<div align="center"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: times new roman;">Chapter 1: Anna Bell and Sue</span></span></strong><br/><br/><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: times new roman;">December 1998<br/>Columbia, Mississippi</span></span></em></div><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/young-man-laying-beach-ocean-handsome-down-phuket-island-thailand-shirtless-wearing-boxer-shorts-showing-muscular-90678232.jpg)</div>It was almost nine o'clock, which meant David was cutting it close. Pastor Bridges had been adamant about getting his daughter, Sue, back by nine, multiple times. A movie, then pizza, then home and no other stops along the way. David wasn't interested in having to hear it from his mom if he got the pastor upset, so he followed that strict schedule to the letter. The pair saw<em>Jack Frost</em>, which nearly put David to sleep, before they went to Yoyo's Pizzeria off Maddison. For some reason, David found it much harder to talk to Sue when they were by themselves and not surrounded by family members and other church members, or even at school. Just the two of them like that, he didn't really know what to say half the time, but Sue wasn't the sort of girl to take command of the conversation so he had to lead by default. The evening was awkward at points, but overall it was nice.<br/><br/>Sue was a sweet girl, only about a month younger than David, and they'd known each other since they were eight years old. Basically grew up together. Sue was as close to being a sibling as David ever knew. But, when they got older, there was this unspoken attraction between them, something that neither dared to speak life into due to the way they'd been brought up. Or, maybe it was just that Sue was<em>Anna's little sister</em>that drew him to her. Sue was cute and nice and would probably make a great girlfriend and possibly wife and mother in the future, but she wasn't<em>Anna</em>. Almost seven years older than them, the moment David hit puberty his most lurid sexual fantasies all involved Anna Bell in them.<br/><br/>Which was why that night was about to take a distinct turn for the star baseball player at Columbia High School. David walked her to the door and opened up.<br/><br/>"There they are!" Sue's mom, Tammy, was the first to greet them as they walked through the foyer and into the living room. She was always quite the bubbly, lively personality, and was quick to hop up and give both David and her baby girl a hug.<br/><br/>"I hope ya'll had a real nice night," Tammy smiled. "Anna Bell, your sister's home!" Tammy turned off into the kitchen and gave a shout. David couldn't see due to a partition between the living room and kitchen, but his heart almost skipped a beat at hearing the name aloud.<em>Wait, Anna Bell is back?</em>he thought to himself. He hadn't seen her in, what, three years? She was off in college and then got a nice job for a while there. David straightened his back up a little and waited in anticipation. He was still holding Sue's hand, and realized that he was starting to squeeze it a little tightly and let it drift away and fall to his side.