Whooooosh, whoooooosh, whooosh. The wind’s howling. I can’t sleep. I quickly turned to look at my clock; it’s 3:00 AM. I glance at my window and sense a strange presence outside. I assume it’s just the Willow Tree outside my window. At least I hope that’s all it is. I decide to go look around, after all… I do enjoy a good mystery. I’ve never actually solved a mystery myself, just in the T.V. shows. That must be why I’m so shaky. I look down at my hands and thought they were going to fall off.
“Eeeeeek,” gosh I’m never going to be quiet with these floors. I grabbed my dog’s leash and quickly hooked up my dog. He was tired, but he too seemed as if he felt a presence. His ears perked up and started to howl.
“Shhh!” I scolded.
His name’s Bech. My mom named him. That was always her favorite boy name, but due to the fact she never had a boy, we named our dog Bech. He’s a boxer. I remember when we got him seven and a half years ago. He ran up to me and licked my face. That’s when we knew that he was the dog for us. He wears a blue, faded collar.
“Crash!”
Something toppled over outside. My knees are locked. I’m afraid that if Bech runs I’m going to shatter. I finally summed up the courage to take a step...few, I made it. I took a couple steps and stubbed my toe. Some Sherlock I am.
Bech suddenly dashes across the wood floor and smashes right through the screen door. I start running after him when I remember to grab a flashlight.



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Thunder strikes no more than a mile away. I look to my left and see Bech. I ran over to him, but he ran in the other direction. This went on like that for a while when I finally got a hold of his leash.
“Oh great, the leash is all muddy. Bad dog!” I scolded again.
We walked back and crept around the side of the house. I looked over my shoulder and saw nothing. I took another step and another. I never thought I’d be this scared in my life. After all, I am only 13.
I look at my watch. It’s 3:52. I decide to take a short break and gave Bech one of the few treats I grabbed when I was looking for a flashlight. I’ve come to a conclusion that my house is not safe...I have to go somewhere else.
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I decided to head a couple blocks down at the park. I don't care that I didn't run to Brazil; I just needed to get out of there. I might as well enjoy myself while I'm here. I decided to play fetch. Bech is getting old now so he's not that fast, but he still enjoys it...and he needs the exercise. Eventually I got tired, around 4:15 so I made a bed of grass above ground on the top of the slide tower. There is a roof in case it rains, that's why I chose that spot.
I lay awake in my makeshift bed. I've been trying to sleep for a couple hours, but I can't get my mind off the rest of my family (my mom, dad, and little devil sister). Even though I hate her I still feel bad that I left her behind. I'm just hoping that whatever's at my house, isn't going to hurt my family. I suddenly felt a lump in my stomach...I think I'm a little homesick.



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I look at my watch when I suddenly remember that I have a soccer game in an hour. My mom must be worried sick about me and wondering where I am. Dang it! How can I forget dog food? Well, I guess I didn't plan on staying the night here. Speaking of Bech...where is he? He must've wandered home during the night! I looked around anyways. I couldn’t find him anywhere so that’s my conclusion.
I think I have to go home. I can't imagine that it was anything but my stupid Willow Tree. All of a sudden all these crazy thoughts popped into my head like, 'what if I went home and nobody was home...maybe they all got killed or taken away?' I have to go home to make sure my family's safe. For my own sake too, so I can't stop worrying about them.
Nothing's amiss when I look at the outside of my cape cod house. My mom came running through the door and hugged me.
She said, "Bech was pawing at the door at 4:23 in the morning. I noticed you were gone. Me, your dad, and your sister were worrying like crazy about you. What happened, where did you go?"
I told her all about my trip, about why I left, and about what I think the strange presence was. She just started crying and said, "at least tell me next time when you're spending the night at the park." A little laugh made its' way out. "Come on, you have a soccer game in 30 minutes."