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Back Black Ambrosia Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. CoverImage
  2. Introduction by Grady Hendrix
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. About the Author
  46. About the Cover

“I saw her the day Mrs. Gardener fired her. I showed up early, because I knew that Mrs. Gardener would have to come in early to see Angelina before she went home, and I had all the evidence. I was surprised at how she looked. In fact, I hardly recognized her. She’d been on midnights just over six months, and boy, it had really taken its toll on her. She was as skinny as a bag of bones; her eyes seemed dark and sunken; her blonde hair didn’t even look blonde anymore, it looked kind of gray. She seemed anxious to get away, and when Mrs. Gardener fired her, she just took the check and left. Didn’t say anything. In fact, I thought she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. Getting fired would wake me up, that’s for sure. But not Angelina. I don’t know what drugs she was taking, but she was really strung out. I mean, I’ve seen strung-­out people before, and she was, like, totally done.

“I kind of worried about her a little bit, you know? I mean, she lived in a basement under a warehouse down in the light-­industrial side of town, kind of a spooky place. I went by to talk to her, to see if she was all right, but she never answered the door. That was okay, though, really, because I didn’t really want to go in that place, it was too creepy. I just wanted to check on her, you know? I never really wanted to be her friend.”

20

20

As a compromise between Her vigorous demands of me and my own desperate need for companionship, I developed a sort of system as I picked over the town for suitable company. I spent a certain amount of time at Alcoholics Anony­mous meetings, PTA meet­ings, Parents Without Partners, high-­school dances, and other such gatherings. Occasionally I’d find a loner, preferably a visitor, and we would pair up, providing his nutritional habits were suit­able. Public­ity and town security made this difficult at times; the local residents seemed a bit hysterical over the miss­ing-­persons scandal, but my persistence always won out.

The spring floods tidily disposed of the little shack by the pond, flushed out my little amusement park, cleansing the entire area in general. I heard rumors of officials conducting investigations in town, but I was not worried because the general consensus assumed the disappearances were drug-­related. In addition, I was pleasing Her, and surrounded by the protection of Her powerful influence, I felt safe.