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  Anna-Marie hasn’t seen Patrice since the funeral either. Patrice calls her from time to time, but most of the time Anna-Marie doesn’t pick up.

  “Well, I hate to cut it short, but I am so beat. Do you mind if I go to bed now?” Anna says cutting into Anna-Marie’s thoughts.

  “Not at all mama. I think I will, too. You can have my room.”

  “You’re still not sleeping in there?”

  “No, I can’t, which is fine because I bought a new bed and everything for the spare room.”

  “Oh.”

  “Hey mama, thanks for coming. Despite the first part of the evening, I’m really glad you’re here.”

  “That’s what mamas are for, dear. I love you.”

  “Love you, too, mama.”

  Anna gives Anna-Marie a tight hug and they each go to their rooms, her mom to the master suite and Anna-Marie to the spare bedroom.

  Anna-Marie lies in bed and stares at the darkened walls like she normally does. She really does feel better tonight. Having her mom there makes her feel like a kid again, safe and innocent, without a care in the world, only if for one night.

  4

  Anna left early the next morning to get back home to Anna-Marie’s dad. Anna-Marie was both happy and sad to see her go. Anna may not be her biological mother, but she is the only mom Anna-Marie has ever known, or wanted to know. Anna-Marie can’t imagine another mother loving her as much as she knows her mom always has. It is such a shame her parents didn’t have another child to spread the love around.

  Anna-Marie had taken Peggy’s advice and has stayed home all week. It seems to be easier to write her articles sitting on her couch in her pajamas, while pigging out on take out and sipping wine all week. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of such an awesome offer? She makes a mental note to look into doing some freelance work in the future when things aren’t so hectic.

  On second thought, at this rate I may start to get fat. She thinks to herself as she looks around at all of the empty, or half eaten, takeout boxes.

  Her mood has been so sad and morbid these past few months. She can’t seem to shake the depression from Dylan’s death. All of her articles keep turning out so dismal. It has been hard to focus on her work and write anything upbeat, as well as meet her deadlines.

  I really do need to work on that if I want to stay employed, she thinks to herself. Peggy may be her best friend, but Peggy is her boss and she has a boss to answer to as well and Marvin isn’t as easygoing as Peggy is.

  The days go by uneventful for the most part and she finds herself working a lot more efficiently; that is until midweek. By Wednesday morning reports are all over the news lines. There has been another animal attack. That makes three fatal animal attacks that have been reported, including Dylan’s death. Anna-Marie almost chokes on her coffee when she opens up the company-wide e-mail from work.

  “On Tuesday night, a young single mother of two was on her way to the babysitter’s house to pick up her kids after leaving work at a local restaurant, but never showed up. She left work around nine o’clock. No one recalled seeing her between the restaurant and the sitter’s house. In the late hours of Wednesday morning her mutilated body was found a few blocks from the restaurant.”

  “Oh my goodness, that’s so sad.” Anna-Marie begins to cry for the loss of this stranger. The mother of two small children who will never be able to tuck them in bed and kiss them goodnight ever again. It’s just so tragic, Anna-Marie knows first hand. This tragedy will no doubt affect everyone who knew and cared about this woman. Life is so unfair sometimes.

  ***

  Before she knows it Friday has finally arrived. Her usual glee for the day has faltered, because this Friday is different. All week Anna-Marie has tried, but failed, to forget about that creepy man she encountered the last time she was at the cemetery.

  She has been pacing in her living room while battling bouts of anxiety all day, as she tries to decide what to do.

  “It’s Friday dammit! I have to go!” Anna-Marie yells at herself. “Oh, but what if he is still there?”

  She stops pacing as a chill runs down her back with the thought of that night. She sits back down on the couch and begins to cry.

  “Screw it!” She yells and stands back up. “Who cares if he’s there? It’s light out and I’m sure there will be other people there. Surely he wouldn’t assault me again, not in public.” Before she can think about it anymore, she grabs her purse and rushes out of the door.

  Once Anna-Marie arrives to visit Dylan, she scans the grounds before she gets out of the car. She notices a few people in various states of mourning, scattered around the cemetery. She parks her car as close as she can to Dylan’s grave for an easy get away if need be.

  “Okay Anna-Marie, the coast is clear. You can do this.”

  She takes a deep breath and heads to Dylan’s grave.

  “Hey, Dylan! How was your week?” Anna-Marie says in a rush. She pauses as if she’s waiting for an answer that she knows will never come. “Mine has been miserable. Honestly, I don’t know what happened last week,” she says nervously.

  She continues to observe the grounds, paying close attention to every little sound. She feels so exposed standing here in the open. She sits down on the ground in front of Dylan’s headstone. It’s kind of disturbing to her to think that she is probably sitting on his head. She laughs out loud hysterically at the thought.

  “Oh my God Dylan! I think I need to have my head examined.” She laughs out loud again.

  “Mama came for a visit Sunday. Well, really she came to babysit me, and at first I was annoyed at the intrusion, but to be honest I ended up enjoying the company. She had reminded me that Edgar and Stacy got married a few months ago. I had completely forgotten about it.”

