Mariah's Web: A Sister's Cruelty

"The Last Drop." It

alk without stumbling too much. The town was a couple of hours away, a grimy, for

nd despair. A burly man with a stain

ffection. "She' s here to work off her sins. She' ll do whatever you need.

pens at six. She can star

ng beers even in the late afternoon. Sometimes, hushed deals happene

filthy bathrooms, serving watery drinks to leering men.

sit at a table, sipping a soda, her eyes glittering with triumph a

d say, loud enough for others to hear. "But

, to shut down her emotions. Each insult

g second-best after Sarah' s father died and her mother remarried Mariah' s widowed father. Mariah, who believed Sarah got undue a

d it easy. Mother always doted on her, even after Dad died

ed two jobs, loved both girls as best she could.

s constant whispers, seemed t

s is what happens when you stray from righteousness

rah' s meager earnings – and leave with Mariah, th

and stare at her reflection in a dirty window. She was a gho