CHAPTER 8

Mark Poland was a simple kind of guy. He stayed home and kept house while his boyfriend worked full time as an accountant. He didn't watch TV, smoke, drink, or do any kind of illegal nonsense. The only thing he treated himself to was the Wednesday night pottery classes.

It was during one of those classes that things got a little, well, odd. The thing about pottery was that it relaxes Mark: it's an escape made especially for him, and lawn gnomes were his specialty. But one day, a pretty young blonde girl signed up for the class. She was definitely out of the ordinary-25 at most, and the majority of people in the class were over 50. She sat down next to Mark and grabbed her supplies.

"Hi," Mark said. "Welcome to the class. My name's Mark." He reached out to shake her hand. She looked at him and her eyes went wide with wonder.

"Hi. I-I'm Candice. You have beautiful eyes."

"Um...Okay. Thanks. I hope you like it here."

"Oh," Candice replied with a tone like silk. "I think I most certainly will."

From there, she wouldn't stop asking him questions. It was beyond being polite and trying to get to casually know one another. Mark thought it was creepy. In one class, this girl had turned from normal to psycho.

Every week, the same thing happened. Candice sat next to him, she asked him questions, almost like she had a crush on him and couldn't keep herself from talking. It got worse and worse. Honestly, he considered dropping the class because of this girl. And then it happened. Candice followed Mark Poland home.