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Begging for Mercie

By Sharon Srock

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BEGGING FOR MERCIE

Chapter 1

“Dead?”
Scottlyn cringed at Marie’s reaction to her news. She looked around the crowded library and motioned for her friend to lower her voice. “Yep, almost four months ago.”
“Oh wow…How?”
“There was a fight at the prison. The news reports make it sound like he tried to break it up and got stabbed in the process. Bled out before help could get there.” Scottlyn shrugged. “I haven’t really paid a lot of attention.” She had plenty to occupy her mind. Taking care of a one-year-old, volunteering at the shelter. She looked at the stack of books on the table. College in the fall. “I stay pretty busy.”
“I bet you’re glad, though.”
Scottlyn sat back and looked at her friend with wide eyes. “Marie, that’s a horrible thing to say.”
“Bradley Nelson raped you. Seems to me that would generate a bit of hate for the person—and glee for the corpse.”
Scottlyn stared at her companion. Marie was one of her best friends from Saber High, just back from her first year of college, and obviously out of touch with reality. “He gave me Mercie.”
“Well yeah, but—”
“Scottlyn Rich?”
Scottlyn tucked her long blonde hair behind her ear and looked into the face of a stranger. The man was scarecrow skinny. His black suit hung from his shoulders, his white shirt gapped around a scrawny chicken neck. “Yes.”
He stretched out his hand, offering her a packet of neatly folded paperwork. Without thought, her hand came up to grasp them. “What…?”
“You’ve been served.”
“Served…what…?”
“You’ll find everything you need to know inside,” Chicken Neck replied.
The man turned without further explanation, cutting a path around the reading tables and racks of books. The library door slid shut behind him.
“That was weird,” Marie said.
Scottlyn nodded. “Way.” She unfolded the papers while Marie looked over her shoulder.
“Those look like legal papers.”
Scottlyn motioned for her friend to be quiet, reading the top sheet in a whisper. “In the matter of Gabe and Penny Nelson, plaintiffs, versus Scottlyn Denise Rich, defendant. We the plaintiffs wish to petition the court regarding custody of the minor child, Mercie Delynn Rich.” The rest of the words blurred beneath nerves and fury. Scottlyn’s hands shook as she folded the papers.
“What is it?”
Scottlyn pushed aside the books she’d been studying before Marie’s visit interrupted her. She shoved the papers into her bag. Her legs trembled when she stood. “I have to go.”
“What…?”
“I’ll call you.” Scottlyn followed the path of Chicken Neck’s exit and rushed across the parking lot for her red Rav4. Her hands were trembling so badly she had trouble getting the key inserted into the ignition. Her mind refused to take in what she’d read. And what she had read…surely she’d misunderstood. The five miles between the library and home passed in a haze. She jerked the vehicle to a stop in the driveway, raced up the walk, and barreled through the front door. “Diana!”

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