Two weeks passed, and it happened again. Matt tripped on the bump that formed under the rug. He stumbled to his feet as he moved towards the window. When he reached the window, he stood staring into the dark void of his neighbor’s backyard. What is wrong with these people? He saw the headlights of what seemed to be a lawn mower passing back and forth between their backyard and the tree line. Even though the long distance made it hard to see, he could tell that Paul, their strange son, drove the lawn mower.

Two weeks earlier, Matt saw the same thing from the back window of his new home. He and his wife just moved into the neighborhood, and he had not met the family that lived across the lake yet. He automatically assumed that they were odd people given that they mowed their lawn at 10 o’clock at night.

On this particular night, however, something made Matt a little uneasy. Matt took his dog, Brutus, outside, and as soon as Brutus saw the man on the other side of the lake, he took off like a fighter jet. Why don’t we have a fence? thought Matt. He began chasing after the unruly dog. As he got closer and closer to the house of the strange neighbors, he noticed that the noise that he heard was not coming from a lawnmower but from a tractor. I wonder what he could be doing with a tractor. He saw a trailer attached to the back of the tractor that contained something mysterious and odd smelling covered by a cloth.

Matt finally caught the speedy dog. When he re-entered the house, he mentioned the peculiar sight to his wife.

“Hey, I saw something really odd out there. That creepy son of theirs was driving a tractor with some interesting looking stuff in the back. It smelled disgusting too. Almost like… dead bodies.”

“Hmmm, that’s weird,” mumbled Lisa as she drifted off to sleep.

“Sometimes I really wonder what’s going on over there.”

Two weeks passed, and it happened again. Stupid rug. This time, as he peered out of the back window he saw no activity. He had not seen anybody at the house since two weeks ago. Even his wife, who worked out of their home, had not seen any signs of life for the past two weeks.

“I really think that there is something wrong going on over there,” said Matt, realizing that Lisa was now at his side.

“Why don’t you go ever there and check on them.”

“I know, but I’m worried. What if there really is something terrible going on over there?”

“Well maybe we should call the cops then,” suggested Lisa.

“No, I’ll go over there. I’m taking a gun though.

Matt walked into the closet and pulled out his pistol and stuffed down into the back of his pants. As he walked out of the door, he gave Lisa a soft kiss on the forehead. Just in case. While Matt was walking over to the neighbor’s house, his brain waged civil war on itself. One side said, Just go do it, everything is probably fine anyway; while the other side screamed, Turn around right now! Everything is not OK! They signed a treaty by the time he reached the front door.

DING! The doorbell rang. Matt stood at the door waiting for a minute until he tried again. DING! Again nobody decided to show their face, and started getting angry. DING DING DING... DING DING DING! Only a white door appeared in front of him. He decided that there was no hope. He could tell that the house sat empty for a long time by the overgrown plants in the front of the house, and by the spider webs that littered the front door. He wiggled the door knob. Locked. Gathering bravery with every passing second, Matt decided to investigate a little bit. He strolled around to the back of the house and tried the back door; it was also locked. Well at least I tried thought Matt. He began making the journey back to his house when he looked to the left and stopped. I wonder what’s in the woods. He wandered over to the tree line, and before entering, he took a quick survey of his surroundings. There was no person in sight. Matt traversed through the forest for a short time.

Two minutes passed, and it happened again. THUD! Matt crashed to the ground, but this definitely was not a rug. As Matt looked back towards the culprit, his jaw dropped. He crawled backwards in fear. Out of the ground poked a foot. The thing that came next compounded that fear by a huge amount. A hand grasped Matt’s shoulder. The jolt that Matt got was enough to send him to his feet.

“What are you doing here?” questioned the man.

Matt turned around to see Paul. The trench coat that he wore masked the blood stains that covered his white shirt.

“Did you do this?” shouted Matt.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business. This is my property anyway.” Paul growled like a savage beast.

The next couple of seconds were the slowest that Matt ever experienced. Paul reached for something in his pocket, but it all seemed so slow, almost as if time was suspended. Matt’s own reactions seemed ten times faster. As soon as Paul’s hand reached the back of his jeans, Matt was already driving his shoulder straight into Paul’s stomach. He tackled Paul, and wrestled him to the ground, and started throwing punches like Muhammad Ali. Paul fell into unconsciousness quickly; Athleticism and stamina were not strengths of Paul.

The police arrived fifteen minutes later. They found Paul passed out in the woods with a gun in his hand. They also found out that Paul murdered everyone in his family and buried them in the woods behind the house. It all happened on the night that Matt saw the tractor passing to and from the trees, sweeping all of the evidence under the rug.