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.With the cushion, I might have come up with a clever comeback.Without it, my fist (at least I kept the claws in) hammered into Uncle Phil s nose, bringing it flush with his skull.I was honestly surprised the punchconnected.So was Phillip.We stared at each other, and Phil s charming fa7ade vanished as he misted, maintaining his form, but with vapor trailingfrom the edges.I didn t like what I saw underneath that fa7ade.He grew in stature, not unlike Ian McKellen s Gandalf in the first Lord of the Ringsmovie, you know, when he s really pissed at Bilbo? I have a thing about being touched, I told him carefully. I m not apologizing, but it s from before, when I was human. I wanted to keep cool, not say anything else, but Uncle Phil just kept looking at me until I continued. I ll think about it, okay, but don t push me.It s my choice, nobody else s. Phil nodded slightly, and vanished as swiftly as he d arrived.No quip.No parting shot.Nothing.I was willing to bet that Uncle Phil s shit list had anew contender for numero uno.20GRETA:OLD HABITSAn hour after Uncle Phil left, I was still sitting in the mezzanine and my hunger was back.It wasn t a thirst for blood, but a craving for real food:cookies, ice cream, the crap they served over at the Demon Heart, anything that was full of fat, sugar, or grease.I d been dead for a long time, butstress still made me want to binge.When Dad found me, I was tall for my age, over one hundred ten pounds, nine years old, and miserable.a fat little girl with floppy fat-girlboobs.I still remember it even though I doubt he does.Dad s memory is tricky.I think it s because he was embalmed.It makes Dad forget things,lots of things, so it s hard to know what Dad does or doesn t remember.In a way, I hope he doesn t remember it.It was a warm summer night and the breeze kept it from being too humid.We were at the beach well,at a rental house near the beach.It was the only vacation my foster parents had ever taken me on.Henry and Diane (my foster parents) got into anargument, which wasn t really unusual since they fought all the time, but Diane stormed out and left me with Henry.She d never done that before.Henry had made it clear that all he was interested in was a government check, but Diane had been really nice to me.I expected her to come rightback, but she didn t.I don t like to think about what happened after Henry got drunk, but not a night goes by when I don t remember what happened later.Henry waspassed out in the bed and I was lying there halfway under him, too afraid to move.In my head I kept thinking about what I was going to do when I got my courage up.I told myself that I was going to get a pair of scissors and sniphis bits off or find a kitchen knife and stab him in the heart.Maybe I would even set him on fire, or worse.Everything hurt, and more than anythingelse in the world, even more than I wanted revenge, I wanted to be brave enough to get up, walk downstairs, leave, and never look back.Before it happened I remember stillness, a calm that came over the house and the beach.The gentle roll of the waves became inaudible and thebreeze that blew the curtains stopped, leaving them hanging still in the night.Outside, a shadow crossed the open window, in front of the moon, andI got my first glimpse of Eric, my new daddy, the only real dad I ve ever known.He was glorious, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, with a whiteT-shirt.He looked almost like the Fonz in Happy Days reruns, but there was blood on his shirt.His boots hit the windowsill and, halfway in andhalfway out of the window, crouched low and dangerous, he stared at the scene: me, Henry, the bed, the tangle of sheets, the blood. This better be the right fucking house, he snarled. Is that Hank? I couldn t answer.He pulled a torn photo out of his pocket and looked at Henry. Yeah, that s Hank. He dropped the picture and it fluttered to the hardwood floor of the house Henry had rented.In the moonlight, I could see the three of us Henry, Diane, and me standing in front of their housein Whedonville.There was blood on the photo, too.Eric grabbed Henry by the feet and tossed him out of bed. Wha.? was all Henry got out before he hit the floor
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