MARCE

In all the time she’s spent at the cabin on her own when Hando was in jail Marce had never been afraid. She was a big girl and strong and had always been able to take care of herself. It was just something she never thought about…fear.

Hando was leaving in the mornings before eight o’clock working on his paint job and that left her until half past one when she left for work. Today she was washing her bike it was hot and she’d stripped down in her cut off low slung jeans and a black sports bra. She’d just finished soaping it up and picked up the hose…there it was again that feeling that made the hairs stand up on her neck. She’d felt it the day before when she’d hung out towels to dry. She turned and looked around narrowing her eyes toward the woods that surrounded the back of the cabin. She could see nothing and shrugged…probably some animal she thought and began to rinse the soap off her bike.

Throwing the hose down she picked up some rags she’d brought out and started to dry the seat. He came at her from behind quickly and grabbed her in a headlock pressing his forearm against her neck. Marce screamed and clawed at him with her long nails raking him across the face. He hit her hard against the side of her head bringing her to her knees. Marce fought with all she had.

She’d stopped breathing long before he was finished with her.

Scrambling now he looked around…there was no one about. He pushed her bike down the hill into the lake figuring that would buy him a little time. He drug Marce back into the woods and left her. Through the woods he ran until he reached the four wheeler and took off.

The cabin was silent,  the only sound outside was the water still trickling from the hose and running downhill toward the lake.