Tony was the first to react. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a pair of sunglasses, and handed them to Maggie.
“Put these on and get outta here,” Tony instructed.
Maggie’s body felt like it was made of stone, but she willed her legs to lift her body from the chair. Joey was standing next to her and grabbed Maggie under the arm to hoist her up. One step at a time, Maggie headed toward the door with Joey beside her. As they approached the table where John William was sitting, Maggie paused and stared at him. Feeling an unwanted presence, John William looked up from his bowl of clam chowder and sneered at them. His eyes washed over Maggie and then Joey with perverted lust. Maggie remembered the look well, and her fear began to subside as rage pushed away any feelings of nervousness. Maggie looked over her shoulder. Tony pushed his chin toward the door to indicate that she had to keep moving.
As the two girls passed, John William gawked at Joey, and they heard him say, “Mmmmmm.” He was too stupid to look at their faces. Had he looked up, John William might have recognized Maggie. Even after all those years, Maggie looked like an older version of herself from childhood.
Once outside the diner, the fall air hit Maggie in the face, and she drew in a deep breath. She and Joey walked quickly toward the bus stop. Maggie looked back several times to see if Tony and Vincent had emerged from the diner, but they remained inside, and so did John William. She didn’t know what they had planned, but Maggie knew that whatever it was, the two men did not want Joey and her hanging around the diner to find out. As reality set in, Maggie’s anger grew until she could literally chew on the hate she felt for John William.
Maggie held onto Joey tightly as they sat in the very first seat on the bus, heading back to Whitemarsh. Maggie’s insides were churning just as they had when she was a little girl. She was thinking about her life inside the prison with Cali, Max, and the others. Her thoughts landed on Seth, the child whom John William had murdered.
“Maggie, that man looked really mean. He’s the one who stole you,” Joey stated.
Maggie nodded. “Yes, he’s the one who took me and Seth.”
“Do you hate him?” Joey asked.
“Yes, I hate him. I hate him a lot,” Maggie confirmed.
“Well, I hope he dies,” Joey said.
“So do I,” Maggie agreed. “I hope he dies a prolonged, painful death.”
“Prolonged?” Joey asked.
Maggie looked down at Joey. “Yes, prolonged…it means I hope he has pain for a long time before he dies.”
Joey squinted. “Just like we had a lot of pain when they had sex with us when we were kids, right?”
“Yes. Nothing could be as painful as what we went through. Oh, and by the way, you’re still a kid,” Maggie reminded her.
“Yeah, I know,” Joey said. “I remember when I first came to Kensington, and the kids at school used to tell Seth he was damaged goods. You know, I think we’re all a little damaged. What do you think?”
Maggie put her arm over Joey’s shoulder. “I don’t think we’re damaged, Joey. I think our experiences make us who we are, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with us.”
Joey pondered what she’d been told. “I don’t get it.”
Maggie leaned closer. “There are lots of people who go through bad things, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with those people. Look at us, for example. We went through bad things, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t really cool chicks.”
Joey smiled. “Yeah, you’re right.”
The two fell silent, and then Joey spoke again. “Maggie? I’m glad you picked me that day…from that place where they were keeping me, I mean.”
“Me too, Joey, but I wish I could’ve taken all the other little girls away from that place too,” Maggie admitted.
Joey nodded. She had been frightened by seeing John William in the flesh at the diner. She was scared that the man who’d stolen Maggie would take both of them back to the dreary place where men touched her in places that made her skin crawl and made her guts twist into tight little knots. But nothing bad had happened, she told herself over and over again as she rested her head in the crook of Maggie’s arm and let the sound of the bus tires lull her into a sense of numbness.
Maggie gave thanks as the bus left the city limits, and she wondered what, exactly, Tony and Vincent were going to do about John William. Their reaction had startled her. Even though she was initially scared when she saw John William, the look on Tony and Vincent’s faces made her feel exhilarated, even powerful. She imagined them telling John William what a piece of shit he was and scaring the hell out him with their sheer size and malicious demeanor. She basked in the thought of John William being scared and looking over his shoulder the whole way home.