[I. The Katie Saga] First Blood

Katie was what she referred to herself as a normal girl. She wasn’t particularly popular or unpopular. She wasn’t a good girl or a bad girl. In other words, she was pretty average in many ways.

Tonight, she had taken a job babysitting some girl named Roxanne on the other side of town. She instantly knew this part of Hazelville. It was the rich person’s playground. Giant mansions with acres of space spread out for miles around. But it didn’t bother her too much. Roxanne’s father had already told her where to find the key, inside a coded lockbox alongside the enormous wrought iron front gate.

“Looks like Mr. Burn’s mansion from the Simpsons,” Katie muttered to herself.

She typed in the code, and two small brass keys unveiled themselves. The larger of the two unlocked the front gate, which opened with a creak. Venturing up the little hill to the front doors, she peered at the stained glass. Rich pink with black vines.

Katie unlocked the front door and stepped into the entrance hall. Immediately, an enormous staircase greeted her, with two rooms flanking off to the sides. Silence. Nobody to greet her but a pleasant smell of citrus drifting through the air.

She put her thoughts to the back of her mind and smoothed down her shirt. She was wearing a stylish black hat, a dark grey zip-up coat, an off-white shirt, black skinny jeans, and brown sneakers.

“Roxanne! It’s Katie, your babysitter.”

No reply.

But Roxanne was already watching her.