She knew the consequences of disobeying when hewas in this kind of mood. Her scars and a few broken bones taught her to obey.Obedience had been forced... then enforced, until it was second nature. Fearwas an excellent teacher. She felt the straps being released from their strong hold on her body. Oneby one, the straps snapped away. She knew she couldn't walk, he had made certainof that by keeping her in the same position for three days, with just waterkeeping her alive. Her last morsel of food. ..” Jada started to cry.“Jada?!”“I’m okay!” She sucked in several deep breaths. “I’m okay! I’m so happy, Mark!” Several more deep breaths. “We have so much to talk about...” There were more sounds of her blowing her nose. “But ... But wow. Maybe can we put it off, just for a bit? I need some time to settle down.”“Sure, sure. I love you.”“I know! I love you back ... Uh, I have to blow my nose again, one more time. Hang on...”A few moments later. “Right! Mark, there’s a few things you should know. “I was just curious,” he replied, “I’ve never seen it in the house before.”I wanted to grab it from him and hit him over the head with it, but then I knew that if I did that, I might break it. Rick handed me the tablet and said I should probably keep it out the reach of the kids since it was not our tablet and, “there’s no telling what might be on it.”Rick and I had an on-again and off-again relationship. I secretly fixed him up with one of my housewife friends, who had designs on him anyway,. “C’mon guys, you can do it! Go!” It was a bright and warm Thursday afternoon. The Richfield Community soccer field was hosting a game between their local team the Cougars against their cross-town rivals, the Tigers. The field was swarming with the 18 year-old boys from both teams. The sidelines were populated by parents cheering the game on. Sitting alone on the bench for the Cougars was Tommy McFarlane. Tommy was small for his age and somewhat still socially awkward. Although dressed and ready.