I’m not in the ballpark when it comes to wrapping up CH, but I’m circling, looking for a parking spot.  The three pages of handwritten notes I jotted down whilst drunk Sunday night guide me.  The first half of part I is below the fold; the second half just now finished.  Part II (as my wife gives me the ‘all-clear’ for tomorrow night when it comes to shuttling our daughters about) will see the death of a main character (finally!) and part III is a tiny, funny, romantic interlude before I try to swing the wreaking ball.  We shall see.

I’m going to need a backhoe and a jackhammer to edit this thing.

There was a small *pop!* and flash as Maya’s left hand seized Daisy’s neck; the dog fell instantly.

You’ve done this, too, brother! Like a mosquito injecting it’s victim with anti-coagulate before sucking blood, they had to let a tiny portion of themselves assess their food. There were still the faintest traces of the time Chris had put himself between the dog and his cousin. Maya was puzzled: why didn’t you eat all of her, brother? That uncertainty kept the dog alive. Still, Maya helped herself.

Not sure how the little foreigner sped past her, Debbie watched as she grabbed at her baby’s collar…! What?! Daisy collapsed!

“Daisy! Are you – ?!”

Belying her small stature, the Oriental girl, Maya, was it?, reached down and hefted Daisy up into both arms. As she turned back around to Debbie, her glasses slipped from her head back down onto her face. Debbie bit her lip. Were… were her eyes really red, just then?

She ran up and held the poor puppy’s head.

“Daisy? Daisy, are you okay?!”

“I think,” said the one holding her, with an odd, lisping hiss, “she may have had a small seizure. Let’s get her too your room, now.”

“Of course, of course!” Debbie started up the steps while fumbling in her overly large purse for her keys, trying to ignore what sounded like another hiss from just behind her. Here! She turned left and opened the second door on her right. “Please, bring her in!”

“Certainly.” But Maya paused in the doorway. “Which door is to my brother’s?”

“What? Oh, it’s that one!” She pointed to the girl’s left.

So close!

Debbie rushed into her place, past the two bean-bag chairs flanking the late model flatscreen teevee. “Here, please!” She called to the girl, gesturing at the remnants of a large dog’s bed, long since chewed and clawed to ruins.

Is it that they all study that kung fu stuff, she wondered, as Maya more dropped than set Daisy onto her bed. Debbie was about to snap at her for that, but she brushed past her, into her bedroom. How rude!

“Disgusting,” she heard the girl mutter as she sniffed. “Smells like ‘love’ in here!”

She moved to a small open section of the wall, between the bed and the bathroom door, running her hands over the wall. With a snap her occluded eyes were over her left shoulder, looking back at Debbie.

“Are these masonry walls?”

“Uh… what?”

The girl’s lips made a sneer as she looked away. She pounded the wall once, hard, with her left fist.

“Heh.”

She shrugged off her jacket, drew back her right and punched a hole all the way into the adjoining apartment.

“What…what are you…!” Debbie shouted. She watched the girl now punch with her left, too. “My… my security deposit!”

When she had widened the hole to a rough eighteen inches, she leapt arms-first into the hole. Her hips caught, but, with a growl that made Debbie shudder, pulled herself the rest of the way into the neighboring room, losing her gray skirt in the process.

Still scared, but curious, Debbie stepped what she hoped was softly to the wrecked wall. As she leaned down just a little to peer through, some of the floating drywall dust made her sneeze. When she’d opened her eyes, two blood-red orbs hung just before her. Gripped by terror, Debbie instantly lost control of her bladder.

“Stay with your dog!” Debbie watched the girl’s mouth contort to create such a guttural voice. “Eating will be easier for us!”

The face was gone. Debbie sank to her knees. I have to run! I have to get away! The police! Anton… I have to call Anton…! She’d crawled into the main room and curled up next to Daisy. They both were whimpering in fear. I have to run…!