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Excerpt from The Return
Copyright © 2002 by Vicki Allen
All rights reserved

    Dry brittle leaves snapped beneath his feet as he made his way through the brush, moving aside thick foliage with a harsh sweep of his hand. Huffing with impatience, he climbed up on one of the moss-covered boulders at the waters' edge and peered out at the little house high atop a hill across the lake. He watched and he waited.
    Finally, he was rewarded. The girl appeared, swinging out the front door and bounding down the porch steps, her long mane of golden-brown hair flying behind her like streamers as she raced to her waiting car. The legs beneath her jeans were long and shapely. He was sure of it. Just as he was sure the eyes behind her dark sunglasses were the most unique shade of aqua-blue. He smiled and lifted the binoculars.
    “You have grown up,” he declared, his twisted smile growing even larger as he scanned her pretty face. “After all these years, you, my dear, have blossomed.”
    He lowered the binoculars and leaned back on his hands, a satisfied chuckle rumbling low in his throat. He watched the girl back out of the driveway, keeping his eyes glued to the little red car until it was well out of sight. Then he laughed: an overbearing, demented laugh that echoed through the woods and shook the fragile leaves on nearby trees from their branches.
 “Oh my pet,” he chuckled deliriously, wiping gleeful tears from his eyes as he looked back toward the house. “Won't you just be so surprised? I've waited and waited for the opportune moment and that moment has finally arrived.”
 He slid from the rock and tucked the binoculars neatly into the leather backpack at his feet. He slung the bag over his shoulder and turned to leave, giving the little house one last glance before he disappeared into the trees. “Yes, dearest. I think the time has finally come for my return.”


On to Chapter One