I was in Olympia at my parent’s house, I hadn’t been on the rental property, which we call Villa Villekulla, for a long time, so I decided to explore. I walked down to the doublewide and crossed over into the field walking the path towards the barn. Instead of grass someone had planted a bunch of lettuce plants that had become overgrown and gone to seed, looking more like prehistoric shrubbery than small leafy bundles. I continued walking as I got to the other side following the path down to the decrepit barn, as I walked the family that was renting the property appeared and began walking in my direction. I held my breath and knelt down trying not to be seen. They didn’t see me at first but when they got closer they sensed me, turning their heads in unison, they looked at me like I was stupid. I fumbled in the grass trying to pretend that I had dropped something, masking my red cheeks in the dirt. They continued on seemingly with disinterest so I got up and went on my meanderings. I walked up along the fence away from the barn towards a picnic table by the brambles. On the ground next to the table there were two masks, one laying on top of the other. The top one was the face of a girl, with black hair, cut in a bob, wearing a high school marching band headdress. The inside of the mask was lined with hard clear plastic, revealing the realistic looking skin like material stretched over the front. There were a few notes written on the plastic, with one reading, “When cows fly.” I flipped it over, my stomach dropped, it was the face of a girl, with black hair, cut in a bob, wearing a high school marching band headdress. It was real. The second mask was made in a similar style. With the hair on my neck standing stiff I dropped them, turned, and with increasing speed began to walk back to my house. The family watched me, still with only their heads following my movement and then they began to follow. One of the sons, a boy about my age, caught up to me first grabbing my arm and told me I couldn’t leave. He said they needed my foot. Spitting “No!” I pushed past him with the freezing heat of fear in my chest. The family had slowed, they knew where I lived, if they needed me they knew where to look.

Jackie