Zero Sum Game

She’d not had a good start in life. Abandoned at birth, she’d entered the system almost as soon as she’d taken her first breath. Over the years she was occasionally fostered out, but invariably she was soon back in the system. She’d actually been with one family for over a year, and everything had looked good, until breast cancer took one foster parent and grief took the other. After that she was unmanageable. Nobody wanted her. Everything was in her notes, there just wasn’t the money to care.

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Sin

She stood in the water before him. It had been a hot summer so far, but the water was cooler than she’d expected. It was also not as clear as she’d have liked. She couldn’t see anything below the surface, although once or twice she’d felt something brush against her leg. Maybe it was a fish. Maybe it was a weed. Maybe it was something bigger, it certainly wasn’t unknown in these parts. She felt a little wary, and stupid. This had seemed like a good idea, despite the trip. Once the thought had got stuck in her head it didn’t seem to shift, and now she was here.

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