  Anna-Marie pauses for a few minutes and chews on her lower lip. She is nervous to speak out loud the news she has been hearing about the latest attack. It brings back too many hard memories of the night he died, but she feels the need to share it with him.

  “There has been another fatal animal attack this week. This time it was a young mother on her way home from work. It’s getting really strange. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of connection as far as I can tell, but it has to be the same animal. No one even knows what this animal is. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  She sits quietly pondering the recent events that she has tried so hard to block from her mind since opening that tragic e-mail Wednesday morning. Then an idea hits her. A really good idea, she must admit, even though Dylan wouldn’t think so.

  “Dylan, no one has any clues about this animal and as far as I’ve seen there are no searches going on for it. The police just want people to be cautious and notify them if it is seen.”

  Like a jolt of electricity to her system, she jumps up.

  “Umm . . . Dylan, I have to go.” She quickly bends to kiss his name. “I love you and I’ll see you next week.”

  She feels bad about rushing her visit because it’s going to be another whole week before she can come back, but she has work to do now, very important work.

  ***

  Anna-Marie fills the rest of the weekend with research, which makes it go by quickly. All she needs is her trusty bright pink laptop, some good wine and endless amounts of takeout food. Her senses have been perked for the first time in a long time with this new obsession. She embraces this distraction from her reality with every ounce of her being, clinging to it almost desperately.

  The past eight months have disrupted her universe. The planet has tilted and her beautiful peaceful coastal town has turned into a dangerous place.

  There are evil creatures lurking in the dark. Creatures so menacing in the shape of an animal that is hurting people in the night. Anna-Marie has found scattered reports that have occurred over the past year of monsters attacking on dark deserted streets. The attacker apparently ducks unseen into even darker shadows, while the victim lies on the sidewalk hoping someone will notice them before they bl
eed to death. That is, if the person is found at all, which goes along with over a dozen missing persons cases in and around the area.

  Unfortunately, nobody has reported noticing anything out of the ordinary, which only makes finding the creature or knowing what it is people are supposed to look out for that more difficult. It’s just too much for Anna-Marie’s journalistic instincts to pass up.

  Anna-Marie begins to map out the areas of the reported attacks and disappearances. To her surprise there has been a total of five fatal attacks of the same sort before Dylan’s death, plus the two after him, plus fifteen people missing, but there could possibly be more. She is willing to bet no one has done a head count of the local homeless people. The numbers could escalate. So far the reported incidences seem to be scattered through four counties and they all appear to be random, which is a relief, but unfortunately she was right, there isn’t a search going on yet.

  She quickly closes her laptop with disturbing satisfaction. “That’s it! I’m going to find it myself. Too many people have gotten hurt by this creature. Surely I’ll know it when I see it. I hope so anyway. I owe it to Dylan and all of those other victims to at least try.”

  ***

  Anna-Marie decides to go back to the office to work this week. Peggy is impressed by this newfound energy Anna-Marie has discovered. If Peggy only knew what Anna-Marie’s been up to, she’d be seriously ticked off.

  Above Anna-Marie’s passion for a story, she has a personal grudge in this case that exceeds all else.

  There shouldn’t be an animal in her humble little town that could rip a person apart the way this so-called animal has done.

  The only fact she does know for sure is it has changed her life profoundly.

  It has been eight long months since Dylan’s brutal attack, there’s no telling how long the animal has been out there wrecking havoc before that night.

  She has to find out what happened to him and what is responsible for ending such an astounding life so prematurely.

  In her haze she missed so much of current events so she pays close attention to the office gossip for the first time in months in hopes of stories of the attacks coming up. It’s impressive how much drama people create for themselves and how willing they are to openly share it with others. Sherry in editing is having an affair with her husband’s best friend, Carl, who writes politics and has demons for children. Hmm…I wonder if he ever thought if maybe he went home every now and then to help raise them, instead of going to the bars every day after work with Sherry, they would act differently, Anna-Marie thinks to herself. Sadly, the list goes on.

  People don’t realize how short life is until their world is rocked, and then they are left scrambling as they try to figure out how it all went wrong. She wonders if she ever noticed it before. Anna-Marie tries hard to pay attention to everything, because every now and then people direct their thoughts to other things, besides their own selfish attention starved needs, which leads to current events, namely the latest animal attack. Not that the subject takes much prompting.

  Anna-Marie has learned wisely over the years to never follow gossip, only truth, but getting the scoop directly from the source will be a challenge. Laura, who works in the office two doors down from Anna-Marie’s, has taken first seat on writing about the attacks. Laura, however, isn’t much of a socializer, so picking her brain will be next to impossible.

  Anna-Marie’s articles come and go during the day and by night she continues her research and tracking. She hasn’t thrown herself into anything like this since before Dylan’s death. The thought of finding this creature and destroying it with months of built up anger and helplessness is exhilarating, almost euphoric.

  ***

  Friday comes fast. She is excited to see Dylan as usual, but she is still nervous about going to the cemetery. She will not tell Dylan about what she’s been up to this week or what she has planned for later. He wouldn’t be too pleased if he knew.

