Hello, Little Sparrow by Jordan Jones (the reading list .TXT) 📕

he noticed was from his bedroom. This man had been all through his home.

“I made this DVD from a video I found online,” Brooks said. “I think you’ll like what you see…or maybe not.”

With the remote pointed at the screen, Brooks pressed play. Dr. Montgomery was walking through the parking lot of a known grocery store in town and the person filming ran up to him out of the darkness.

After Montgomery fumbled through his words, the person on camera said, “No…no Doctor. You said some really grotesque things in your chat logs.”

Montgomery bowed his head back down. He was obviously embarrassed and ashamed.

The man on camera continued to ask questions and, from behind him, Brooks pulled his head back up.

“You look at what you’ve done,” He sneered. “This is just the beginning.”

On screen, Montgomery tried again to justify his actions by saying his marriage was loveless, how he hated his job, and his “life was falling apart.”

It was all very poorly scripted, and no one on screen had much empathy for the struggling man. They knew he was a doctor and that they would forward the evidence to the police.

The reel cut out after Dr. Montgomery sped away in his car.

“So tell me, Doctor,” Brooks began. “What happened after St. Francis found out about this little incident?”

“They told me not to let it happen again.”

“So…nothing?”

“It wasn’t nothing,” Montgomery said. “I was scared…terrified, even. I didn’t know what to do. I thought my practice was over. My life…my career…all over.”

“But, was it?”

“No.”

“Ah…they said, ‘don’t let it happen again.’”

“Yes. Sir, please stop this.”

“But, did it happen again?”

Montgomery thought back to several years ago when he was arrested for two counts of sexual misconduct, but it was wiped from his record after a team of lawyers worked their magic to eradicate any semblance of wrongdoing. He knew it was wrong, but couldn’t let it jeopardize what he’d worked so hard for. He was silent.

“It did happen again, Doctor,” Brooks answered himself. “In fact, you had a fairly early run in with the law while in medical school, did you not? Looks like your mommy and daddy paid off a brigade of attorneys to fight your battle for you. You were twenty-four…the girl was five.”

Montgomery lowered his eyes and could feel his pulse inside his head. “It was a stupid mistake, sir.”

Brooks stopped the footage, and pressed a few buttons on the remote. The still frame that displayed on the screen was that of his arrest record and court date information. “This next picture is everything you need to know about why I’m here.”

The next picture was a grainy picture of a young woman in a casket, loved ones stood around it in clear mourning.

“This is Marie Barsett,” Brooks said, still holding up Montgomery’s hair and forcing him to stare at the screen. “This is the girl you molested all those years ago. She was twenty years old here and died of a lacerated liver after going on a bender for over a month. She drank herself to death, Doctor.”

“Oh, no…please, don’t show me this. I’m sorry. I messed up. I can’t see this anymore!”

“Her family surrounded her with a team of therapists and psychiatrists. She was in rehab four times before she was even sixteen. You caused her to lose her life in the most painful way.” Brooks looked down. “Speak up for yourself. She deserves some answers.”

“I can’t do anything about it now!” He exclaimed. Tears were forming around his eyelids. “I’m sorry about this, OK? I went into therapy myself to try to get over what I’ve done! There’s not a night that goes by that I don’t think about her.”

Brooks came to the front of him and knelt down again.

“Well, this night will be no different.”

The fire crackled from behind Brooks and he glanced through the blinds. “Not a soul out there wondering what’s going on in here. This is good for me. I want you to know that this is very good for me.”

Montgomery let out a wail as Brooks walked back over to the fire, stoking it with the fire poker.

“Please, tell me why you’re doing this.”

“There it is…they always say that.” He mocked, “Why are you doing this. Show some dignity. If you haven’t grasped your reality by now, the ending will shock you.”

Montgomery tried situating himself again in the chair more comfortably as Brooks continued to stoke the fire. “Please, Sir. I don’t want to die! I want to make this right. Any way I can. Money. Anything.”

Brooks used the poker to stab a piece of wood that was still burning bright red and placed it on the mantel above. It glowed brighter as it began to cool, and Brooks blew on it to bring out the flame once more.

“Me…I am the ember fading.” He blew on it once more. His breath making the brightness of the flame burn again, but the brightness began to fade. He blew again, and it faded more. “Like this ember…the more I blow on it, the less the heat takes over. The more I find the vile, the less control of my actions I have. Of course, I could leave this piece of wood alone and it’d still burn for several hours on its own, but if I provoke it to fade by blowing on it, well…that’s when the fun begins.”

Montgomery struggled with his hands to get free, but it was clear he couldn’t. Brooks could tell he was trying to break free, and didn’t acknowledge it.

“The more I fade…the less I control. The less I control…the easier this gets.”

“I’m a surgeon,” Montgomery said. “I make a lot of money helping people feel better. I’m sorry about Marie. If you knew her, I’m even more sorry. What you’re doing here isn’t