Permission

Cuddling her baby, Cassie went to answer the door.

Anna, eyes bright beneath hooded lids, smiled at her. “I came to see my newest neighbor.” She bent forward and peered into the baby’s face. “Oooh, he’s so sweet I could just eat him up.” She held out her arms. “May I?”

Pride welled up in Cassie’s chest. “Sure.”

With a sudden sinuous motion, Anna took the baby, popped him in her mouth, and swallowed him whole.

Unable even to scream, Cassie stared at the bulge in the woman’s midsection.

“What?” Anna gave her a puzzled look. “You said I could.”

Colorized

The drab little man in the gray suit entered the bar at five o’clock as usual, huddled on the same bar stool he always did, and waited to order his usual martini.

An almost pretty woman perched on the next stool smiled at him as if they were going to be good friends. Then a fellow wearing a loud shirt approached and handed her a rose. As she got up to follow him, a single petal fluttered to the floor.

“Your usual?” the bartender asked.

The man glanced at the rose petal, straightened his shoulders. “I’ll have red wine today.”

A Drop of Honey

A drop of honey formed on the vaulted ceiling.

He strained against his bonds. How much more could he take? The drop slammed into his forehead with all the force of a sledgehammer.

Through his pain, he heard a loud drone. He turned his head.

Two feet away, the yellow-jacketed silhouette of McQueen stared at him, immobile except for her rapidly beating wings. “If you had not meddled, you would not be in this sticky situation. Tell me who hired you.”

“None of your beeswax.” The words scraped his throat.

“Tell me,” McQueen demanded.

The honey began its downward journey.

The Perfect Wife

“Are you coming right home after work?” Gina asked.

“Yes. Why?”

She gave him a sultry look. “I have a surprise for you.”

Bob’s heart beat faster, wondering what delight she had in store for him this time.

He finished his breakfast, rose from the table, and kissed her. Her lips were warm and full of promise. He ran his fingers through her hair, then pressed the button at the back of her skull. She went still.

“Bye, Sweetheart,” he said. He paused at the door and looked back. “I can hardly wait to get home and turn you on.”

The Locket

Effie felt like the last woman left alive, and maybe she was -- she hadn’t seen another soul since the blizzard began. It had been screaming outside the cabin for more than a month, and all that remained in her larder were a cup of flour and a pinch of yeast, enough to make a small loaf of French bread.

She raised her fingers to her throat and closed them around the locket containing an old photograph of her beloved Jake, who had died in a long ago war before they could wed.

“Soon,” she whispered. “We’ll be together soon.”

Promises

Their gazes met across a crowded room and, just like that, they tumbled into love. A prince, he made her feel like a queen.

"Why now?" she wondered. "Why not last month before my wedding?" She hadn't believed in true love, thinking it fairy tale stuff, so she'd vowed to honor and cherish a kind and gentle man, a dear friend.

"Will you come away with me?" the prince asked. "For a weekend, a year, an eternity?"

She twisted the gold band around her finger, her heart breaking.

"I love you. I always will. But I have promises to keep."

Fulfillment

He was born with a hunger he could not explain. It frightened him, this not knowing, because if he did not know what the hunger was, how could he ever satisfy it?

As he grew to manhood, the hunger grew also. Sometimes it seemed as if it were devouring him; no matter what he ate, he remained gaunt. Only during sex could he forget the hunger.

One day while kissing his girlfriend, he accidentally drew blood. And suddenly it all made sense.

With a happy sigh, he sunk his teeth in the neck of the struggling girl.

And found fulfillment.