The girl was around fourteen. She sketched the drawing with a rough pencil of the scene in front of her. In the park, kids all ages were playing and the adults were watching their children getting dirty. The girl muttered to herself as she teared out the piece of paper, crumpling it into a little ball. She sighed angrily and stared down at her rain boots. The bottoms peeling off, mud staining practically the whole thing. She pushed back her frizzy hair that had tried to be tamed but alas had only frizzed ever more. She felt the sharp edges of the paper close on her skin. Her outfit was of a dirty white shirt and overalls. She leaned up against the rough bark of the tree that was beside her and closed her eyes. A small splash and a feeling of wet goo made her open her eyes. Three boys around her age stared down at her. The boy in the front moved his foot back from splashing in the pile of mud. They stared down at her and one of the boys in the back smirked.  

“Oh sorry.” The boy in the front snickered, “Didn’t see you there.”

The girl felt her lower lip quiver as the boys laughed at her. She pushed herself to her feet and wiped the mud from her face and arms. She grabbed her sketchbook and turned to leave. One of the boys pushed her and she fell. Her huge thick glasses crashing and breaking. Only more laughter followed. She scrambled up and ran quickly away from the boys that were bullying her, leaving her sketchbook behind.

She raced down the sidewalk and stopped in front of her home. The car that was supposed to be parked in the front was nowhere to be seen. She stepped inside and glanced at the sky to see the sun setting. She walked inside and to her room. She grabbed pajamas and went to the bathroom. She turned on the warm water and allowed herself to relax. She washed the grime and specks of dried mud off her body and left the shower. Her wet feet slapped against the bathroom tile as she went to grab her towel. She dried herself and as she was pulling on her pajamas she heard a soft thudding of footsteps outside the door.

“I guess mom’s home . . .” The girl paused, “Well, she’s early.” She shrugged and finished getting changed. 

She left the bathroom and went back to her room. She threw down her clothes into the hamper and flopped on her bed. It was dark out now and the girl was tired. She took off her glasses and fumbled for the light. A small light still came from outside as the girl curled up into a ball. Images of the boys laughing at her filled her head and she tried not to cry. Bullying. She hated it. A blurry figure in front of her got her mind off of it. What was that? She felt around and turned on the light. Nothing was there. A simple trick of the light. She turned the light off again. The figure still stood there. She blinked and the figure seemed to move closer, and closer. She flicked on the light. She felt terrified. She decided to sleep with the lights on. She closed her eyes. The light flickered. She opened her eyes. She glanced at the switch. It didn’t move. The light turned off. The electricity had failed. A scared feeling filled her as she saw the figure again. Moving closer and closer. She was about to scream when the creature was close to her and she could hear it breathing but a thin hand clamped over her mouth. The creature was close and she was able to actually see what it looked like. A skeleton stood in front of her. It’s eyes were hollow but were still oozing a black goo. The skeleton smiled revealed stained black sharp teeth. The skeleton’s long lower body was curled around the room. The girl screamed.

The woman stepped out of the car and back into the house. 

“Honey! I’m home!” She called out.

No reply.

“Is she asleep?” The woman wondered out loud. 

The woman headed to her daughter’s room. She silently opened the door. The light was off. She flicked it on. The mother gasped in horror. In front of her lay the skeleton of her daughter. The skin was hanged on the wall and in the daughter’s blood the words,

‘I put her out of her misery’ 

were next to it. 

 The mother sobbed as she went to the skeleton of her now dead daughter. What she didn’t know was that the creature was watching her. Planning to put her out of her misery next.

The next day the mother was killed by the creature. Their neighbors found them and instantly called the police. They searched everything but could find nothing other than some black goo on the floors and wall and their skeletons and skins. A little boy that was always hated by his family suddenly yelled out something when he was with his two older sisters. 

“Monster! Monster! It was a monster that killed Lucy!” The little boy cried out to his sisters about the girl that had been killed. 

“Monsters aren’t real stupid.” The oldest sister told him and slapped him hard in the face for suggesting such a thing. 

What they didn’t know was that this little boy had seen the monster through his window. As it crept out his neighbor’s window, chewing on something that resembled a heart. The monster caught his gaze and stared at him with those hollow eyes. The boy screamed and the monster vanished. The little boy was punished for screaming in the dead of night. 

On the next Monday the little boy was walking to school. The bus passed him with his sister’s aboard. His sister’s were given the chance to get on the bus well their parents didn’t bother with him. He went through the sludge of leftover rainwater. He could see the school when the school bell rang. He ran as fast as he could so he could get through the door. He raced to his classroom and went to his desk.

“You’re late.” The teacher smacked a pointer stick against her desk.

“Yes. I’m sorry miss.”

“Next time you’ll get detention.” The teacher finally turned away from the boy, “Now . . . where was I? Oh, right. Now if you have this here-”

The boy went through his front door. His sister’s were at their friend’s houses and his parents were at work. He went to his room without another word. He took his backpack off and threw it on the floor. He flopped on his bed and sobbed. He hated his life. The lights suddenly flickered. He opened his eyes. The light switch wasn’t moving. What was happening? The lights suddenly turned off. The power had failed. Just like Lucy. The boy moved his legs to be hanging from the side of the bed. He felt a cold mud like goo on his hand as he placed it down. His face scrunched up in disgust as he lifted his hand and looked at it. It was a sort of black goo. He flung his hand around so that the goo came off his hand. He felt a chilling cold on his ankles. It felt as though someone was holding onto them. He looked down. In the little light that there was he saw bony hands hanging onto his ankles.

“HELP!” He yelled but no one heard him since no one was home. 

The bony hands yanked on his ankles and he was pulled down. He screamed one last time before he was gone. 

The boy was soon in the news. 

‘Five year old boy William Lickerson was found dead in his bedroom at 6:03 pm.’ 

His parents were devastated. Their only boy that they seemed to hate but secretly liked was gone. Soon enough kids all around the neighborhood seemed to disappear. There were two things that always were there though. Their skeletons and in their blood the words,

‘I put them out of their misery’ were written.