• She lowered the knife and it grew brighter. In her minds eye she had replaced the pumpkin she was cutting with an image of him. It had been three months since she had decided to go through with her dark plan. The pumpkin greatly resembled him; large, round, with a slight orange tint to the skin, and lacking of hair. No one had noticed the increase in how many more pumpkin pies Miss Thereasa was selling at her bakery. After all, it was October. No one would ever believe sweet, innocent Thereasa had a dark side that had been growing inside of her, and by tomorrow it would be in full bloom.

    ~~~~

    It was a bright sunny Thursday morning that had been very pleasant; that is, until he showed up. Adelbert Mathews owned a chain of bakeries that were scattered throughout the county. He had been trying for nearly a year to persuade Thereasa to sell him her bakery, but to no avail. He waddled to the counter and began once again with his attempts to convince her. He had barely begun when she told him that she had been thinking over one of his most recent offers and that she would like to discuss it over with him around seven thirty at her apartment above the bakery; an hour after she would close, when no one would be around to interrupt...

    ~~~~

    Thereasa stood by her door, hidden in shadow. Her residence was a black abyss, for she had turned off all the lights. She waited ever so patiently; the hunter waiting for her prey. Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps on the stairs. Her grip tightened around the metallic object she was holding, her heart raced as the doorknob turned and the door opened ever so slowly. Adelbert stepped slowly into the dark room and took long, cautious and unsure steps deeper into the darkness.

    Thereasa left her position in utter silence, creeping behind Adelbert with cat-like stealth. She raised the metal bat high and brought it crashing down with a bone-shattering ferocity to the back of his head. There was a semi loud crack from the impact, followed by a loud grunt and a thump as Adelbert fell to the floor and directly onto a large expanse of plastic that covered the hardwood. After warily shutting the door, she rushed to a nearby table and flicked on a lamp. He lay lifeless on his stomach. She stepped forward and flipped the corpse onto its back. It was time to get to work...

    ~~~~

    Thereasa had been slightly surprised at how easy it had been. She had gutted, dismantled, and packed the corpse; much like she had done to the pumpkins. It was now Wednesday, almost a full week after the gruesome event. Adelbert’s company had gone topsy-turvy after his ‘disappearance’ and the police were working the case twenty-four seven. Now, Thereasa was serving a slice of her most recent meat pies, of her own recipe, to a customer that had seated himself at the counter. He savored every last bite and ventured to ask the recipe. Thereasa smiled darkly. “If I told you, I would have to kill you.” Was all she said before slicing an apple in half with single, fatal swoop of her knife.