A dark and crushing force known as the Depression had swept across America. Saul Goodwinter was beyond thankful to have his job and his house. He had a wife, a new girl barely five months old and a cozy new promotion. That promotion was well earned, too. A few months of having to take houses and belongings and he was able to keep his own. Saul delighted in that exchange. The economy, or lack thereof, had turned him into a ravenous shark.

Follow up:

There was one problem, though. Saul was unable to get his own car. That was something he needed for the trips he was going to make now. Saul's eyes jumped to the weary looking sign that welcomed him to Burke County and he drove onward past any decent looking building. As he stopped in the dirt driveway of a house, he couldn't help but sneer at it. It was a dingy white, like it hadn't been cleaned or painted in decades, and shutters were hanging off of it from the recent storm. Grass was a distant memory for the yard and yellow weeds had sprouted up in its place.

Saul gazed at the dry rotting porch as he approached it with a thinly veiled sneer of disgust. Two old rocking chairs sitting in front of him creaked and squealed on the old boards as the wind blew. Only one was occupied. Saul looked at the negress of unknown but many years and nodded politely at her. She listened to the whistling wind, or perhaps his approach, and returned the nod after a beat.

“Ma'am? Ma'am?” he asked loudly as he walked in front of the steps to the porch. He eyed them warily, unsure of whether or not his foot would go through the wood.

“I'm almost blind, son, not deaf. You can lower your voice,” the woman replied with a smile. “What is it I can do for you, honey?”

“I'm here on business with...” Saul adjusted his wire rimmed glasses as he checked the paper in his hand. He looked back up at the woman and forced something that might resemble a smile. “Mr. McKinney, I believe?”

“Can't do that, sir,” she said as she shook her weary looking head sadly.

Saul set his foot onto the porch step with care and light step, the wood creaking under his shoe. The wind picked up as he did and the remains of the woman's hair, falling out from age and years of straightening, bobbed gently in the breeze. She put the sun hat in her lap on almost self conciously and looked at Saul again. He approached her slowly, minding his footfalls, and looked down at her. She stared up at him with eyes that had the slightest milky hue to them, then smiled at him with the same sadness that had been in her voice.

“The cancer been eatin' at Jimmy for about...five years now,” the old woman sighed as she stood. Saul reached to help her stand and she pushed him away gently with a shaking, withered hand. “I can stand by myself. Come inside and let's see what ya got.”

As he followed her inside, Saul was met with an offensive smell. He wasn't sure what the source of it was but it smelled rotten. Perhaps the old lady before him had lost her mind and had left some perishable food out? The old woman gestured for him to sit down and Saul complied, easing onto an old and moth-eaten chair with visible disdain in regards to its condition.

“I have a bank notice for Mr. McKinney,” Saul explained as he brought out his papers. His glasses were wobbled up and down the bridge of his nose before he found a suitable spot for them. “His loan is due. Could you fetch him, Mrs...?”

“Maisey. Just Maisey,” the old woman responded warmly. “And as I said, sir, I can't let Jimmy see you. He's too sick. Plus we don't really have the money to pay at the moment.”

Saul forced back a sigh of annoyance. He figured that he was going to hear that. Why borrow when you can't pay the money back? Maisey looked at Saul with a pathetic look on her face and Saul tried to smile sympathetically, something that twisted his features into a sadistic smirk instead. The steps creaked and his attention was taken away from her as he looked up to the source of the noise.

“Jimmy!” Maisey exclaimed, her calm and soft voice suddenly straining in panic. “Jimmy, get back to bed, baby, you can't be up!”

It took a moment for Saul to realize that he was looking at a man. McKinney was more a shadow. Once tall and most likely handsome, McKinney's eyes and cheeks were sunken deep into his skull. His skin stretched across his bones with no muscle or flesh between them. The pitiful man-like creature, the source of the smell that had hit Saul earlier, began to shuffle down the steps. Maisey stood and finally helped McKinney down, muttering about how he deserved to have a change of scenery in resignation. She kissed his bald head and brought her arms around him to bring him close. Heartwarming, Saul would have thought, if he didn't have a job to do at the moment.

“Mr. McKinney, your loan is due. The money you borrowed from...” Saul began. Maisey tossed her hand up quickly to silence him. “Is there a problem, ma'am?”

