Page 153 of Driftwood Daffodil

“Did he survive?”

I knew the answer, I just wanted to watch her eyes light up with angry sparks.

“Yes,” Novalee hissed.

My lips pursed in a fake frown, “Too bad.”

Her eyes narrowed on me.

My eyes narrowed on her.

“Leave Kato alone.”

Oh let me think about that,“No.”

It was almost cute the way she crossed her arms and stuck her chin out like she could defy me. “He’s doing his time.”

“Not good enough.” I said and headed over to clean up the mess I made.

“What would be good enough?”

“Well, he owes us a life debt, so…” I flipped the desk back on its feet then glanced back at Nova. “His death should about cover it.”

His bloody, painful and very miserable death.

“So you’re just going to torture Kato for the rest of his life?”

I slammed a drawer shut and nodded, “Pretty much.”

If I could torture him in the afterlife, I’d do that too.

Nova’s next sentence caused me to stop.

“What if I took his place?”

A smirk spread across my face.

Checkmate.

NOVALEE

Every fiber of my being wanted to drive down to Louisiana State Pen and have a strong word or two with the warden, but Memphis dragged me to the game instead. He said that it would take my mind off things until Kato could call. I don’t know why he thought basketball would do that.

It was just a bunch of guys in shorts running around with a ball. There wasn’t even any fighting. What kind of sport didn’t have fists and blood?

Ah, let’s be real. I wouldn’t have cared about those sports either. However, I could now let Sister Mary of the Hallway know that there were sixty-three spots staining the left side of the wall.

She seemed like the cleanliness is next to Godliness type. And I did enjoying seeing Memphis in his mascot uniform. From this day forth I would call him Easy M. That kind of made my suffering worth it.

That is until Atlee decided to join me.

He dropped down on the bench beside me and flashed his perfect white teeth. “Hey.”

“Why are you everywhere?”

Seriously. He was everywhere. I turned left and there was Atlee, turn right and there he was again. Walk into class and oh, guess what… Atlee. I think I even saw him outside my house the other day.

“I’m like God that way. I see everything.”

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