Altered Life

  *

  SOMETHING BROKE IN my stomach and flooded my mouth with a taste of bile. I stared at her body and felt as though something had come full circle – I’d watched the trajectory of someone’s life turn towards me, keep glittering contact for a while, then arc away once more, only to return and end its flight in this dank and squalid place, in a vehicle built less than a mile from where I lived. I was sad for Tara and I was sad for myself. Despite everything, in the end I’d done nothing to change this outcome.

  Then from the front of the garage, a voice said, ‘Step away from there.’