WEEK 345
"I was going out for awhile," Mandy told her mother, "but I changed my mind as soon as I stepped out the door and saw a..."


...stream of blood." Mandy flinched at the memory and peeked through her lashes at her mother.

"Mandy, what happened to you? You saw the blood and what did you do?" Mandy's mother questioned, grabbing her daughter's shoulders and shaking her gently.

"I followed it to an opening under the porch. I didn't think twice before I looked in, but there was a little boy in there, Mom. I think it was Cyrus from next door." Mandy sat on the couch and cried. She couldn't help remembering Cyrus' horrified look on his face, his butchered body, and the man, the man who nearly killed her with his knife collection.

Sawyer Brayer lived upstairs, renting out the room next to mine. He had a knife collection, and ever since he moved in I knew there was something wrong with him. It was too bad my mother had waited until after all those people died to believe me, and now, he was waiting upstairs.

by Allison Darne, Portland, OR

...crime scene investigation unit roping off the neighbor s house with yellow caution tape..."

"My goodness! Uncle Charlie?"

"No, mother," Mandy said and rolled her eyes. "Not those neighbors. The blue house."

"Oh," said her mother. She walked over to the front window, pulled back the pastel colored floral print drapes, and looked out to the blue house. "I wonder how Uncle Charlie is doing. I should give him a call."

by Jeff Ratcliffe, Hatboro, PA