Theres a rustle of movement behind her, and when she turns she finds a girl with pigtails, who stands half hidden by a tree trunk. She looks like she could be seven or eight years old, except that shes at least as tall as Temple like an overgrown baby in a checked dress.

The girl peeks out from behind the tree trunk and picks at the bark nervously with her thick fingertips.

Temple gazes at her, trying to hold her vision in place.

Whered you come from, little miss? Temple asks.

From town.

Temple can hear the engine of her car still running in the distance.

How longve I been out?

The girl doesnt answer. She keeps her eyes trained on Temple and picks at the tree bark.

Come on, Temple says. I aint gonna hurt you. What you lurkin back there for?

The girl says nothing.

Did you see the monster? The one that hit me? You dont have to worry, I aint gonna let him get you.

The girl looks around, but not fearfully. She mumbles something that Temple cant quite hear.

What? What you sayin?

The girl repeats herself in a curiously deep but still frail voice:

I said Im gon kill you.

For the first time Temple can see theres something wrong with the girls teeth instead of being in neat rows, they seem to stick out every which way, some of them even poking out from between her lips when her mouth is closed.

Im gon kill you, the girl repeats.

What you wanna kill me for?

Yaint no kin-mind.

Kin-mind? What you sayin?

Yaint no kinnamind.

Kin of mine? You sayin I aint no kin of yours?

Im gon kill you.

I dont think so, girl. Go play somewhere else. Its time for Temple to rise and shine.

She lifts herself to her feet, balancing herself with her arms outstretched as though she were walking a tightrope.

When shes steady, she looks up and finds the girl has come out from behind the tree. For the first time she sees the girls bulk, thick all around like a walking log. Theres something wrong with her arm, and when Temple looks more closely she sees that all the skin of the hand and forearm has peeled back to expose the bones, the tendons, the brownish meat and muscle. It doesnt seem to be a wound she can see the muscles roiling with strength. In some areas there even seems to be a white chitinous crust formed in patches over the arm.

Not to mention the long kitchen knife gripped in the skinless hand.

Im gon kill you.

Easy there, Miss Muffet.