He knew what he wanted to do today, and his success at the Ragland house made it easier to really get a grip on it. He knew exactly what he had to do, and what it was going to take to get the voice to calm down. And while it was indeed becoming easier, that did not mean he particularly enjoyed doing it. But the voice did not understand that, and even if it did understand, it would not give a damn.

The voice did not care just how much work hed put into killing the Ragland woman. And that was a damned shame, because he considered it a feat in and of itself. Hed played the scene over and over in his head, from the start of it all to the moment he rolled by the house in the dark, cop lights flashing, his hands bloody.

Hed been unable to find any appointments within the next few weeks, so hed settled for breaking into her home. Because hed staked her house out several times in the past week or so, he knew when her husband got home. That meant he had to break in early. Hed parked his car in a small subdivision half a mile away, walked to the house, and made sure to stick to the side of the yard in order to avoid the Ring doorbell. Breaking in hadnt been very hard either because hed been able to let himself in through the kitchen window with his little screwdriver. Hed nearly fallen into the kitchen sink as he crawled in over the counter, and then made his way upstairs where hed waited in that damned closet for about six hours.

But the voice did not care about that sort of thing. It would never be pleased, and he could never do enough for it.

He dressed for the day as the tension of what he had to do built within him. The nerves he felt were no different than the nerves that came with a sudden doctors or dentists appointment. Ah, but underneath it…wasnt there just a tiny bit of excitement? He knew there was, but he did not want to admit it to himself.