He’d lied to Kai. His mother’s body wasn’t gone. It was less than three miles from their houses. Right here in Thunder Bay.

Maybe he should’ve gotten rid of it.

“I just couldn’t do it, though.” His eyes fell on the headstone, his breathing turning shallow and his voice growing quiet. “I want you to exist,” he whispered. “I want to never forget that the world is a bad place, that you were real, and that every day you’re rotting under my feet.”

He flexed his jaw and tipped his chin up, trying to feel taller. Remembering the pleasure of dumping her in this grave and not taking any care to place her body or wrap her up from the elements.

Unzipping his fly, he took out her favorite part of him and glared at the stone as he pissed all over the ground.

He wouldn’t be back again. He was done with her.

But there was another who still very much deserved what was coming to her and who still needed to be dealt with. She was next.

Finishing, he tucked himself back into his pants and fastened them up again, taking one last, long look.

“Hey,” someone called out behind him. “Cemetery’s closed. What are you doing here?”

A caretaker.

He exhaled a sigh, not turning around. “Just paying my respects to my mother.”

The glow of a flashlight behind him shone on the headstone in front of him. “Your mother? But that’s Edward McClanahan’s grave.”

“Oh, is it?” he said, holding back his smile.

He heard the man’s footsteps grow closer. “If you come back in the morning, I can help you find your mother’s plot. What’s her name?”

But he just shook his head. “Nah, it’s okay. I’ll be quite busy after tonight.” And he turned, meeting the man’s hazel eyes under gray brows. “I’ll leave. Happy Halloween.”

And then he walked away, back the way he came.

“Yeah, you, too,” the caretaker called after him.

Indeed.

The End