“No way!” Joey cried out. Mike and Joey had been whispering to each other for a while till that outburst. Carl, who was sitting next to them, immediately leaned in, “What?”. Mike turned to Carl and began, likewise, whispering.

“Remember the Mall Killer? That guy who shot up twelve people a coupla years ago?.”

“Yeah.”

“I heard mom say … she said I can’t tell anyone but … Mom said Cane’s dad’s the Mall Killer!”

“What? Didn’t the cops shoot the guy?”

“No. He escaped. Mom said, right after, a buncha cops came to Cane’s house looking for his dad but he wasn’t there. Cane’s dad never came back. He ran away!”

“I heard that Cane’s dad just left one day, too”, Carl added.

Joey intervened, “That doesn’t prove anything. The cops probably went to everyone’s house.”

“No, the cops went to Cane’s place many times. They went through the whole house and everything. Also, Mom said, since that day Cane’s mom stopped talking and became really weird”.

“Cane doesn’t talk to anyone, too, I guess.”

Just then, Carl remembered something which began to alarm him. A week ago perhaps, he was riding past Cane’s house, which was close to his own. Just as he was approaching he saw a strange man being greeted by Carl and his mother at the front door. What struck Carl was that the man embraced the mother and son with what seemed like a great affection and it appeared to be mutual. ‘My God’, thought Carl, ‘That was probably Cane’s dad. Does that mean The Mall Killer’s back?”. Just as this thought began emerging another voice intruded from the side.

“My dad’s not a killer!”

It was Cane, who obviously had listened to the conversation and became enraged by what he heard. Carl saw in Cane’s eyes such a vengeful and hateful fury that he had to look away.

. . .

The next morning unusually dense fog set in which added to Carl’s consternation as he walked to school. Since the night before he had been worrying about the fact that there may be a mass killer in his neighborhood. What was he to do? Tell his parents? Call the cops? What would happen if he said nothing? Cane knew that Carl knew about his dad. What if …

As Carl turned into a wooded path, he began sensing the presence of a man, somewhere behind him. He turned around but couldn’t see anything. He sped up. Fear rose in him, very quickly turning into a full blown panic. Soon he was running, faster and faster, without even really looking ahead. Before he knew he stumbled on something causing him to spill and roll onto the ground. He kept rolling for who knows how long.

After coming to a rest, Carl, breathless and in pain, tried to raise his head. There was looming over him a rock the size of a football and there was Cane holding it.