Chapter 9Addie sniffled and pummeled the pillow in mute misery. Her body ached, still recalling the rough way Jesse had used her. Her heart, numb while she'd said goodbye to Jesse, throbbed even more fiercely now that she was alone. She grieved as she'd never grieved in her young life, for her long-dead mother, her recently lost father, her first love's abandonment, and the most painful of all, for herself, for the innocence and hope that had colored her view of the world up to this point.
Disillusioned by too much loss, Addie pressed her mouth into the pillow and sobbed. Not with hysterical tears, but with the long, soul-deep whimpers of agonized despair. What life will I have now? What future? I wish I had died with my father and spared myself this.
Giving herself over to her misery, A
