by Ben Follows
“What do you mean?” He couldn't tear his eyes from the photo. He knew he had to act casual, but seeing how Danielle had grown up was too much for him.
“You look pale," said Tatiana.
“I’m feeling a bit sick.” He clutched the counter with one hand and gave her back the pictures. His legs trembled, no matter how much he willed them to stop. “I need to get going."
He dumped a handful of random change onto the counter to pay for the whiskey and the burger which Beth was putting on the counter.
Marcus stumbled into the parking lot.
He grabbed onto the roof of a car to stabilize himself.
“Paul? Are you okay?” said Tatiana.
Marcus looked up, taking a moment to remember his fake name. Tatiana was standing beside him.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m fine. I'll get a room at the motel.”
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," said Marcus, nodding. He pushed off the car and stood up straight. "It was nice meeting you."
He turned and walked towards the motel adjacent to the pub. He glanced back once to see if Tatiana was still watching him, and saw her duck back inside.
He stopped and straightened. He looked around and found a dark, dimly lit corner. He sat down on the sidewalk and leaned against the wall.
He waited in that corner for what seemed like an impossibly long time, constantly worrying that Tatiana would realize who he was and sneak out the back. He couldn't risk checking his phone. It was sitting in his pocket, switched off. He was sure that Angela had a way of tracking him, and he knew she would mess this up.
Tatiana was one of the people who had taken his heart from him eleven years earlier, and she was going to pay for it.
Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading Blind River! As a thank you, a preview of my next book is on the next page.
A review on Amazon or Goodreads is always appreciated. If you’d like to be notified when I release a new book or blog post, sign up for the mailing list on BenFollows.com or follow me on twitter @BenFollows12.
Thank you to all my beta-readers for their advice and critiques. I would try to list all of you, but I will inevitably forget someone and feel terrible about it.
Thank you to my parents for supporting me.
Thank you to Michael Garett from manuscriptcritique.com for editing this book.
Thank you to James at GoOnWrite.com for the cover design.
About the Author
Ben Follows graduated from McGill University with a degree in history. He lives in the Greater Toronto Area. He loves books, running, guitar, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Blind River is his first published book.
His next book, The Absence of Screams, will be released in June 2017.
BenFollows.com
[email protected]
For my parents,
without your endless support this book would never have existed
Copyright © 2017 by Ben Follows
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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