Goodbye, Mr. Regret

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.

out the power, plunging the room into total darkness. Only when lightning ripped across the sky did the world briefly flicker into view. The wind howled,

memories crashed over

heavy and gray, rain threatening at any

her to run to the corner store for a bottle of soy sauce, and

candy, even choosing a

of groceries, when she reached the foot of

was a

finally looked, she saw it was her

and unseeing, blood spreading from the

dark, snaking rivulets

and ears. Her skin

shouted that a woman had

quickly surrounded

crashed to the ground. She pushed

out, to scream for her

lips parted, but no

thunder and

in their apartment, and followed the ambulance to

the darkness, the image of her

outside never stopped, battering her small

never understood why her mother had

fiber in her body,

only she had come home earlier, maybe her mother wouldn't

her teeth, hands shaking as she pulled out her

of the screen was blinding in

Her lips trembled.

crash of thunder nearly made