Glory (Book 1) by Michael McManamon

him too much. But he wanted the young girl to trust him. In order to do that he needed to listen.
    "He came upstairs and knocked on my door," she went on. "I didn't open it at first. I was scared. But he told me not to worry. That he was here to help."
    Shelly paused and looked out of the window. Her eyes focused on something that Adam couldn't make out. He decided to wait for her to continue. It wasn't long before she did.
    "So, I let him in." She seemed ashamed. "I didn't know what else to do."
    "It's okay. I would have done the same thing."
    "You would have?"
    "Sure. You were scared. It's understandable."
    "It is?"
    "Of course it is."
    "It was also stupid," Shelly added.
    "Maybe," Adam admitted. He didn't want to lie to her. He didn't want to risk losing her trust. "But you had to find out. You couldn't have known."
    "I guess you're right," she said, weakly.
    Adam continued to look at her. She clutched her blanket, looking younger holding it that way. Like a child. He felt such empathy for her. He wanted to go over and hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay, except he knew that that wouldn't be okay to do. She'd be frightened. Possibly run away.
    He sat and waited.
    "He said his name was Sam," she said. "Before I let him in, he introduced himself. He said his name was Sam and that he was going to help me. I thought everything was going to be okay."
    "It's going to be okay now," Adam assured her. "Try not to worry about it."
    "I even poured him a glass of juice."
    Shelly pointed to the kitchen table. Adam hadn't noticed it before, but there it was. A half empty glass of orange juice. He felt disgust that the man had had his lips pressed against it. The same lips that were on this young girl's neck. He wanted to stand up and throw the glass away. He didn't want to startle the young girl, though. Again, he decided to wait.
    "I thought that he was going to be nice."
    Adam looked at her. He wanted her to stop talking, to stop blaming herself. He knew that that's what she was thinking and it didn't do any good to think those things. He also knew that she needed to talk about it, to get it out.
    "He even said that he had a daughter like me. That her name was April. She had turned into one of thos e peopl e . He said that she attacked him. He was able to get away. He didn't know what happened to her after."
    Her voice trailed off.
    Finally, Adam decided that he needed to say something about it. He couldn't let her keep going on as though she had done something wrong.
    "Listen," he said. "It wasn't your fault."
    Shelly looked up at him. She didn't seem to believe him.
    "You couldn't've known that he was going to attack you," he continued. "Eve nI 'm shocked by it. No one could have known. You did nothing wrong."
    "Are you sure?" She looked like she wanted to believe him.
    "Of course I'm sure. You di d nothin g wrong. He was the one who did something wrong. He was the one who should feel bad about it. He was the one..."
    Adam could feel his temper rising again and he didn't want to startle her. It was just that the thought of the man drove him wild. He took a few deep breaths.
    "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I don't want to scare you."
    Shelly sat more upright.
    "You don't," she said. "I know that you're not like that man - Sa m ."
    Adam smiled. Then he laughed. "I should hope not!"
    Shelly smiled too.
    "Anyway," Adam continued, "he's gone now. You don't have to worry about him. You just need to learn from this."
    "Learn from this?"
    "Things have changed. People aren't the same as they used to be. And I'm not just talking about th e creature s . I guess everyone has changed in some way. You need to be careful from now on. W e al l do."
    Shelly dropped her head. "I guess you're right," she said sadly.
    Adam could see the hurt within her. He hadn't really thought about not being able to trust people until this moment. It pained him too. He looked at the young woman.
    "But you can trust me," he said.
    She looked up. "I