The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

21)Near Death

"You have to be suicidal or just straight up stupid," Sophia chastised angrily. A few hours had passed since the realization that Blake Bradshaw was back. After Mr. and Mrs. Summers returned home, Alex spent the time filling them in that their favorite psychopath was back and that he had left a letter in their cubby hole. For the next few days, Sophia's parents argued regarding whether to confront the neighbors or whether to pack up and move. The same argument was had every morning and night, causing conflict in the otherwise happy marriage of the Summers. One night while Mr. Summers wished to take a mellow, mature approach to the situation. Mrs. Summers was beyond angry and didn't wish to take any approach that was anything other than loud and to the point. As they argued, Sophia took the time to confront her idiotic sister about her last conversation with Blake.

"I'm neither," Alex defended as she typed away on her laptop. She sat cross legged on the floor of her bedroom, not too concerned over Sophia's anger. "I'm just sick and tired of everyone allowing that freak to get a free pass."

"He's not getting a free pass..." But before Sophia could comment further, Alex had cut her off and was rambling. "Blake's parents? Mom and dad? The school? How much more needs to happen before someone FINALLY does something? That kid is getting a free pass!"

"Everyone's been pretty useless," Sophia agreed before frowning. "But you shouldn't have provoked him."

"My dear little sister," sighed Alex as her typing stopped. "What is he going to do? He can't exactly just walk into a busy house full of people and strangle me, can he?" She continued her typing as Sophia scowled. "So are we going to talk about the murders?"

Alex's typing stopped as she winced. They hadn't spoken about what it was that Alex had found out weeks before. "I haven't known what to say to you," she admitted.

"I haven't known what to say either," said Sophia honestly. "It feels too unreal to believe that a teenage guy is responsible for rape and murder but..." she lacked the wording to finish her thoughts.

"I understand if you don't believe me," Alex admitted, "but look." Turning her laptop around Sophia found were online articles displayed on the screen under different tabs. "Dad made me throw out all of the articles I gathered," she explained. "But they're all viewable online. The dead animals, the dead girls...It's all out of Illinois and within a decent distance from here."

"But what if dad was right and coyotes killed the animals?"

"Coyotes do occasionally bury their kills to save for later," admitted Alex as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She gave a dirty look as Sophia raised a skeptical eyebrow at her."But what the hell are the chances that dozens of small animals are all buried in the EXACT same spot and the coyotes didn't polish off their food not once?"

"What about the dead girls?" Asked Sophia as she sat down to look at her sisters laptop screen. In another tab there was an article about a young woman named Lauren Bristol. Her body was found a week after she went missing. She was brutally raped and strangled. But as she read, Sophia found that underneath the article it was showing how Lauren's boyfriend had been arrested earlier in the year on domestic violence charges.

"They arrested the boyfriend!"

"He was let out on bail," scowled Alex. As Sophia looked ready to argue, Alex already had a comeback."It's common knowledge that everyone suspects the boyfriend or the husband first, it doesn't mean he did it-"

"You're just guessing!" Accused Sophia angrily.

"Maybe I am and all of my guesses are right!"

Sophia slapped her forehead. It was becoming obvious why their parents hadn't believed Alex. She didn't have any concrete evidence that could prove Blake was a psychopath. "You've got nothing, everything you have is a guess!"