Mary Beth knew that this cold dark place under the bridge was where she would die. She heard him say the last of his words. She could tell they were the last of his words by the strange satisfaction that he voiced with the last one, as if he was breathing life into something that only he knew. As the last word faded, she felt a pull from deep within herself, as if somehow his words actually meant something more than the crazy mutterings of a madman.
“You are the new love.” He spoke to her as he cut her throat. “You are the new heart.”
As the world closed around her, she felt something worse than death. She wished she could scream this one last time as she understood utterly and terribly that she would not die, not just yet and she wished she would. But there was nothing but silence as she felt the love that was not love that would slowly devour her soul.