Dark Friends by Mark Butler Page A

shaking.
                  “Yes.” Amelia said without pause, rising to her feet and brushing past Catina. For the first time, Catina felt regret at adopting this girl. Amelia had done nothing whatsoever to elicit such a strong feeling from Catina, yet she couldn't shake it. The girl had a dismissive, condescending tone that irked Catina. Wondering where such negative thoughts were coming from, Catina turned and followed Amelia downstairs.
                                                                          Chapter Seventeen
                  The next several days were awkward.  Amelia could not shake off her daily orphanage routines. When Catina would go check the laundry, everything was clean and neatly folded. When she went to do the dishes, there were none, just sparkling counter-tops and a newly-polished kitchen floor. Amelia cleaned and cleaned. She dusted, vacuumed, straightened up and basically couldn't stop. She refused to watch T.V., stating it was the most boring and unproductive activity that she had ever heard of. She had zero interest in music.
                  After the third day, Catina forced Amelia to sit down and take a break from her self-appointed chores.
                  “Amelia, what do you like to do for fun? Do you wanna go shopping? Get some ice cream? We could go to the park.”
                  “Shopping?” Amelia had never shopped a day in her life.
                  “Yes, shopping. You can pick out new shoes, clothes, books, make-up...anything you want.”
                  The eagerness in Amelia's eyes was unmistakable. As the two girls left out the front door, Catina caught Steven's eye from the couch. Success!
                  At the mall, Amelia seemed to draw within herself. The more busy, more flashy a store was, the more her face adopted a flat affect. She didn't talk. Catina tried taking Amelia to calmer, less crowded department stores, but Amelia displayed no interest in new jeans or shirts or dresses. She just looked at them, rolled her eyes and kept walking. When they got to Barnes and Noble, Amelia changed drastically. She spoke excitedly to herself as she picked up different books;
                  “I haven't read this”
                  “Look at that!”
                  “They have all six editions!” she would shriek.
                  Catina started to worry that Amelia would ask her to buy the entire store. Yet, Amelia would just pick up a book, look at each page five to ten seconds, letting her index finger guide her eyes over each line, then put the book down and move on.
                  “Amelia, what are you doing?”
                  “Reading.”
                  “You can't read that fast.”
                  “No, you can't read that fast.”
                  Catina felt her face grow warm.
                  “OK, what was this book about?” She picked up a novel, Paradise Lost , that Amelia had dashed through about fifteen minutes prior. Amelia looked at Catina pointedly, wondering where she was going with this. She felt offended, was Catina calling her a liar?
                  “It's not just a book, it's a poem. The fall of Adam and Eve to temptation and the justification of God to Man are John Milton's primary topics”
                  “Did you just scan the book, or have you read it before? How much of these words are you actually comprehending?”
                  “It's speed reading. Eighty to ninety percent comprehension.” Amelia said robotically, turning back to her current dish. Catina let her read for the next half-hour, and several patrons were taking notice of the girl, staring curiously. One man strolled up and tried to be friendly, “If