The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

14)Dead Animals

"Animals" by Maroon 5
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"And someone walked away from the camera after they unscrewed it?" said Mr. Summers with a raised brow.

Sophia and her elder sister did not allow their parents to scold them for buying and setting up a camera. They instead provided proof that someone had purposely dislodged their camera they had set up hours before. The only problem now was that their father was still skeptical. "Have you checked to make sure none of the kids in our house did it?"

"I asked everyone in the house. Not to mention, everyone older besides Alex and I weren't home," said Sophia.

Mrs. Summers watched her daughter incredulously. "You ditched school in order to spy on the neighbors??"

"Neighbor," said Alex at once, nodding. "Mostly just the creepy son, no one else."

"Well that makes me feel so much better," said Mrs. Summer with a snort.

Alex raised a brow. "I sense sarcasm."

Sophia groaned as she pointed at the laptop providing evidence. "LOOK! You can see a shadow walking away! It's grainy but it's there. No one in our house disabled the camera, it could have only been Blake!"

"OR, it could have been Mr. or Mrs. Bradshaw dislodging it courtesy of your invasion of privacy," Mr. Summers grumbled. "Do you two realize you could have gotten in trouble with the homeowners association for such a thing?? We were barely able to put up the trampoline with how many neighborhood rules there are! You should just be thankful the police weren't called!"

"So that's it!?" Sophia yelled back. "Once again that little weirdo is going to get away with something??"

"Who exactly would you like me to call for this, young lady?" Mr. Summers snapped. "Should I call the police? The neighborhood watch? Then what? Should I inform them that when my daughters were spying on the neighbors someone disabled their camera??"

"You could try that," said Alex thoughtfully before shrugging.

Mr. Summers groaned. "Look, I believe you guys think something strange has been happening," he said with a frown. "Unfortunately I can't go off and hit the little brat just because he's sketchy and we don't like him." Sophia shot her father a surprised look. She never knew her father felt that way. He never said such a violent phrasing.
"Yes," he nodded, "your mother and I dislike him. That kid has these beady little dead eyes and he never waves hello," he scowled as if those traits of Blake were enough to show he was strange. "My point is that until we have proof that boy has done something wrong, we can't do anything about it. If we call the police without having solid proof that Blake did something, we'll look like the crazy ones."

"So it's just a big waiting game until the creep does something new," Sophia scowled.

***

Sophia was accurate with her statement. It all was one large waiting game until Blake Bradshaw tried something else. Contrary to what her parents said, Sophia was unsatisfied that they were now keeping an eye on things. That did nothing to halt her fears. If she was correct, not only had Blake been spying on her with a camera, he had also gotten into the house one night to prowl through the attic.

A week passed by with nothing occurring. While Mr. and Mrs. Summers seemed to be slipping into a sense of ease and forgetfulness regarding the creepy boy next door, Sophia was always on alert. She knew Blake was going to do something again; it all just came down as to when that was.

The month of October slowly crept in. The days were unusually warm and sunny. It was taking her younger siblings outside to play that something strange was noticed almost immediately. "Sophie, Sophie, look! A dead bird," Georgia said, pointing at a large, black crow dead on the trampoline.

Sophia cringed as she went to pull the younger kids away. "We'll go tell dad, get away from it." But something strange caught Sophia's eye in looking at the bird. There was a decent, marble sized hole in the center of the large bird's torso. It looked like a BB-gun hole or somethings similar.

"Hey, Sophia, there's another animal over here," Nathan called.

Going over to inspect the other animal across the yard, Sophia placed the toddler sister she was holding on her hip. This time, there was a dead rabbit next to the tree. The animal was gruesome enough that Sophia and her newly arrived mother motioned for the kids to go inside. The rabbit's head had been twisted all the way around it's neck like it had been purposely decapitated.

"Maybe the crow killed the rabbit before it died," said Mrs. Summers, wincing as she walked away.

As Sophia and her brother waited for their father to arrive to help bury the dead animals, something strange was noticed. There was not a drop of blood anywhere near the decapitated rabbit. Even though she was by no means in expert in biology or dead bodies in general, Sophia couldn't help but feel a decapitated rabbit would have left even the tiniest trace of blood had it been killed in the area where the body was. As the sound of Mrs. Bradshaw ordering her sons outside for some yard work, Sophia looked over to see Blake was watching her as he walked to his garage. The boy looked jubilant. A mischievous glint was in Blake's eyes as he sent Sophia and her brother a small wave and even a smile.
The last time Sophia had seen Blake look so happy was the first time she babysat him. It was after she had heard the loud thump and the hissing cat going silent. Blake had looked extremely happy while blood spots were on his pants. Standing and watching the decapitated rabbit, Sophia gave genuine life to the idea that Blake killed a stray cat that day. She now suspected that his happiness today was due to the fact that the other two dead animals in her yard was his handiwork.
The thought made her shiver.