"It was that time.  The time stories like this begin." The lean figure took a drag from a fictional cigarette.  His fingers cradled and rolled it as if it were real.  He leaned back in the chair.

"Do you think this is a joke?  Tell us about the girl."  The officer's large palms slammed into the table.  He slid a photo across of a pale fair haired girl fiercely holding a leathery bear.

"What girl," he started, brow raised.  His hands trembled as he took up the print.  "Oh, Bob's girl.  I'd be careful with her, she bites."

As the lean man took another puff on the invisible cigarette, the officer slammed the table again.  "Whom is Bob, and where is this girl's family?"


"So, that's where, when you want to start."  He put the imaginary cig in his mouth and held his lips as if it were there.  "It was three years ago, and her father was drunk again.  They were fighting over food in the house."

A shot rang through the house, followed shortly by a second one.  A small body soon started eating the only thing it could reach.  This didn't agree with its stomach.  A rattle at the door made it hide.

A lean figure entered and found a light switch.  As the figure saw his reflection, he waved at it and nodded.  His face bunched up and he pinched his nose.

In hushed tones, he spoke at the mirror.  As a small face peered into the room, he caught a glimpse.  He ordered his reflection to investigate and stepped out of the mirror's purview.

As he looted the entry table and front room, he glanced at the mirror.  Then he saw the small head watching him again.  He complained and started toward the face.  He followed it into the kitchen, turning on the light and dragging his shirt over his nose.

He grimaced at the two bodies on the floor.  He stepped carefully around the pooled blood and tracks.  As he freed the cold gun from the man's hand, he caught sight of his reflection in the stainless steel fridge.  Her reflection grew and he spun, drawing a bead on her.

The small face had added a small rounded body.  He saw his reflection holding the gun on the girl and started yelling at it.  The bear was peeked over as the man argued with the fridge.  After another bout of shouting, the slender figure grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the bathroom.

He firmly gripped her mane as he held her over the tub.  As he tempered the water, he spoke at her about a third entity.  Then he stripped her sick covered shirt and her filled panties and put her in the tub.  He kept one hand on her head as he took the bear and sat it on the toilet.

He pulled her hair this way and that as he bathed her as one would a pet.  When he finished washing her, he wrapped a towel around her and sat her on the toilet.  He gave her back her bear and brushed her hair.  Then he dragged her by her arm around the house until he found her room.  He made her dress as he filled her pillow case with clean clothes.

Then he took her in the kitchen and put her in the highchair.  As he stepped back he stepped into the man's open belly.  The slender figure's face went blank before he screamed.  Then he slipped his belt off and used it to tie the girl's neck to the highchair.

Then he was into a furry.  He stripped the two dead bodies and skinned them mechanically.  Then he harvested the meats and made sausages from the mass.  He cooked a few as he methodically cleaned not only the kitchen, but the entire house.  He feed the sausages to the girl as he folded what was left of the cleaned skins and took several trips to the van. 

Then he took her to the van and drove to a campsite out in the woods.  He kept the girl well fed and happy.  The third entity that she didn't see kept her safe.  The slender man even made her a new teddy bear.  He also made a decent whip for himself.  He toilet and bath trained her as fast as he could.

“And that is all there is.  You can run your tests.  I would never hurt a child.” He leaned onto the table and took a drag from his imaginary cigarette.  Then he turned and asked the one way mirror, “Isn't that right, Bob.”

The cop slammed the table and pulled at his hair.  “He's crazy, or he's faking it.”  He shoved his partner out of the way and yelled down the hall.  Then he said to his partner, “Get the shrink down here.”

A subtle red glow followed waved to the partner from the mirrored glass. He looked again and all he could see was a large, gray rabbit sitting in the mirror's chair, smoking a carrot.  He shook his head and it was all normal again.