Oh well, he had one slight change in his dull routine lined up for today. He was getting a new secretary. Maybe she would have an interesting personality, or maybe, he romanced, she would be a beautiful girl who would fall in love with him, and run away with him, leaving wife and children scattered behind him.
She wasn't, of course. She was a nice enough person, not particularly pretty, not particularly intelligent, but quite hard-working.
Dennis looked up at her that afternoon. It was the first time he had really looked at her, and he found he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Very ordinary," he thought, but there was something, just something about her - what was it? He felt as if he wanted to - as if he - no, it was just too stupid! He forced his eyes away from her. She had her back towards him and could not see him. Then he looked again, and the urge came back again - stronger this time.
He stood up and said in a loud but shaky voice, "Miss Johnson!"
"Yes, sir?" she said, turning around.
"Ah, Miss Johnson, would you take a letter for me please?"
"Yes, sir."
It wasn't until two hours later, when he was on his way home in the bus, that Dennis Castle found the strength to recall the experience he had had with the new secretary. It was strange and frightening. He had felt an inexplicable urge to bite a piece out of her. If it happened again he would really have to ask for another secretary. He was still thinking about it when he walked into the house and found his wife in the kitchen, as always.
"Hi, Dennis," she said.
"Hello, darling," he replied absently, and kissed her.
"Ow!" she yelled. "Dennis, you bit me!"
"What! I - I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to."
"You nearly took a piece out of me."
Then she calmed down a bit. "What's the matter, honey. Had a bad day at the office?"
"Yeah, new secretary."
"Why? What about her?"
"Huh! Oh, no, nothing darling. Just gives me a bit more work, having to train a new secretary."
"Oh yes! What's she like?"
"Don't worry, Marg. She's not half as good-looking as you are."
Dennis was worried about something, she could tell. He wasn't acting as he usually did, and he didn't eat all his food. However he still went for his usual after-dinner walk.
Perhaps he should have eaten all his dinner. Perhaps he might not have eaten quite enough and was still hungry. Perhaps he should have locked himself up in his room for the night.
But whatever he should have done, he came in that evening with a frightened look on his face, and went straight to bed.
The whole thing was in the paper next morning. His wife read it and commented on it, but did not suspect Dennis or connect him in any way with the event.
A little boy had been attacked in a lonely street. He told the police that someone had sneaked up behind him and clamped a hand over his eyes and mouth, then bitten him on the legs and the arms. The boy was taken to hospital to recover from his wounds and a search was started for the attacker, unsuccessful as the boy could give no information about the "bogeyman who tried to eat him" except that he had a strong hand and very sharp teeth.
Dennis Castle boarded the bus for work as if nothing had happened. He still wasn't surer that it had. He had read all about the strange attack in the paper that morning. But was it him? He could just dimly remember what had happened the previous night. He had gone for his usual after-dinner walk and he had seen a little boy walking ahead of him on the dark sidewalk. The urge had come over him, like it had at the office during the day, but even stronger this time. Then it had left him and he went home again. The child had not even noticed him. At least that's the way Dennis remembered it, and that was the way he hoped it had been.
But some one had attacked and bitten a little boy on that very street where he was tempted. If it wasn't Dennis, who was it?
It was useless to pretend to himself that he wasn't the culprit. What was wrong with him? Why did he get these frightening desires? Why did the neck of that fat man sitting in front of him look curiously inviting? Why was he leaning forward ready to take a bite at it? Suddenly he snapped out of it.
"It's too much," he thought. "If I get the feeling again I'll have to see a doctor." He knew now that it had nothing to do with the new secretary. The urge did come over him again, but he did not go to the doctor, nor did he yield to the temptation again - until that terrible night when his wife was upstairs putting Johnny to bed and he was alone with his little daughter.
"Janet," he said, in a strained voice. "Go up and see Mummy, please."
"But why, Daddy? She didn't call me."
"Just go, Janet. Don't argue!"
She looked up at him with her pretty, wide eyes, and started to leave the room.
But it was too late. Dennis jumped up and grabbed little Janet, a fiendish look in his eyes. He covered her mouth so she couldn't scream, and bit her face, legs, arms, fingers . . .
She managed to break away at last and screamed hysterically while her mother's footsteps were heard running down the stairs. Terrified, Dennis ran out of the house, his wife running after him. He ran into the empty garage, where he had once used to keep a car, and shut the door behind him, barricading it to keep out his pursuer. Marg simply locked the door from the outside, ran back to her daughter and called an ambulance and the police.
While she waited she did what she could for the screaming child, who lay bleeding with deep gashes in her body, and some fingers broken. Then the ambulance came and took the little girl to hospital where she is still. She has recovered fairly well from the physical wounds, but the shock of her father's attack on her will leave mental scars for many years to come.
As for her father, Dennis Castle was found by his wife and the police locked in his garage. He was lying dead, blood dripping from his lips, gashes all over him, fingers bitten from his hands, and even toes bitten from his feet.
Mr Castle had tried to eat himself. But this time he had bitten off more than he could chew.