Arsonist

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Clover Middle School, San Diego, California. Eleven years ago.

The corpse swung lazily back and forth from the rope that was fastened around its neck.

Thirteen-year-old Michael Haley stepped out of his classroom and was the first to see it. He didn’t recognize it for what it was at first and thought that maybe some balloons were loose in the hallway of Clover Middle School. Then the general shape came through.

The cat had been gutted and its entrails spilt over the linoleum of the hallway. As the classrooms emptied into the corridor, a girl slipped on some of the organs and fell, blood dripping down over her from the corpse. Michael heard laughter down the hall.

It was from a boy that stood near the exit. He was doubled over in laughter so hysterical that he looked like he might fall over and not be able to get back up.

“Dude,” Jesse said as he came up behind him. “What the hell?”

“It’s that freak,” Michael said, not taking his eyes off the laughing figure at the end of the hall.

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