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CHAPTER ONE

Mila

Maht

Because I can feel the eyes watching h my bedroom , out there in the backwoods Mississippi darkness and et their rifle Not h

Never met my daddy, either

I takeit’s covered in luxurious silks, instead of a ratty sale-bin cohs and I raiseht, like clockwork, to watch ht of my week

One afternoon in June, I noticed there was a worn patch of grass outside, beneathof feet A e ones And it excited h I should have told ht away The only kind of h their bedroo private moments is most definitely a bad one

Iht during a fulloutside is one who everyone I know believes to be the bestus all A step above the rest A direct line to God

The town preacher, Joseph Stark A man whose very job is to quiet the devil inside his followers, yet he teases Lucifer himself to life inside me Makes him dance

His eyes are onhigher, until it catches aroundhe can see h they are It must excite him to seeback every single Sunday That mental reminder of his reliability

There’s only me and the presence outside theas I cuparound inso loud in my ears Look, Daddy Look your fill