  “Hey, Dylan. How was your week? I hope you’re sleeping well,” Anna-Marie asks the air around her.

  “Mine has been good actually.” She has to check herself so she doesn’t let on about her excitement for her plans for later. “I went into work this week. I think Peg was surprised, but happy to see me.”

  As usual she sits down on the warm grass under the shady tree, loving the feeling of his presence. She closes her eyes and feels him all around her. Words are never necessary. Her typical greeting is familiar and comfortable. Whatever is spoken after that isn’t as important.

  After a few minutes of soaking him in, Anna-Marie stands to leave. “Okay, Dylan, I have to go. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer, but I have work to do. I love you, babe. I’ll see you next week.”

  Tonight she has hunting to do. With all of the information she has gathered all week she is ready. She has mapped out and memorized a route to kick off her search. She’s not exactly sure what is out there stalking the dark, so she prepares for anything.

  It’s Friday night in her college town, so she has to wait until late to go out since the bars and clubs close around two in the morning. That’s usually when people make their way back home to sleep off their drunkenness or score with some random stranger they met at the bar.

  Anna-Marie knows she should be resting up, but sleep is impossible. She is restless with anticipation. As she waits, she throws on her most comfortable dark clothing in hopes of blending with the darkened night and good sneakers just in case she needs to run quickly.

  At exactly three in the morning, Anna-Marie straps her loaded 9mm pistol to her hip. The heavy cool steel feels foreign on her hip. She got a hunting license when she was younger so that she could go hunting with Dylan and her dad. Her dad insisted that she keep up her license through the years and even prompted her to get a hand gun license when she turned twenty-one, especially while living in the city. At the time she thought of him as being over protective but she is happy now that she listened, although she hasn’t shot a gun since.

  She looks at the clock for what seems like the hundredth time and sees it is finally time to go out. She checks herself over one last time and steps out into the sleeping night feeling very much like GI Jane heading out on a stealth mission.

  She walks around her dimly lit block. She sticks close to the shadows in hopes that if she does see something, it won’t see her.

  Her heart leaps with every little sound, making her head swim with paranoia. The night songs of crickets, frogs and bats are all enhanced with this acute awareness, making even the smallest sound pound in her ears. Occasionally, she will hear a dog bark in the distance and very rarely does she hear the sound of a vehicle on a distant road. Her spine tingles with fear and anticipation and for good reason. Something is out here and she has to find it.

  About a mile away from her apartment she turns down the alley beside Mr. Chow’s restaurant to cut through over to Neuse Road. As soon as she crosses from the darkened street into the even darker mouth of the alley, she hears a strange noise. She’s not sure if it was her or if something is deeper in the alley. She stands there frozen, barely breathing, having an internal debate if she really wants to hear the sound again or not.

  “This is not the time for fear. There’s no way I can turn back now,” she chastises herself for being afraid.

  “It’s probably just a stray cat or dog anyway,” she says, trying to convince her nerves to stop trembling.

  Then she hears it again. There’s no mistaking it, the sound is real. Animal or not, she has to check it out. She has been preparing for this very moment all week.

  She takes a deep quiet breath and slowly moves towards the sound in the alley. She already has her holster unbuckled on her hip and she reaches down to rest her hand on the handle of the gun, just in case she needs it quickly.

  With one slow steady step, she is close enough to see past the dumpsters. She sees a form of what looks like a man. He is kneeling down with his head bent close to the ground. It appears she has walked up
on a homeless man eating his dinner. The alley is really dark but her eyes are starting to adjust more. Staring at the figure she is certain it’s a man wearing dark clothes.

  She takes one step back to leave this poor creature to his feast of whatever Mr. Chow threw out earlier before closing, then another step, but suddenly freezes when his head shoots up.

  “Crap!” Anna-Marie curses under her breath.

  The man lifts his head up as if he is sniffing the air, then flicks his head around like an animal as he searches for his intruder, until his gaze zeros in on her. Time seems to have stopped. Anna-Marie can’t take her eyes off of this man and his unwavering eyes. She desperately wants to apologize and leave as quickly as she can, but the words won’t come out. Anna-Marie can only stand there frozen in time.

  He stands up and in a blink of an eye is mere inches in front of her. His breath in her face is so hot and vile. Bile rises in Anna-Marie’s throat from his stench, which causes her to choke. He doesn’t have the stench of a typical homeless man, who will normally reek of filth and trash. This man smells of something totally different, something she’s never experienced before.

  As her eyes become fully adjusted to the darkness, she can even begin to see his face more clearly. He has dark hair, no doubt from the buildup of dirt and grease, almost as much as the grimy clothes hanging off of his massive body, and cold lifeless eyes, which make his sharp features appear even more sinister. From a distance, he seemed to be the same size as a normal man but being this close, Anna-Marie now realizes she is very wrong as she strains her neck to look up at him as he towers over her. He must be at least a foot taller than her impressive five-foot, ten-inch stature. By now Anna-Marie realizes this is no average homeless person roaming the alley for food.