1It had been nearly two years since her encounter with Jackson Rippner, but Lisa Reisert was still haunted by his ice-blue eyes. She would jolt awake in the dead of night, certain she saw his eyes crinkling as he smirked at her across the room. She would begin beating him with the bat she kept by her bed until realizing that it was a silhouette, created by the streetlights and a chair.

The nighttime encounters Lisa had with Jackson diminished some as the years passed, but still she would never forget the look on his face as he died, the way his strong hands gripped her chin in the airport bathroom. Lisa could only control her insurmountable fear by reminding herself that he was dead.

Jackson Rippner leaned against Lisa's house, checking his expensive Rolex watch before stuffing his hands back into his pockets. He'd been watching Lisa for close to six months, ever since he'd been freed from jail after paying the bail. The whole time he'd been in jail, his dreams were filled with images of Lisa, drinking her baybreeze, brushing an auburn lock away from her face. Jackson knew what the burning, indigestion-like feeling was in his chest, but didn't want to admit it. She had tried to kill him, had nearly cost him his job and life. Yet Jackson could hardly control himself from coming to see her, asleep in her bed.

However, after awhile, these secret nighttime visits weren't good enough. He wanted to talk to her, to "steal" her as he had once promised. So finally, he had devised a plan.

Lisa awoke with a splitting headache, a sure sign that it was spring, her pollen allergies coming in full force. The grayish light of dawn crept into her room as Lisa stumbled into her bathroom in her tight-fitting pink pajamas.

She grabbed some aspirin from the shelf and glanced quickly at herself. She'd gained a bit of weight since the occurrence, forming a shield against the evils of the world. She figured if her body wasn't an object of attraction to men, they would start to leave her alone. However, her beauty had diminished none.

Lisa splashed her face with water and towel-dried it as she walked back into her bedroom. As she pulled the lilac-colored terry cloth away from her face, she saw the piercing blue eyes attached to a body sitting on her bed.

"Hey, Leese," Jackson Rippner said, standing up.