Dolores grabbed the hose and she climbed out of the pool, gasping for a long time by the pool, her face covered in algae and snot.

The water bubbled behind her, and it was a long time before Dolores remembered Anne, and she turned her head to see that there were bubbles in one or two places on the surface of the pool covered in algae, and she wondered if Anne had crawled out of it...... Maybe there is, maybe not, she stared at the tranquil pool of water, remembering the sweet smile - Anne had deliberately pulled Dolores into the water, a dastardly prank, and everything that happened in the water...... Anne's strength was so great that Dolores could barely put up any resistance, as she had done before her - but Dolores was sure she managed to break free...... She lifted her arm, blood everywhere on her bare skin, no, maybe not just breaking free, she curled her fingers and saw more than one nail turning back...... She remembered how her enraged self grabbed Anne by the hair and pressed her into the water.

The little girl hugged herself, tightly, as if she would tremble so much that all the bones of her body would spread apart—she found a nest of ryegrass that grew very luxuriantly under the olive tree, hid herself in it, and put her hands on her knees, knees against her chin, and she gently shook her body and sobbed quietly.

***

Joseph. It was already four o'clock in the morning when Kent got home.

He signed the DNR (Waiver of Rescue Consent) half an hour earlier. He and Mary's baby was on the verge of death several times before he arrived at the hospital, and the doctor told him that the existing medical conditions allowed the baby to continue to live, but in any case, he would not be healed and would not be awake, and the only way to free him from his pain was death - Joseph. Kent didn't take the doctor's advice, and after consulting with Mary, he signed his name directly on the consent form - when the doctor and nurse removed the pipes and equipment from the little blue and purple body, he felt his body stiff and cold, and if possible, he wanted to fall to the ground and cry bitterly...... It was a boy who, just before leaving home, went to the baby store to buy a pair of small blue socks.

Mary's spirit has become so unstable because of this accident that she even suspects their adopted daughter, Anne. Kent hurt their child, incoherently, hysterically, and if it weren't for the doctor's decision to add a tranquilizer to the infusion for her physical considerations, Joseph. Kent had no way out of the ward at all—although he was cared for by Mrs. Borow, Joseph Brown. Kent still can't rest assured, the two children came by accident and happened to meet Mary. Kent was yelling indiscriminately, and she even tried to jump out of bed with a needle when she saw the children...... In the midst of the chaos, Joseph really couldn't take care of the two children, so he asked Madame Borough to bring them home for the time being...... He remembered Anne. Kent's stiff face, emotionless before he turned away, and Dolores' suspicious and frightened eyes...... He shouldn't have let the kids come to the hospital.

He deliberated over and over again along the way, chewing and chewing every word between his tongue and teeth, and he wanted to talk to the two children simply, but well, to comfort them, to reassure them, and he did not want Anne, especially Anne, to be alienated from Mary because of this incident...... Anyway, Mary loved the child so much...... And Dolores, his little bunny, and his little dog, and little goat, and she must have been sad and disappointed, and she didn't like Anne the older sister very much, but she always wanted to see the little brother—and there would be one later, a little brother, healthy, lively...... Right, Joseph. Kent, he muttered to himself, cheering himself on, but he didn't realize that he had burst into tears.

Joseph reversed the car into the garage and walked into the house, he saw the light in the living room flickering, and there were people talking, and when he walked over, he found that Mrs. Borough was falling asleep on the sofa, and the television was watching, and an emotional program was playing, and the people on it were making a lot of noise, but it did not alarm the sleeping people at all. Kent was very sorry, and he tried to wake up Mrs. Borough, but after thinking about it, he stopped, and took a blanket from the storage room under the stairs and put it over her.

He crept up the stairs on tiptoe, first opened Anne's room, which was empty, the sheets were flat and clean, Joseph became nervous, and then thought that maybe the two children would sleep together, and he immediately ran to Dolores's room, which was also empty.

The male owner of the Kent family suddenly became nervous, where would they be? He opened all the rooms one by one, no, no children, he rushed downstairs, hurried through the drawing-room, dining room, and kitchen, no, no, he shook Mrs. Borow, she showed no sign of wanting to come to her senses, the man was scurrying around the house like a headless cockroach, he suddenly thought of something, he ran into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and the cabinet, and after finding nothing (he breathed a sigh of relief), he ran back to the second floor, opened the closet, and inspected the bathtub, and under the bed.

He didn't find anything, Joseph. Kent's eyes were cast outside, and he jerked at the sight of the pool—there were several bright marks on the edge of the pool, which were traces of water reflecting the moonlight.

Joseph shouted the names of the two girls and jumped down the cloister behind the house, the grass was so wet that he couldn't see which direction the water was going, and finally a small whimper revealed Dolores' hiding place.

