"Why did you try to kill me, Daniel? I loved you. Like her. I loved you"

I held the woman's hand as I led her through the trees and toward the lake. She protested with her words, asking about my intentions, but she did not resist. I looked back and told her everything was going to be fine. She was the child's mother, her face filled with both intangible joy and fearful sorrow at the presence of her reborn son.

“Just follow me Mother, and in time, I will be yours again."

I sat in the backseat as my beloved drove his car out onto the hilltop where we were going to rest. I trust him, but I see the fear in his joyful eyes. I watch as he gives an excuse to step out of the car. I know what he intends to do, but I do not stop him. I only feel pain inside. I hear the click of the locks and the slush of gasoline. He does not look at me as he strikes the match.

I crouch in the shadows beneath the old motel with my skin ashen black. The flames he had engulfed me in have done nothing but peel away at a layer of my organic shell. I carry the gas as my beloved had before. Why will he not listen to the words I speak, I do not know, but he has forced my hand tonight. He has forced me to become just one.

I kneel over Sarah as she wakes from her deep sleep, a soft groan escaping her mouth as she squints her eyes open to meet mine. I squeeze my left hand around her throat and apply pressure, hardening the organic fibers in my thumb to insert just beneath her vocal cords. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens to scream, but it is no longer audible. I stretch and extend my right index finger to dig into the soft gap between her eyelid and her eyeball, opening a tunnel into her brain. My throat loosens and I allow the thin proboscis to slide out from its meaty shaft, pushing it forward with my tongue into open air.

"Sarah."

"Yeah"

"I'm coming home tonight."

".......Really?"

"Yes. I promise I'll never leave your side again.

We'll be together.

Forever."