I remember I was 7 when my parents were killed in the car wreck

I went to live with my grandmother who lived in Oregon

near the woods.

She was old

Real old

But she was nice

She had these noisy canaries

As pretty as they were I felt like they could read my thoughts

I would go up stairs and look out the cracked window in the attic

Sometimes I would lose myself looking out to those woods



When I was 11 I met a boy named Jay

He was so confident

And he really liked cats

He could draw really well for a 12 year old

Thus bringing up my silent admiration for him

“Animals are a beautiful thing” he would whisper

We spent days together in the woods

The woods felt like home more than grandma’s noisy house



A new kid moved in

He was really sweet and had the lightest hair I ever thought a kid could have

I was 13 by then

He was 12

And his name was Konner

He lived in a small house

And his parents were always fighting

So he got out to be with us a lot of the time

And Sometimes his little brother

Who was 10 years old and had hair as light as his

Would come too

He never said anything



One day everyone was lying down

It was going to rain

And clouds began to pull in

Konners little brother wasn’t with us at the time

But fairly soon we knew why

“AH!”

Jay was the first to move

We ran towards the yell

And we found Konners brother huddled over something

It was a cat

His name was “Clouds”

He was cut open and his guts spilled out.

Jay began to cry.



We had no idea who had done this

But Jay was more quiet ever since.

Konners little brother seemed paranoid

And I couldn’t blame him.

Grandmothers canaries were acting more antsy than usual lately

And they would stare at anyone in the room accusingly

Like they were afraid



The deaths of small animals became more frequent

Another one of Jay’s cats named “lucy”

Was found with one of our canaries nailed through it’s chest with a railroad spike to Jay’s shed

My Grandma started locking the doors in our house after that

A rabbit with all of it’s legs twisted backwards was laying on our front porch one morning

Grandmother almost had a heartattack

I didn’t want to trouble Jay or Konner

So I told neither of them about this



Jay wasn’t as happy as he used to be

He had a wild look about him now

Konner was quieter

I think other kids were afraid too

Out of all of them

I think Jay and I were the most afraid

After a few months the killings lessened

The town eased up a bit

We went a summer and a fall without any death

And Jay and I regained hope again



I was 15 now

It was 2 months after my birthday when the killings started again

Only this time it was bigger than I had ever expected

Jay’s last cat

“Boxers” was found

Along with two of my canaries

5 rabbits

And

Konners little brother

All dead

They’re tongues cut out and they’re eyes yanked from their heads

They’re throats were nailed to the ground

Konner never talked again after that

And Jay and I mourned together through the pain

The whole town was scared out of our wits



Everyone in our little town began to act like my few remaining canaries

Shifty eyed

Accusing

And more importantly

Terrified

Families that could started to move away

Leaving the rest of us even more afraid of being alone at night

Children didn’t play outside anymore

Everyone stayed in whenever they could

But Still

Me And Jay continued to enter the woods

Konner came sometimes too

We never said anything

But I guess that we just weren’t afraid anymore

It’s a funny thing



A few more children meet a fate similar to that of Konners brother

One had his lower jaw ripped out from his skull

And a screw driver shoved through the top of his head

Another was found with all of her blood drained from her body

And a painting on the house next her body with the blood

It was a painting of a canary



The only thing that kept me going was the hope that maybe this would stop

But it never did

Until one day when Jay stayed inside of his house

Painting pictures of cats

His old cats

I went into the woods alone

I went further than I ever had before

Until I found an old shed that I hadn’t known was there before

I could see a light flickering in it’s window

I opened the door and saw Konner

Naked and covered in blood

He held a saw and the lower half of a rabbits torso in his hand

And the other half was on the floor

I saw other animals in cages cringing in fear in the little room

He moved towards me with the saw

Still not saying a word

In my haste to get out I pickup a lamp and threw it at him

The oil covered his skin and he began to ignite

He started screaming and running

It was a dry summer

And he caught the shed on fire

I didn’t see him die

I left

I ran for town

But as I ran

I could still hear him

Screaming

But his screaming became laughing

And then it was silent

I suppose that maybe

This is what he had wanted all along