Prologue

“I knowyou’re out here, little girl. You can run but I’ll find you. You don’t want to piss me off or I’ll have to punish you, again.” A laugh escapes my mouth. I’m pretty fucking hilarious sometimes.

I’m walking around the woods that surround my house in the dead of night, but I know these woods like the back of my hand. I could find my way with my eyes closed. I spent many nights out here to get away from my mother and brother’s cruelty.

I stand still and close my eyes. They say that when people lose one of their senses, the part of their brain that normally focuses on that area reroutes itself to heighten the abilities of their other senses. I’ve taken this into practice when hunting my prey. I never understood why the bad guys in horror movies always traipse around making so much noise but still snuck up on the victims. Unrealistic is what it is. It’s never as easy as the movies make it out to be, but I’ve had a considerable amount of practice at this point. I’ve made mistakes and learned from them. I haven’t gotten caught yet, so I’m doing better than most.

My keys to success: no connection, don’t shop local, and stay on the downlow. Hence why I live close to the woods. No snooping neighbors.

A muffled whimper and heavy breathing reach my right ear pulling me from my thoughts. Before I make any sudden moves I scan the area, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. The only light is the moon filtering through the trees. I see toes with chipped pink nail polish and a kneecap sticking out from behind a tree trunk.

I chuckle to myself, knowing she’ll hear me. “I see you. Have to hide better than that,” I sing-song.

Her cries are like music to my ears. She stands up and takes off through the trees, going deeper into the woods. She’s going to make this easy for me.

I love playing with them. This is my favorite part of the game. The chase before I punish them. I set rules that are to be followed and slowly tame them. Well, I hope to anyway. My methods have not seemed to work yet because every time I loosen the length on their leash, they take the full mile.

It’s so disrespectful.

They should be grateful, but they never are. That is all right, though, because I never plan to keep them anyway. This is all a part of the game. It’s a flex to see what they’ll do with just a taste of freedom. They’re always so predictable. It is sad.

I leave them alone to roam the house while I “work”—but really, I’m watching them to see what they’ll do. They go straight for the unlocked door and into the trees.

I see my prey. She has her back to me and is looking around the tree for me. I went the other way around knowing that she’d be expecting me to come from the opposite way. I can’t help the smile that plays on my lips.

I avoid the leaves and twigs when I walk up to her. I’m having a hard time containing the glee that’s rising in my chest. It’s exhilarating.

I come up behind her and whisper in her ear, “You thought you could hide from me, little girl?”

She gasps and tries to run again, but I anticipate this. I snatch a handful of her blonde hair and pull her back to my chest. She is crying. Tears are streaming down her face. I lick them, trailing my tongue up the side of her face.

“Mmmm,” I groan. “Your fear tastes delicious, baby.”

She’s blubbering. The usual pleas to spare them. I snap. The anger takes over and I smash her face into the tree trunk.

“Please.”

Smash

“Pleeaa...”

Smash

“Pppp...”

Smash

Over and over until her pathetic blubbering ceases.

I exhale a sigh of relief. Peace and quiet. She was really getting on my last nerve.

I’m still holding on to her hair, turning her head to face me. The skin on the right side of her face looks like ground beef and a chunk of skin is missing from her forehead. I can see her frontal bone peeking through the marred flesh. “Mhmm, much better.”

I drag her by her pale strands to the place I stored my shovel. We’re deep enough into the Pineywoods that she won’t be found by accident, and I start digging her final resting place.