“Don't start on Jimmy,” Maisey said firmly, He's sick and he doesn't need to be dealing with no bankers. He needs prayer and rest.”

The ghostly man set his head on Maisey's shoulder, looking out at Saul from yellowed and almost blind eyes that used to be a bright and lady killing blue. He was more of a dying dog instead of man, sitting in his misery with some unknown and revolting smell wafting from him. Maisey brought the almost lifeless form closer to her and looked down at McKinney the way a new mother would her baby. Adoring and almost mystified by how delicate this life was, with more unconditional love than the world had ever known before. However, this wasn't a new mother. It was an old man and even older woman who needed to pay the goddamn bank so Saul could keep his house.

“This seems to be the end of our discussion. Good day,” Saul said tersely as he grabbed his things.

“Please, Saul, can't we make some sort of a deal? Compromise? Bargain?!” Maisey begged. She gently let McKinney droop and lay on his side like a rag doll as she stood with Saul.

“I'm sorry, I truly am, but I can't...” he stopped. Saul wasn't even close to being sorry, but something bothered him about this old woman. “How do you know my name? I didn't tell you my name.”

In her silence, Maisey's eyes felt like they burned into the young banker's soul. He stood where he was and shook in fright for just the briefest of moments before recovering his composure. Saul finally shook his head in disgust and turned to leave. A searing pain shot through his arm and he turned to see Maisey was clutching him with strength beyond her age. He tried to pull his arm away but to no avail, feeling a note of panic rise in his chest. McKinney observed the two of them and tried to focus his undoubtedly hazy eyes on them. A large and child-like smile parted his cracked and bloodied lips to reveal teeth so rotten they were black. Saul finally gagged in disgust at his surroundings and tried again to get his arm away. Maisey pulled him away from the door and sent him spinning, glasses flying off his nose and skidding onto the floor. Saul looked and felt around wildly as he groped through his murky vision.

Finding his glasses, Saul put them on and stood. He found no trace of Maisey and saw only McKinney, leaning against the arm of the sofa like he was watching a particularly engaging boxing match. His mouth was spread to a width that was in danger of splitting his face open in a wide and ugly Glasgow smile. Saul couldn't help but tremble when McKinney began to laugh. It was a wheezy cackle and sounded more like a failing motor than anything. It caught and burbled in his throat before McKinney was practically draped over the sofa like an eager little boy. When Saul heard something very soft behind him and turned, he saw no Maisey. He wasn't quite sure what it was. He was too terrified by what he glimpsed to properly register just what was in front of him. He was unsure if it was creature, or if it was a type of night,mare. It was grotesque and Saul's most basic of instincts were telling him to run. He tripped over his own feet and fell against the sofa, flinching when McKinney's laughter grew louder in his ear. Spittle fell against the back of his neck and Saul cringed away from him and he stood on shaking legs and stared at the thing before him.

McKinney continued to cackle, his entire skeletal body quivering with delight and mirth. Saul continued to quiver and slowly tried to back away to the door. The creature opened its mouth and screamed a wretched sound before jumping towards him. Saul fell against the coffee table with a crash as huge, hook like claws dug into his back. Saul screamed in pain as something dug against his aching chest and stomach in addition to the back caused by the creature, trying to flail away only to be forced down by the thing's giant paws. He wasn't sure what he was feeling as something sharp stung his neck. There was a pain and a loud snap throughout the room. Saul went limp.

The beast crawled off Saul's remains and the destroyed table and McKinney stretched out his arms like a toddler wanting to be picked up. As a hulking frame eased next to a frail one, Jimmy McKinney hugged the thing as tightly as he could. He buried his face into its coarse fur and closed his eyes in content. When he opened his eyes again, his face lit up. Maisey looked down at him with a warm gaze and smiled, her yellowing teeth having just the faintest tint of red splashed against them.

“You showed him,” McKinney cooed in delight, setting his head against her bosom to listen to her erratic heartbeat. “You showed him good.”

“Mm-hmm,” Maisey replied sweetly as she rubbed the few wisps of hair he had left. “I've kept you safe all your life, no sense to stop now.”

Maisey kissed his head and helped him stand on weak and shaking legs. The two eased up the steps with Maisey behind McKinney to catch him if he fell. When McKinney turned around to look at her, he saw that familiar red gleam in eyes that were slowly becoming white and glassy. As he saw that gleam he smiled. That was his Maisey.