It means that it all happened a very long time ago and I’ve learnt to accept the cards life has dealt me. There’s nothing that I can do now, that ...ill change anything that happened back then! So I get on with my life here and try to forget the past; and what used to be!”Dee didn’t reply in words, she stood up and stared at me for a few seconds after taking another quick glance at the rapidly approaching Jaz. It was obvious that Dee had more to say, but she was wondering whether she had the time. She leaned against me like she’d been shot, staggering a little, just limp, and I put my arm around her waist. She reminded me of helping a tackle off the field in college. He was gone, like he was completely air sick or half knocked out, with some legs left, but not much, just sagging against me. That’s the way I got her to the door of the motel. Inside she flopped away from me like a dead fish and fell face down on the bed. For a second I thought she was ill, not with tears, but with a fever. Shaking fingers scrambled to unlock the door as the oppressive night air surrounded her. Once inside, she quickly rolled down the windows releasing the heat collected over the past few hours. She watched as he exited the store, stopping to look around before heading thirty feet to a black car parked near the closed gym. "Ohh..." Ivy sighed in relief. He slid into the car and drove away minutes later. It had been a long day and night. Her new schedule gave her insomnia, and it was too damn hot. It was getting almost uncomfortably tight, and she could feel thelarge bulge of knots behind her left ear. She was about to come when thehangman's words almost knocked her over. "I'm really going to hangyou," he whispered. "Your feet will dangle a foot above the floor.I'm going to watch you kick and struggle and moan. Your windpipe will becrushed, but it will take several minutes for you to die. It will beexcruciatingly painful for you. I'm going to leave you hanging for an hour tomake sure.