Bloody Skeleton Series #1 The Monster in the neighborhood

14-T-0

Ned hadn't been this excited since he got the PlayStation 5 months ago. Through out the night he woke up to pace his room and imagine how awesome it was going to be; catching a criminal.

During dinner, he'd even asked his mom if that was something somebody could write in their letter for college.

'Everything is something you can write when applying for college, Ned,' she'd answered over a plate of mashed potatoes. 'It just depends on how well you can write it. Why are you asking? Thinking of doing some sleuthing?' He knew the last part was a joke, but still he'd looked back at his plate and smiled.

'Maybe.'

The plan was easy.

When Mikey's Dad and his friends were all gathered at Jerry's house, doing the rebuilding thing to his garage, they'd be there to help. If they didn't get a good look of the inside, Jake would have to go to the toilet, after a while, and make a video so they could have an idea what the inside of the house looked like.

The weekend came around very slowly. Ned spent most of it in his house reading detective books and watching crime documentaries.

The documentaries were very frightening, but they also taught him some of the thinking processes of somebody like Jerry.

By the time Saturday finally came around, Ned had an idea of how serial killers thought.

Sometimes there didn't even need to be motives to do it. Sometimes it was just an urge, something like an itch in the butt that you couldn't really ignore and had to scratch even if it was indecent.

Maybe that was what the missing pets had meant to Jerry, maybe that was what Old Man Jones meant to him. An itch.

Ned thought about the jars of red lumps in Jerry's basement. He thought about sugar down there, afraid and scared and opened up like a torn teddy. Jerry was going to have to pay. You couldn't do terrible things like that and not pay. They'd get evidence, show it to Harry's dad, and that'd be the end of it.

Jail time for Jerry.

Retribution for Old Man Jones, Sugar, and all the pets that had gone missing because of Jerry.

In his backpack, Ned stuffed a flashlight, a camcorder, and a ton of dirty shirts to hide it all. Just in case.

'Mom, I'm going out!' He ran out the door before his mom could even tell him to take care.

Jake was... excited? No, that wasn't it.

...scared? Nah, that wasn't it either.

He wasn't completely either of them, but a weird combination of both. In the bathroom mirror with his wet hair and ashen face, he couldn't decide whether to skip to Mikey's house or hide under his blanket.

Still, the fact remained that there was a real criminal on the loose, in the town, on their street, and they were the only ones that could prove it. Jake wouldn't stay at home and allow Mikey and the others to face somebody like that without him. Who knows what could happen?

If anything happened to his friends because he wasn't there to help, what would he do?

'Jake!' Nathan hammered on the bathroom door, jolting Jake and Making the comb he'd been holding to clatter on the ground. 'You better come out of there!'

Jake splashed water on his face. Yup, he definitely could not go under his blanket now.

It was Saturday and Harry didn't know what to do. It felt like he was in a dream and there was no way to wake up.

Which was a funny coincidence because he'd been having the worst dreams for days now. Sugar was there every time he closed his eyes, on that cramped table stained with dried grime, mewling for help.