That's the way girls were — they always laughed. Because they were bitches. - Robert Bloch

"The sun disappeared into the woods and shadows started slinking out from between the trees."

short story, Pumpkin

But she didn't listen, she was in the bathroom, she was getting dressed, she was putting on make-up, she was getting ready. Getting ready.

Mother had wandered off — where? Was she out on the highway, ready to be picked up by anyone who might come driving by? Was she still suffering a hysterical reaction, would the shock of what she had done cause her to blurt out the truth to whoever came along and found her? Had she actually run away, or was she merely in a daze? Maybe she’d gone down past the woods back of the house, along the narrow ten-acre strip of their land which stretched off into the swamp. Wouldn’t it be better to search for her first? Norman sighed and shook