Lakebridge: Spring (Supernatural Horror Literary Fiction)

  * * *

  He was glad she was smiling. Happy people made him happy. He had been watching her since the kids all left. She was happy with them and she was happy without them. Good. He always tried to find the happy ones. He didn’t know why. They just seemed to bring a much better energy to his project. He figured he probably didn’t have much time. He knew she was waiting for her lover to come and make her happier still, but he didn’t want to risk her being there after that. He knew she had bought tickets to go elsewhere and worried that maybe she wouldn’t come back. He really did need her.

  For a while, he thought he would take the Counter Girl. He had always taken the Counter Girls before when he could, but when he stumbled onto this Teacher Girl, he knew he had to have her, that she would make a much better addition to his project. She was so happy and so right. The Counter Girl, for as much as she smiled and made other people happy, didn’t really have that glow about her that the Counter Girls usually had. He figured it was because of her friends who were so damaged. She was damaged by association.

  But the Teacher Girl. She was perfect. She could have been a Counter Girl, really. She was always so joyful, she made all the kids so happy, too. Everyone loved the Teacher Girl. He loved the Teacher Girl. When he loved them, he knew he had to have them.

  She wrote on her board. She wrote her numbers and her letters and her handwriting was so neat. He wanted to let her finish so that when they came in the next day and she wasn’t there, at least they would have her numbers and her letters. So he waited and watched her. He was in her room and she didn’t even notice. She was too happy for her own good, she didn’t even feel the danger. He hated that he was her danger because he loved her so much and knew that she could never see how pure that love was. But, finally, she was done. She turned around and saw him and smiled.

  * * *

  “Oh, hi!” Mary Beth said. “I wasn’t expecting you. Tom’s on the way. He’ll be happy to see you.”

  “I’m sorry I’ll miss him.” Mary Beth was confused. Why would he stop by to leave so quickly? “I just want to show you something.” He pulled something from his coat pocket and brought it close to Mary Beth so she could see it. There was nothing on the white handkerchief but the smell.

  * * *

  He caught her as she fell. So much love.