The Second Coming Read Online Free PDF Page A

tonight Mr. Rafferty turned the table on Shelly.
    “What’s a beautiful, young lady like you doing working in a place like this?” he asked with a smirk.
    Shelly smiled at his underhanded compliment. “It has character and I don’t have anyone else I would rather watch Sunday night baseball with.”
    “You don’t have any family in the area?”
    “No, it’s just little-ole-me.”
    “Where are your parents?”
    “My mom and step-dad live in Montana,” she replied as she grabbed a cigarette and lit it.
    “Where’s your biological father?”
    “I’m not sure. He left when I was 4,” she told him with a quiver in her voice.
    “I’m sorry my dear. Nobody’s heard from him since?”
    Shelly shook her head.
    “Would you like to know where he is?”
    Shelly let out a deep breath and took a sip of her beer. “I don’t know. There’s a part of me that wants to know why he left us, but there’s a part of me that knows it won’t make up for what he did to us.”
    Mr. Rafferty nodded his head. There was a moment of silent reflection.
    “I know people who are in the business of locating people who do not want to be found. If you ever want to know, just say the word.”
    “Thank you,” she said as she touched his hand.
    “What about your mom and step dad? Do you keep in contact with them?”
    “I left home after I graduated from high school. I haven’t talked to either of them since then.”
    “What happened that was so bad it caused you to leave and never go back?”
    “I don’t like to talk about it.”
    “I know it’s difficult, but sometimes it helps to talk about it. You can’t run from your problems like your father did.”
    Shelly paused and stared at Mr. Rafferty. “When I was sixteen, my step father started making advances towards me. One night he kissed me and held me against him. I struggled to get away, but he was too strong.” Tears filledher eyes and ran down her cheeks. “He raped me.” She began to sob, her body silently shaking.
    “That’s alright my dear. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “When I told my mom about it, she didn’t believe me. She believed him more than she believed me,” her body shook as she stood behind the bar silently sobbing.
    Mr. Rafferty scurried around the bar and placed his hands on her arms. Shelly hugged him with all of her strength. He held her in his arms as she cried, her tears soaking the shoulder of his shirt.
    “I don’t want you to worry about anything. I will take care of you. If there is ever anything you need, you just let me know.”
    Shelly smiled and kissed him. “Thank you.”
    “I mean it. Anything at all.”
    “Can you kill my step father?” Shelly asked half-heartedly.
    “It can be arranged,” Old Man Rafferty replied with a glimmer in his eyes.
    “I’m just kidding,” Shelly said dismissively.
    “I’m not. You just say the word and the same goes for finding you biological father. You just let me know and I will take care of it.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    Mr. Rafferty was settled back on his stool when the front door blew open. A cool draft entered the room like an invisible force, sending chills up her spine. The dark silhouette of a tall man with a hood pulled over his head stood in the doorway.
    “We’re closed,” Shelly announced.
    The figure loomed motionless in the doorway. Shelly tried to focus on the man’s face, but all she could see was darkness. Mr. Rafferty spun around on his stool.
    “I’m just getting ready to lock up,” Shelly said loudly.
    The dark figure didn’t move or say anything.
    “Is there something we can help you with?” Mr. Rafferty asked.
    The dark stranger stood in the doorway. Shelly’s heart began to race. What the hell was he doing?
    “Are you alright?” Mr. Rafferty asked as he hoped off his stool.
    The dark figure abruptly stepped back and slammed the door.
    Shelly stared at Mr. Rafferty with wide eyes. “That was creepy.”
    “Crazy kid. He