Transience by Stevan Mena

road like this.  
    "Rebecca?   You don't ride this way to school, do you?"
    "No.   I go down Atlantic, like you told me to," she said, as if wondering why she would even ask such a stupid question.
    "Right.   That's what I thought."

    They reached the school.   Laura stopped the car along the curb by the front entrance.   Rebecca grabbed her book bag and scanned the yard for bullies, searching for the path of least resistance. She opened the door and stepped out.
    "Have a good day, sweetie.   Try to have fun, okay?"
    Rebecca waved goodbye and headed inside.   Tommy spotted her, altering his trajectory to ensure their paths would cross.   He stuck his foot out as she passed by, but she didn't fall.   Rebecca was ready and had steadied herself.  
    Laura wasn't ready, and bit her lower lip when she saw it happen.   She put the car in park and was ready to get out to strangle the little shit when Rebecca turned at the top of the school steps, waving at her with a strained smile.   Laura waved back, her mouth a flat line.   Rebecca disappeared inside.   Laura waited a few seconds before putting the car in gear, still squeezing the steering wheel.
     
    Rebecca made her way through the hall, avoiding eye contact.   A friendly voice penetrated her defenses and she looked up.
    "Hi," Holly said.   How brave to risk humiliation , Rebecca thought.   She smiled back.  
    "What, are you friends with this weirdo?" Christina said.   Held back in first grade, Christina was tall and as beautiful as she was evil.  
    "Are we friends, Rebecca?" Holly asked.  
    For a moment Rebecca wasn't sure if Holly was hoping she'd answer no just to bail her out, or if she was standing her ground, even sticking up for her.   Holly also didn't have many friends, but from what she knew, Rebecca figured Holly couldn’t care less what the other kids thought of her.  
    "Yeah, we're friends."
    Holly turned back to Christina. "I guess we're friends."  
    Christina made a face like she smelled something foul and walked away shaking her head. "Psycho…"  
    Holly walked with Rebecca to class. "Don't let those jerks get to you," Holly said.   Rebecca nodded.   It wasn't the first time she'd gotten that advice.  

CHAPTER 22

    Sam Cheung was considered one of the best forensic pathologists in his field.   He had thick black hair and wore silver rimmed bifocals.   He stood alongside Jack, examining the bones of the deceased girl.   Sam pointed with a serrated blade to the area around the clavicle and jawbone.   Jack leaned in.
    "The hyoid bone was crushed.   Here and here, see?   Powerful hands."  
    The skull was tilted backwards, mouth open, as if frozen in a silent scream.   Sam walked around the table, removing the tarp that covered the victim's lower extremities.   He'd cleaned the excess dirt and residue from the cadaver.   The bones had acquired a yellowish color from the years of decay.
    "These marks on the fibula and ankle were caused by some sort of restraint, a wire.   Lab's testing the residue." Sam pointed to each mark as he described them.   "She pulled so hard to break free, it dug right through the skin, serrated the bone."
    "Held captive?" asked Jack.   Sam nodded.
    "Same as the others." Sam lifted the foot of the victim.   "There's trauma to the patella and feet.   These indentations here were caused by being kept immobile on a hard surface for an extended period of time.   The ulna and radius in the right forearm were shattered, possibly from blunt trauma, a fall maybe."
    Jack examined the remains, trying to envision what the girl once looked like.   For a brief moment, he became introspective.   He saw himself lying on that cold table, someone poking around at him.   Only there would be no question what did him in.  
    Jack's eyes drifted over the bones.   He looked at the pale flesh of his own hand, then back at the skeleton.   Soon that will be all that's left of Jack Ridge .  
    He drifted inwardly long