The boy pointed towards the ground at his feet. Everything from that moment on was dreamlike. The dead woman’s lips were purplish-black, and long dark hair whipped about her face. Her eyes were open and ice crystals had formed on her lashes. The cocker spanielsniffed around her head and licked at a gaping wound on her neck. The blood on her face and neck looked black and frozen, and her gray-blue skin sparkled with frost. Mr. Laetner pulled his son away, “Tell Mom to call the police.” The boy did not move. Laetner pushed his son. “Go! Now!”

He took off his jacket and draped it over the woman’s naked genitals and legs. When he looked at her face again, a large brown spider crawled out of her ear, moved across her face and vanished into her hair. Her staring eyes never blinked. His stomach heaved and he vomited into the grass. The cocker spaniel ceased sniffing the corpse and investigated his master’s regurgitated breakfast.

Author Bio