Page 7 of Not Your Body

“Yes,” the doctor murmured.

“Her parents…?”

“They’re with her now.”

Jade swallowed. “Can… can I see Amy?”

“Of course.”

Jade rose on numb legs and followed the doctor out of the waiting room.

BEFORE

The Angry Sister

‘Ms. Palmer, this is Deputy Dwayne from the sheriff’s department, we spoke at the hospital yesterday. Sheriff Hunt would like to speak to you further about the events surrounding your sister’s death. Please come by the department at your earliest convenience. Thank you.’

When Jade got out of the shower, the voicemail awaited her. Her body ached from an internal pain that had prevented her from sleeping well last night. When she first opened her eyes, she thought yesterday was just a nightmare and she would find Amy in the kitchen eating chocolate chip pancakes, her favorite breakfast. Jade had lain in bed waiting for the aroma of the pancakes to drift down the hall to the bedroom. But there was no sweet smell of pancakes… and no Amy in the kitchen.

The nightmare was real.

Jade listened to the voicemail again and dropped the phone on the bed. Deputy Dwayne. She barely remembered the officer. After viewing Amy’s body, she’d mentally checked out. She’d felt like she was standing outside her body as she answered the deputy’s questions, hearing her voice as if it belonged to someone else, giving him basic details with a detached, hollow tone. Jade couldn’t even remember what exactly she had told him. Apparently, it wasn’t enough because the sheriff had asked to speak with her.

I don’t want to talk about it anymore.Jade sank onto the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands. Her blood felt replaced by lead, weighing her down. When she closed her eyes, she was standing over Amy’s body at the hospital again—her brutalized,violatedbody.

The rage surged within, making her dizzy.

Images of three faceless men swirled inside her head, their identities hidden.

I’ll find you motherfuckers. You don’t get to hide.

Jade saw her fingers sliding through Amy’s hair as her sister’s bruised face blurred.

“I’ll find them, baby. They won’t get away with this. I promise.”

The promise she’d made yesterday as she stood alone in that room with her dead sister continued to grip her. She intended to keep her word… somehow. Someone somewhere knew these men. Jade’s entire existence now consisted of one goal—find themand avenge her little sister.

Jade cleared her throat and raised her head, wiping dampness from her eyes. Her gaze drifted to the nightstand and rested heavily on Amy’s cell phone, lying dark and silent beneath the lamp. Jade had rarely seen the device turned off. Amy was constantly taking pics and recording videos—of everything. But mostly, of her and Jasmine. How many videos of Amy and Jasmine filled up the phone? All Jade had to do was open the phone to see her sister’s bright, smiling face… hear her laughter and sweet voice.

Tears formed as she reached for the phone and held it lovingly. All she had left of Amy was inside the device. She turned it on but hesitated to venture inside.

Don’t do it. You’re not ready.

Jade opened it anyway, aware of the crippling anguish that awaited her.

It took a moment for her to go into the images, and when she did, her heart crumbled as photo after photo displayed Amy and Jasmine smiling and laughing, making funny faces, so full of happiness andlife.

“Amy…” Jade sobbed and hung her head. Tears streamed down her face and her chest tightened until she could hardly breathe.

This isn’t fair… this shouldn’t have happened… they had no FUCKING RIGHT!

“I hope you all burn infucking hell!”Jade cried. “I hope the devilfucks you up the ass for all eternity!”An ache webbed through Jade’s face as she clenched her jaw against the seething rage scorching through her. “Fuck you! FUCK YOU!!”Jade wilted onto the bed in a sobbing fit, curling into herself, and hugging Amy’s phone to her chest. “I’m so sorry, Amy,” she whispered brokenly. “I’m so sorry, baby… it wasn’t supposed to happen to you… it wasn’t… it wasn’t…”

Jade didn’t know how long she lay there cradling her sister’s phone. The numbness returned when she finally sat up. Her body still felt heavy, and she didn’t want to move, but the sheriff was expecting her. Rather than stand up, Jade leaned forward and stared blankly at the cell phone. She opened it again and scrolled through the videos without watching any. The photos were hard enough to view, she didn’t think she could handle a video. Jade started to turn off the phone when she noticed the three most recent videos were dated yesterday.

I can’t look. I can’t see her “alive”—I can’t handle it.

Her eyes swam as pain racked her heart, nearly seizing the muscle. Against her will, her thumb slid over the first video and opened the file. It wasn’t Amy’s face that appeared, but footage of the protestors outside the college. Mostly young men, waving signs that statedTypes of Property: Women. Slaves. Land. Cars.And,Your Body, MY Choice.Other signs proclaimed that women no longer had rights. The men chanted the slogans with smug malevolence and chauvinistic superiority.

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