“My fate has come! Good bye cruel world!”

I fell to the ground, laughing. Jacob was so good at hosting plays with his little brother, Benny. “Why don’t you do drama club?” Jessie manages to ask between giggles. He shrugged. “That would take away time hanging out with you guys.” We walk out of the room and say our goodbyes. “See you later weirdos!” I call out as my mom shuts the car door. She looks in the rear view mirror and asked “How was it?” I squealed and clapped my hands excitedly. “He did such a good job reenacting the love scene of Romeo and Juliet!”

She chuckled. Once the car stopped at our house, I jumped out and ran to greet our dog Grace. She barked excitedly. I unhooked her chain, and we ran upstairs to my room. “Sweetie, I talked to your friend’s parents and they all said you can go in the woods to explore tomorrow.” My mom called from the kitchen. I smirked. We hung out everyday, and most times we played in the woods. My mother had never told me that she invited our creepy neighbor, and when I ran outside the next day, I was shocked.

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I tapped my foot, growing impatient. Jessie was still eating her toast from breakfast, while Jacob and Benny prodded ants with some sticks they found. We were waiting for my neighbor, Alec. “Can’t we just leave without him?” Benny asked. Jacob scolded him. “That’s impolite, Benny!” I shrugged. “We might as well. We’ve been waiting for the past five minutes.” As we headed into the woods, a voice stopped us. “Wait up, guys!” Alec had arrived. “Do you think we’ll spot a deer in these parts?” He asked as we continued walking.

I shook my head. “Deer don’t come out during the winter.” Jacob stopped. “Then what made this trail?” I pondered the thought. “Might have been from Fall. After all, Winter has just begun.” I finally declared. As we were walking, I noticed Jessie’s silence, but I didn’t think anything of it. She was usually quiet in school. A strong stench wafted up to my nostrils. Benny plugged his nose. “God, did a skunk spray here?” I shook my head at Jacob’s question. “Doesn’t smell like a skunk to me!” I had to yell for everyone to hear because Alec is screaming at the top of his lungs.

We plug our noses and dive deeper to see what is causing the smell. Blood is stained on the snow, and visible blades of grass are now red. “Something died.” Jessie said gravely. I rolled my eyes. We carefully stepped over the blood stains, making sure not to step in them. Benny suddenly froze and pointed, and when I looked where his finger pointed, a tree was covered in blood. The limp body of a five year old girl was leaning against the base. An ax was covered in blood above her head, stuck in the tree.

One of her arms were twisted, and a deep cut from the ax could be seen by her neck. “Someone tried to chop her head off!” Jacob yelped in disgust. I gagged. Alec had run off by now, but I’m sure nobody cared. Jessie was scowling. “Alec seems a bit suspicious if you ask me.” I raised an eyebrow. “He could have a fear of blood.” Jessie rolled her eyes. I shrugged it off.