The man pounced, he tightened his arms, and took the little girl in his arms, "Thank God," he cried, "Thank God!" ”

Sincerely glad that he couldn't hear anything for a while except his own voice, except for the little body in his arms, he couldn't feel anything, and when he was a little sober and wanted to distance themselves a little from each other, his daughter's little arms trembled and exerted force, she cried, and hugged her father's neck like a desperate one.

"It's all right, my dear," Joseph said softly, "it's all right, you're safe—what's going on?" Let me see you, Dolores," he reached out and grabbed the little girl's shoulders, pushed her a little away, and ran his fingers away from her wet hair, sticking to her face and forehead, distressed to find that the child's face was bulging in a big chunk, hard, hot: "Damn," the little girl's eyes were dark and swollen as badly as her cheeks, and he didn't know if it was from being beaten or crying, "what happened?" No...... I'll have to take you to the hospital first, bear with me. He picked up the child and pulled the phone out of his pocket, his finger resting on the "9".

A dirty little hand stopped him.

"Don't," he heard his daughter pleading, "don't call the police, please," she said intermittently, "I killed Anne." ”

***

Boom, Joseph. Kent emerged from the water with a squishy Anne on his shoulders. Kent.

He laid her down on the grass and eagerly examined her body—not that there was any hope that Anne could be saved, and if she had been intact and had only drowned, the matter might have ended in an accident, but he was soon disappointed, Anne was scarred, and there were a few fresh little dimples on her cheeks and neck, which even Mr. Kent, a normal person who had no idea of criminal investigation, could tell that the size matched a child's fingers.

In 1989, the Supreme Court issued a decree stating that the death penalty for a 16-year-old minor was not inconsistent with the Constitution; New York City is one of the 37 states that have the death penalty for prisoners under the age of 18 in 26 states. Joseph remembered that the youngest condemned prisoner was only twelve years old, and he did not want his eleven-year-old Dolores to compete for the Guinness Book of Record for the smallest condemned prisoner, even if it was only possible.

Even if he didn't die, Dolores' life would have been ruined.

He was amazed at the fact that everything in front of him was rapidly becoming clearer, and when he looked up, he saw that the sky had changed from cement gray to light purple white. Mr. Kent looked at his watch, the hands were pointing to five and fifteen, and soon there would be morning joggers on the street.

"Dolores, my little bunny," he said calmly but quickly, "from now on, go back to your bedroom, wash yourself, eat some chocolate, and get a good night's sleep." If Mrs. Borough wakes up, don't come out either, don't say anything. I'll be back soon, looking at the clock, an hour at most, okay? He reached out and stroked the little girl's messy face: "Don't worry, there will be no police, and there will be no ...... Anything else, I'll figure it out. ”

"Trust Dad." He said.

***

The T-bridge car bent into a small lane that was not known to many, and Mr. Kent stopped at the end of the trail, got out of the car, opened the trunk, and pulled out a large package from inside.

Born and raised in New York, he didn't leave until college and work, and he knew it well, having built countless bases in salt flats, tidal gullies, peat bogs, sand bars and mangroves with the boys in the neighborhood long before the government designated the area as a state marine park, and he knew it was fraught with danger, with several children missing every year before the tall walls were erected.

He carried the package and walked through the tree communities such as casuarinas, marsh pines, and acacia acacia, and further on, you could see gray-green spotted vegetation with a yellow-green background, which was a mixed population of paulownia trees, autumn eggplants and white bone soil, which was a strangely shaped plant, and before it had grown leaves, its stalks were like roots and white bones inserted in the gray sand, and adolescent boys used its bark gum for contraception, and its aerial roots were well developed, so they could survive in places with little soil, along the direction of its aerial roots, it's easy to find the swamp.

Joseph knew he was tired, but when he thought of Dolores, he was in good spirits and full of strength.

"No one can hurt you." He muttered.

He found a swamp that was very hidden, under a fallen thick tree, this thick pod acacia would not completely rot for at least three years, and even if someone came to look for curiosity, it would only walk around the tree, and would not easily fall into the swamp.

He opened the package, peeled off the plants and algae floating on the water, and pushed Anne's body into the swamp.

"May you rest in peace soon." He said, motionless as the peacock-blue skirt gradually became swallowed up by the gray-black sewage, until the last lace disappeared without a trace.

Mr. Kent looked at his watch again, and perhaps he could have gone back sooner, and he turned to leave, with a firm step.

***

The swamp continued to bubble and get denser and denser, and after a few minutes, a bubble almost the size of a baby's head came to the surface and cracked open, and a sea toad, which had just been transformed from a tadpole into a young toad, croaked in surprise, jumped off a branch, and escaped into the carrion.

A small, miserable white hand came out of the jet-black water, followed by another.

They grabbed the branches hanging above the swamp.

(To be continued)