The Couple

I.

“What a sweet smell!” Tina reveled while sniffing the cool morning sea breeze. Tacky, her pet puppy stirred in her arms and raised his head as if alerted by something. She turned and saw a couple strolling at the water’s edge near them. The woman was pregnant – five months probably. Tacky jumped off Tina’s arms and ran towards the couple and pawed at the woman’s heel. Startled, the woman almost kicked the puppy away but thought otherwise and cursed the animal instead, calling it names. Tina came running.

“God, Tacky, leave the lady alone,” she said while picking up her pet. “Sorry about that.”

“You shouldn’t let your mutt loose. It nearly gave me a miscarriage.” The woman glared at her.

“I’m really sorry. My dog was just being playful,” Tina said.

The woman’s husband, if he was indeed her better half, was silent. He was busy ogling Tina, his eyes wandering lustily all over her.

“If I were you I’d chain that pooch before he hurts someone,” the wife added.

“Oh, no need for that. He’s just a curious pup, a baby exploring the world around him,” Tina replied coolly, glancing at the woman’s bloated belly. “Well, got to go. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience.”

Tina smiled to the couple and walked off with Tacky in her arms.

II.

The couple slept heavily in their hotel room. It was past three in the morning. Three hours earlier they chilled in one of the islands many bars then decided to call it a night. Only a lone bedside lamp lit the room. From the shadows in one corner of the room a pair of eyes watched the couple. A pitch-black form of a woman emerged and slowly approached the couple, its hungry eyes fixed on the woman’s bloated belly.

III.

Tina chatted cheerfully with her college friends while they strolled around the island, checking bazaars and shops with Tacky in her arms. A throng of people, a parked police car, and an ambulance outside a pension house caught their curiosity.

“What happened here?” Tina inquired casually from a bystander.

“A couple was found dead in their room,” the woman said. “What makes it really sad is that the woman is pregnant. Authorities say there’s no sign of foul play. Must have died in their sleep.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Tina replied staring at the window of a room on the second floor.

THE END