Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Chapter 108

Timothy stared at the message on his phone, his dark eyes fixed on the glowing

screen for a long while.

[Do you like it?]

He typed a reply.

[Yeah, just like Happy and Lucky.]

He pressed his lips together, thinking.

If Sheila liked them, there was no harm in giving her one too.

There were twenty-two left.

He bought them all, though he only intended to keep one.

The rest, he'd throw away.

It was just an excuse to set one aside for Sheila.

[If you like it, keep it.]

Capital City.

Jessica was too afraid to sleep. She huddled in the corner of the hotel room, knees pulled to her chest, shivering so hard her fingernails nearly broke the skin of her palms.

Every clap of thunder struck like a hammer against her heart.

lightning ripped across the sky did the world briefly flicker into view. The wind howled, rain hammered the windows with a relentless drone, and Jessica felt her courage drain away, fear flooding every corner of

memories crashed over

heavy and gray, rain threatening at

the corner store for a bottle of

out candy, even choosing a piece of

groceries, when she reached the foot of her apartment building-and

was a sickening

froze. When she finally looked, she saw

gentle eyes stared wide and unseeing, blood spreading from

head in dark, snaking rivulets across the

mouth, and ears. Her skin

that a

surrounded her

crashed to the ground. She

out, to scream for her

but no sound

thunder

home, locked Jessica alone in their apartment,

lights were out. In the darkness, the image of her

outside never stopped, battering her small world

why her mother had

fiber in her body, the

home earlier, maybe her mother wouldn't

teeth, hands shaking

of the screen was blinding

Her lips trembled.

crash of thunder nearly made

chest ached with panic, breath coming in