The Difference.

Luke leaned heavily against the dusty brick wall, notebook held close to his shaggy face.

The entrance to Abby High was full of roughnecks messing around. Juvenile delinquents. He didn't stand out. Brown eyes stared intently across the long concrete walkway, trying not to be obvious.

She would be coming along soon. 8:00. She was never late.

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Mary seemed to glide along, as though she had wheels on her feet. Bobby and George clung to either side, apparently engrossed in her vapid egotism.

"And then she sat right in it!"

The dumb jocks laughed in unison as her huge chest bobbed up and down in her all too tight sweater.

She was 5 feet, 8 inches, Luke jotted down. Full figured, fuller than yesterday. Longer hair. Curly. It was happening fast. She looked about 20 pounds lighter.

He flicked a cigarette against the wall, slipped the book in his back pocket, and headed inside the school, observations done for now.

---

Mary looked in the full-length mirror that lay against the bare white wall of her tidy bedroom. She'd always hated that mirror. Why would she want to look at herself? The fat pig. The joke. Mary had a little lamb, and then she ate it.

Mary Parley.

At 17 years old, she was 5 feet 4 inches, 180 pounds. Wrinkly, knobby, small squinty eyes. No breasts to speak of. No friends to speak of. No one ever wanted to have anything to do with Fat Mary. She spent nights reading books, alone in her little room, radio playing a sad song. Always a sad song.

Not anymore. No one had even noticed. Her parents acted as though she was the same person she was 2 weeks ago. No muss, no fuss.

The boys at school paid attention to her now. They wanted her. She wanted them too. She'd have them, she thought..... she'd have them all.

Mary chuckled as she pulled off her white sweater revealing a perfect D cup. She took off her sexy black bra. What beauties. She jumped up and down with glee, the metal pin swinging wildly around her neck.

Time for bed. Sleep comes easy these days.

---

Her room was on the second floor. No security system. A difficult climb though.

Luke scaled the polished white beam by the front door, then grabbed the upper railing first with his right hand, then his left. Good thing it was dark. Grabbing the little posts and pulling himself up was a harder feat. He was panting heavily as he stood on the cracked concrete balcony outside her bedroom window.

"Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary." he mumbled softly. A pocket knife against the windows edge. Quietly. Easily. It took almost 30 minutes but the panes finally rose up with a groan.

Inside now.

Clean and tidy room. White walls. Barren. Small radio playing listlessly.

She lay snoring softly in a full sized bed. Pink sheets. A side sleeper. She held her large pillow like a lover.

Luke walked quietly to her bedside. She looked so beautiful, with her long golden locks. Not real. Not real.

He pulled the sheet down quickly, effortlessly. Long white nightgown, smooth pink skin, big beautiful bosom, and there shining in the darkness.... an amulet. A pentagram marked the front, lined with red stripes and scratches.

Voices in the darkness.

Mary.

Gotta hurry.

MARY.

Her big eyes open wide now.

Luke grabbed the metal chain in his right hand, pulling it with all his might. Ripping free, beads of chrome splattered against paint and nylon.

"NOO." she cried out.

A squelching sound.

Fatter now.

A smell filled the room like old sweaty urine from a shared trench at a baseball game.

From behind his back he produced a small stiletto, flipped out the blade, and in one quick motion slit her throat.

She would have died, without the necklace. Terribly, horribly, slowly.

That wasn't Mary anyway.

That was a devil.

Luke knew.

Luke knew the difference.