Jerry went to the cafeteria for a cup and discovered he didn't want to drink it. He nodded at a hospital rent-a-cop and checked the time. He was supposed to be back in his car, but figured the duty sergeant wouldn't care if he started his report here instead of trying to do it in the car with the heater going full blast. Not that he had much to report. Tessa Smothers. Twenty-four, lives over on Clairemont with her ten-year old kid. Frostbite, malnourished, denied using. Started screaming at him when he hinted maybe she'd been rolled by a john, seemed sincere. But the main thing: her face, neck, hands and forearms were covered with welts she claimed were bug bites even though it was below freezing outside. Like she was fooling him: they tased _everyone_ who took nonlethal force training. But she wouldn't give him a name. Just said it was bugs and looked at her hands. He shook his head. The only thing he wanted more than a cigarette right now was five minutes with whoever had done the number on the girl. 2007-10-01T13:58:50Z http://ficlets.com/feed/story/10179 <p>I think it provides us with just what Tessa needs: another man in her life.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=15327 2007-10-01T13:58:50Z Alexa ♥ http://ficlets.com/authors/alexa1018 <p>I like it aswell keep it going.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=14247 2007-09-25T19:49:26Z The_Count http://ficlets.com/authors/the_count_318 <p>Gotta&#8217; love the plasticity of ficlet reality. I liked this, another jump into another character&#8217;s perspective but still related to the base idea.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=14145 2007-09-24T23:51:39Z THX 0477 http://ficlets.com/authors/thx_0477 <p>tessas&#8217; very troubled. You painted a very clear picture of her</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=14140 2007-09-24T23:35:26Z SKermitgorf http://ficlets.com/authors/kermitgorf <p>Wasn&#8217;t happy with her last name. Changed it.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=14124 2007-09-24T22:50:52Z Howie Amourscow http://ficlets.com/authors/user_396 <p>nice, very nice&#8230;like it!</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=14122 2007-09-24T22:47:55Z blueyedwonder http://ficlets.com/authors/blueyedwonder <p>I wasn&#8217;t going to do a &#8220;What <em>X</em> Wants&#8221; title, but the original title (&#8220;Bad Mornings&#8221;) just didn&#8217;t work when I needed to trim it down to ficlet length.<br />So here it is.<br />(In another universe, nobody finds Tessa. And in another universe after that one, she dies in the culvert. Just so you know. But if you see into one of those other universes, you should write about it so we can all see how things went. Or if you want to write some more about Jerry, that might be nice, too.)</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/10179?basename=14120 2007-09-24T22:45:20Z Howie Amourscow http://ficlets.com/authors/user_396