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.

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 her

crashed over

evening, the sky was heavy and gray, rain threatening at any

mother had handed her a twenty, told her to run to the corner store for a bottle

picking out candy, even choosing a piece of

of groceries, when she reached the

was a

When she finally looked, she saw it

stared wide and unseeing, blood spreading from

dark, snaking rivulets

from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Her skin was as white as

a

surrounded her

crashed to the ground. She pushed through

to scream for

lips parted, but no

thunder and

rushed home, locked Jessica alone in their

In the darkness, the image of her mother's broken body

outside never stopped, battering her small world with each

never understood why her mother had

with every fiber in her body, the

home earlier, maybe her mother wouldn't

her teeth, hands shaking as

was blinding in the

Her lips trembled.

of thunder nearly

ached with panic, breath coming in ragged gasps, as if she