I stood there, stiff. Alec pulls the plastic knife out of his pocket, but I hadn’t noticed him pick it up earlier. The snow crunched as Jacob sprinted away. Jessie tugged at my arm as I realized the knife was real. Jessie continued pulling me towards Jacob, dodging low branches as we went. Alec wasn’t very far behind, but it didn’t look like he’d catch up. “Don’t stop now!” Jessie screamed at Jacob. I looked back and Alec was nowhere to be seen. That’s when I jolted to a stop. Jessie was holding my hand, so she collapsed and fell on her back. Jacob noticed this and stopped too.

“Alec isn’t following us. There is no need to run now.” Jessie stared at me. “He’s a murderer, what do you mean!?” Jacob nodded in agreement. “He most likely killed that little girl.” Jacob says, practically screaming at me. I realized the bodies were found after he moved in. I said, “If we go home now, he’ll be waiting for us. First, we must come up with a plan.” Jessie glanced at Jacob, and they nodded in sync. Before any of us could say a word, we smelled the same stench that we had smelled the day before. Jessie walked towards a small puddle, which wasn’t a rain puddle.

It was blood red. A little boy was lying face down on the grass. Blood was stained on his clothes, and the knife Alec had earlier was stabbed through his head. Jacob looked away as he pulled the knife out. He then stabbed it into a tree and rolled the boy over. “B-B-Benny?” Tears stung in my eyes. Benny had been dragged out here and stabbed in the head. That explained why he was missing. None of us had our phones, so we couldn’t call 911. We also didn’t want to leave the body or split up, for Alec could be out there.

“I can’t handle this anymore. Those flies swarming him is utterly disgusting.” Jessie muttered. I looked around. “I will go. My house is closer, and I’m faster than both of you combined.” Jessie worriedly glanced up and looked me in the eye. “Be careful.” I hugged them both tightly and ran. The trees all looked the same, but I knew where I was going. I’d been in the woods multiple times, and Alec had only been once. He couldn’t know where I was based on his knowledge. I could hear the cars from my neighborhood now. My house appeared, and I ran inside. “Mom!” I screamed. She was sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich. “What’s the matter?” Then, I explained everything.