At first I wasn't sure there was anyone home when her eyes flew open. It was like the person who used to live there went on permanent vacation and left behind an empty shell. She was totally void, blank, and I caught nothing from her but a whole heap of nada.

Until her eyes fixed on mine. Suddenly her whole existence came into sharp focus. There it was, what I dreaded all along, the stench and touch of the thing, the creature, buried inside her so deep it poisoned her slowly ...