“Ok,” Lance whispered, “this is the plan. We gotta go into the backyard. The weed’s probably behind a shed or something big that no one can see. Try to get all of it and then we’ll meet back at the house.” He nodded his head at the other three people in front of him. The four teens stood outside behind a tree, slightly shivering in the October breeze. The one furthest away, Valerie, only snorted at the idea. “What are you laughing at? You’re in this too.”



Valerie raised an eyebrow, still shivering in her short miniskirt. “You’re kidding me. The guy who lives in that house went to a psych ward for a decade. He killed four kids in this neighborhood, not to mention the fact that he mutilated them with a chainsaw.



“Oh come on,” Lance retorted. “Everyone knows he’s a crazy guy. But seriously, he can’t do anything in a wheelchair. Are you seriously passing good weed, not to mention its free?”



“Lance,” the other girl, Melanie said, “Val’s probably right. I mean, he might be in a wheelchair but we don’t really know what’s going on in his backyard. And he did kill four kids.”



“Are you two crazy?” Lance yelled. Chase, the other guy next to Lance, shushed him. “Listen, if you two want to be babies then fine, we can get it without you.”



Valerie and Melanie watched the two boys walk towards the house, jump over the tall fence and disappear into the dark. “It’s getting cold,” Melanie said. She looked over at Valerie and saw her worried face. “Don’t worry about them, they’ve done stupider things. Just watch them get poison ivy instead. I wonder what happens when you smoke poison ivy. Do you, like, itch from the inside out?” Melanie waved a hand over Valerie’s face. “Hello? Are you there?”



Valerie stared at the third floor window of the house. For a second, there was a flicker of light coming out from the house and onto the street. “Oh sorry,” She looked back at Melanie. “We should go after them. I mean, just so they won’t do anything stupid.”



“Uh, ok, so we could get skinned like the creep did to those other kids?” Melanie whispered.



“Come on, I have mace if it makes you feel better. I don’t think you can spin around in a wheelchair if you can’t see.” Both girls quietly crept to the house and climbed over the fence. They felt their way around in the darkness, lit only by Melanie’s cell phone.



“Do you hear them?” Melanie whispered.

Valerie shook her head. “Lance said something about a shed or something big with a plot of land behind it. What would a 70-year-old want to grow weed for. I mean, he’s been busted before, why would he want to risk it again?”

“Haven’t you heard?” Melanie whispered back, “danger is very addicting.” Both girls giggled as they continued to walk. Then as Valerie took a step, she tripped over something hard and heavy.

“S***! Ow!” She cried out. Melanie helped her back up. “Ow, what was that?” She ran a hand up her bare leg; something warm and wet flowed down. “Great, I’m bleeding.”

Melanie looked around. “I think I heard something.”

“It’s probably the guys trying to scare us. Come on, let’s get out of here. I think I can walk.” Melanie led Valerie back to the way they came from until she gasped. “What’s wrong?”

Valerie shook her head, “Were going the wrong way.”

“No, I’m pretty sure were going the right way. Look, you see the fence we climbed over. There’s the little shed—” Melanie paused. They both looked at tiny shed with a dim light glowing from the tiny window. They made out two dark shapes moving about, one limping and the other seemed to be sitting but rolling slightly around the room. “That’s not Chase and Lance. Do they know there’s someone here?”

Valerie slowly limped over towards the shed until her face was a few inches away from the window. Inside were two hunched men, one in a wheelchair and the other standing. Valerie leaned in closer but stepped on a branch. It cracked and the two faces looked up. Valerie fell backwards. The man standing up walked over to the window and looked around, the glass fogging up as he breathed in and out. Valerie laid still and quiet, only motioning to Melanie to get down.



“What did you see?” Melanie asked.



“Shh. We have to get out of here, now.” She whispered. Valerie looked up again. When she saw that the man was gone, she motioned to Melanie to get up and run over to the other side of the yard. They began to creep out of the yard but the door on the other side burst open and the two men appeared in the doorway, grabbing a hold of Melanie and Valerie and dragging them into the little shed. Both girls fought hard but the man in the wheelchair took a baseball bat from his side and hit Melanie hard in the head. She rolled over on her side, unconscious. Valerie screamed and kicked at the man who was holding on tightly to her. She managed to kick the man in the wheelchair and it toppled over, sending him sprawling on the floor. The man holding onto Valerie let go and ran over to help the other man up onto his wheelchair.



"You idiot! Get her!" the man on the floor yelled at the other.

Valerie ran out of the door and stumbled into darkness. She kept running, tripping over weeds and other hard objects. Finally, in the dim street light, Valerie saw the fence where they came in. As she began to climb over it a hand grabbed her leg. "Oh my God! Get off of me!"



"Valerie, please," a voice whispered. Valerie stopped struggling as she recognized the voice.



“Chase?” She whispered, “Oh my God, what happened?” Chase let go of her leg and Valerie jumped down next to him. Chase lay on the ground, bleeding from his chest and breathing hard.



“They have Lance, I think he’s dead.” Chase replied through quick breaths. “Where’s Mel?”



“What do mean you think he’s dead?” Valerie nearly screamed at him.



“You don’t understand,” Chase tried to get up but fell back down, “this guy is psycho. He saw me and Lance. They grabbed us but I punched the dude in the wheelchair. He had a chainsaw with him and got me in the chest but Lance, I don’t know. I just saw him get knocked out and dragged into the house.” Chase breathed harder as Valerie clutched his head in her arms. “You have to find Mel and get out of here.”



“Can you get up?” Valerie tried to help him up.



“No, don’t worry about me. Just get Mel and get out of here. Call the police.”



“I’m not leaving you.”



“Please Val, go.” Chase took another deep breath as blood gushed out of his chest. Valerie got up and began to run, looking back once more.



“I’m coming back for you and Lance.” Valerie said to Chase, but he only closed his eyes in response. She began to run back towards the shed but as she got closer the man in the wheelchair appeared in front of her.



“Hello dear.” The light shining from the doorway shone upon the man’s round glasses and crooked teeth. His hands were crimson colored and cracked in several places. He rolled closer to her and stopped when he was a few feet away from her.



“What did you do to my friends?” She asked through quick breaths.



“What are you doing on my property?” He asked her.



“Where are they?” Valerie clenched her fists and began breathing harder.

The man just smiled. “Do you want to know how I ended up in a wheelchair?” Valerie didn’t answer. The man continued. “Well, I was walking home from school one day and decided to take a shortcut in an alley. I didn’t know some kids were drinking and smoking earlier. I also didn’t know how trashy their lives were. They get beat up by their parents at home, they need to let the pain out on someone else. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. They beat me, took a baseball bat to my skull and legs. Both were pretty damn powerful. Enough to get me paralyzed. I hated kids since then. I knew they can do stupid things to stupid people. I’ll admit I was stupid to take the shortcut that day.”

Valerie’s breath slowed down as she saw the man pick up a chainsaw from the ground next to him. “Do you know what happens when kids trespass onto my property? Kids like you?” He started the machine and it burst to life. Valerie screamed and tried to run. She felt a piercing pain on her backside and the chainsaw made a deep cut into the skin. “I want to teach you kids a lesson,” he screamed over the machine, “I want all you kids to know that pain is only in your head!” And with that said he lifted the chainsaw over his head and brought it down towards Valerie, whose screams were muffled by the growling machine.