."Look, I have been doing this job for thirteen years now, and I know when a child slips away to get drunk and high, so please, be calm and you'll be ...ith your momma in a few minutes." I ain't a fucking child." I responded, being offended."Well how old are you then?" I'm eighteen, just turned eighteen today actually, what a great day it has been."I saw him look at me through the mirror and he said..."Oh, I thought you were younger, you're such a tiny girl, so... you're an adult huh?" Yes I am,. "He blushed to his roots. "Yes I think I'd like that."For his part, he could hardly wait.She wondered for a while why she had made this suggestion. She thought, perhaps, that he would go this way anyway and she might as well be a party to it rather than take a pointless negative approach. Time, and circumstances, would tell, of course. And she really was interested to see how he would look.He was at breakfast on Sunday wearing his nightie and gown. She thought, again, he already. She tried to blink, but her eyelid refused to budge. Her lungs were frozen. Her heart no longer beat in her chest.But somehow she felt fine. She didn’t need to breathe, and her lack of heartbeat was not troubling.She could still see, however. Mom had the tip of her tongue between her lips and seemed to be concentrating on something. At the lower edge of her vision, she saw her mom holding onto her hands.A green tendril snaked out the top of her mom’s shirt. It approached Alaina’s eyes slowly.. Pete caught her look and turned to see a man about their age, maybe six foot tall, salt and pepper hair covered in part by a bush hat. The camera around his neck made Karen panic.Pete quickly took control; "Hi buddy, no camera please, but you can hang around if you want." Karen didn't protest.The guy took the camera off so quickly, placing it at his feet that he knocked his hat off and didn't bother to pick that up either.He came no closer but just watched. Pete now spoke softly to Karen.