Chapter 5

  Bill knew it was going to be good news as soon as he opened the front door.  Sandy's shoes were neatly set right beside the doorway.  This was their little game and he knew what would come next.  Sure enough, a little ways down the hall he could see one sock and then another.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  This meant that her tests had come back saying she was healthy.  She was in the mood for love and he wouldn't disappoint her.  Right about now, he didn't want to keep her waiting for much longer because, truth be told, he was in the mood now too.  After all these years, Sandy was only within the last few years beginning to gray a little, but she wore it well and in no way looked old in Bill's eyes.
  Years ago when Sandy had given birth to their son, she became insecure about her body because of the weight she had gained during the pregnancy and the resulting stretch marks.  She felt that she would never be able to look like the women she saw on TV.  Bill told her that she was even more beautiful now than ever.  He said, "Those women on the TV may have a certain look, but they have no character expressed by their bodies.  Your body is a flag of honor for maternal love.  Wear it proudly."  After that, she had never been ashamed to share her body with him because she knew that he loved her inside and out.  She would often exchange a back rub from Bill for what she called a "front rub."
  Right now she desired to share her body with him and it showed when he found her shirt about half way up the staircase.  At the top of the staircase were her pants.  Down the hall, on the second story of their house, was her bra.  Bill could feel his blood begin to race as he approached the end of the trail with a warm and loving prize behind door number one.  It still took his breath away to see that, hanging on the doorknob to the closed bathroom door, were her panties.  Inside the bathroom she would be in the bathtub wearing only candlelight.
  Bill closed his eyes for a moment to say a quick thank you to God before opening the bathroom door.  What he saw next struck terror into the deepest parts of his inner being.  The bathtub was filled with blood and Sandy lay inside it with her eyes glazed over and clouded in death.  Behind him the door closed revealing a shadowy figure hiding just out of his field of vision.  Bill never even had a chance to scream.