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    The crisp, clean fall air had just begun to 

settle in for the season.   My family had 

recently moved to Lancaster, a town that was 

supposed to be full of quaint charm and 

character, but we had yet to see where that 

reputation had come from.   Driving up to my 

house the first time I pulled in, I wondered 

how the previous owners ever saw the sun.  

The long driveway led to a house that looked 

like it was out of a turn-of-the century book, 

with peaks that stretched higher than I could 

see, attics that creaked and groaned with the 

howling night wind, and windows that looked 

too dark to even stare into.   The canopy of 

trees with limbs reaching their fingers to the 

road was eerie.   Even with all the fall colors, 

the view was too dark and creepy to be 

considered beautiful.

    My one and only friend I had made since the beginning 

of the year decided to come over one day after school.  

We were planning our Halloween costumes and were 

working up something really scary.   “Sam, no blood and 

gore this year,” Mom insisted, but I ignored her and 

Jack and I were coming up with a combination 

Frankenstein/Dracula costume that was to die for.   Max, 

my four-year old German Shepherd was begging to go 

out and personally, I was getting annoyed with all his 

whining.

    “Max, get out of here!” I yelled as I opened the back 

door that led into our yard.   I think the dark, damp air in 

this ancient home was getting to him as well.  

Jack and I lost ourselves in our creative mess until we heard my mom walk in 

from work.   “Sam, where’s Max?” she shouted as she placed her briefcase in the 

usual spot.

    “Darn, I forgot to let him in,” I whispered to Jack, rushing to the back door.   It 

was only then that I realized Max had been out for five hours and I hadn’t heard 

him whimpering to get back in.  

    I called and called and Max was nowhere to be found.   Jack helped me look, 

but after hours of searching, we didn’t know what to do. The north wind was 

picking up and I pulled my hooded sweatshirt close to myself against the 

dropping temperatures.   It was then that I noticed Jack hadn’t commented in a 

while.

“Jack, what’s going on?”   I tried to dig deeper.

“Well, I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but there was a rumor about two years 

ago about your neighbor.”   The rain began to fall and thunder clapped in the 

distance.

“Spill it,” I pried.

“I’m sure it’s not true, but the rumor was that Mr. McGigg that lives across the 

road from you….well, people thought he was a mad scientist.   It seemed like 

animals were suspiciously disappearing from people’s yards, never to be seen 

again.”

That was all I needed to hear.   “Jack, we need to go there!” I 

exclaimed.

We sprinted down the winding path, past gnarled trees that swayed in 

the gusty winds, and finally to the ramshackle home of McGigg’s.   His 

front porch was pried up with an old tree trunk just to keep the front 

door from falling off of its hinges.   Beginning to question whether we 

would even find Max alive or not, we crept along to a side window.

After seeing nothing but darkness inside, not even a lamp lit in the 

stormy evening glow, we slowly pushed a window up.   As I glanced 

down, I saw something catch the beam off my flashlight.   Looking 

closer, it dawned on me that I was holding Max’s blue-studded collar.  

Ignoring the creak of the window and the paint chips falling like snow, 

I climbed inside, Jack following behind me.   “Bang”, the window fell 

just as we hit the floor, hard.

     Following the light of my flashlight, we snuck to an 

open area.   We assumed it was the living room, but a 

normal living room it was not.   Kennels were stacked 

upon kennels, all empty and surrounded by tables with 

odd-looking instruments around them.   We didn’t know 

what we were doing or what we were looking for, but we 

were certain Max was being kept somewhere close by.  

“Crack,” the thunder sounded, just as my flashlight went 

dead. 

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