for something to happen.
    A second later, the