All the Pretty Dead Girls Part 50

"I know, I know." Sue looked back at the diner. "Just as much my mother's daughter." She sighed. "I just wanted to see Billy one more time, even from a distance. That's why I walked past the diner on my way to the bus station."

"Are you leaving town? Oh, no, Sue! There's so much you could tell us. The police, Dr. Marshall..."

Sue shook her head. "It's better that I go far, far away. There are those who are still out there. Very powerful people who want to bring about the end times. They'll be looking for me."

Bernadette grabbed her hand. No electric shock this time. Just the warmth of two hands coming together in the cold air. "You have free will, Sue-the right to choose," she told her. "I might not be in direct communication with the divine anymore, but this much I still know. You have the choice to do good, to do evil, or to do nothing at all."

"Yes," Sue said, her eyes betraying nothing as she looked at Bernadette. "I am aware of that."

"So-what then?" Bernadette's eyes pleaded with her. "What will it be, Sue? What will you choose?"

She didn't answer. She looked away, her face folding in anguish. She seemed not to know the answer.

Bernadette let her hand go, and Sue resumed walking.

"Where will you go?" Bernadette called after her.

"We will see," she said, without looking around, "where the road leads."

Bernadette stood there watching her until she was just a tiny dark figure against the bright white of the snow.