The monster she saw was sitting beside her morning coffee the day after New Year’s. An exceedingly cold day as she whipped around the corner eager to enter the warm sanctuary of her office with the laptop gleaming as if to say, “Come and get me.” The only problem was that next to the laptop and her notes on the criminal investigation into the Tampa serial murderers was the blow up portrait of Edwards Munch’s The Scream. Why was it sagging looking out the window into the garden now covered in frost. Last night it was standing as straight and stalwart as her dreams of obtaining her New Year’s Resolution. Now it was crimped and crunched over like a nail which upon missing its mark collapsed and went off the grid. She swallowed and approached with bated breath poking at the blow up dummy her husband bought her for Christmas last year. Anytime you feel like there is no hope he told her, look at the Scream and know there are other monsters out there. We see this monster but there are plenty living beside us we do not know. She thought of the article and her research concerning the serial killer caught before Thanksgiving. The serial killer who could have anybody’s son living in a suburban community and she shivered as if a cold foot walked over her grave with heavy footing and no grace. Why had the Scream fallen down? She remembered the loud blasts last night and the strange wailing of New Year’s from a distance heard from the amusement park. . At first, she imagined the neighbors were fighting, so she got out of bed and peered outside the curtains but she saw only darkness and silence emanating from the small bungalow opposite their home. She was sleeping alone as her husband was in the hospital recovering from a serious illness. The dog had snuggled next to her as if to say I am here with you. He was her protector as her husband was away until tomorrow. She breathed in and then she breathed out. She approached the blown up plastic doll “the Scream” and poked it only to have it turn its back like a live monster and deflate further as if the wind were knocked out of it. She thought of the night half sleeping and half waking hearing the odd chanting or singing of the Amusement park only to realize they were playing "Auld Lang Syne” in celebration of 2018.. As she was sitting staring at the Scream, the shrill sound of the phone jolted her in to action. “Hello, hello,” she stammered only to hear emptiness. She breathed in and then out. Was it her imagination or had the back garage door just stated, “Garage door opening.” She tried to hold on: was there a monster actually there? Was it human like the serial killer? Or was it a figment of her imagination? The Scream didn’t really exist, did it? Only if you let the worries get to you. She ran with her dog barking wildly toward the back door leading to the garage door figuring she could run into the street if it was some unknown entity who had just opened the garage door remotely. Hadn’t she told her husband recently she thought someone outside was standing with the cell phone when they opened the garage door trying to get the wave lengths of the garage door and remembered seeing it on America’s Most Wanted. “I’m home. They released me. I am ok.” Her husband stand filling the doorway as her pug squealed and jumped excitedly on him. “You know I had the strangest dream last night. The FBI was knocking on our door.” You know there are some things I need to share with you, he continued. She glanced over nervously at the rustling noise she heard inside of her office like a body scraping the floor. She thought of the dummy in the office and the “Scream.” Inwardly, she shivered again. “Sure.”
Born in New York City and raised in a small town in the Catskill Mountains, Mrs. Eve Dobbin’s favorite quote for inspiration is “Everyone has two eyes but no one has the same view” (Harakeh). Her DNA blueprint defines her “ a likely suspect for baking or traveling in time, or by train, boat or plane.”Sandhill Review, BellaOnline Literary Review, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Horror Zine, The Stray Branch, Mused Literary Review, The Literary Yard,
Vita Brevis, Anapest ,Page & Spine feature her literary talents. One recent honor was being designated “Poet of the Month” by the Zine.