MR . NEXT DOOR
Joseph McClain — Grade 8
“ Knock Knock .” “ Looks like the mailman ’ s here .” I open the door to get the mail but no ones there . “ Ugh , damn ding dong ditches .” Thinking its just some annoying kids I start to go back inside , but something catches my eye , the mail box is open . On top of that , the postal van is on the street . I walk to the mailbox and look inside . “ Its just the newspaper .” I take it out and see a letter . Again , I take it out and its just the Wi-Fi bill . “ Oh crap . I forgot about this !” I rush inside to pay my Wi-Fi bill . As I ’ m writing the check I hear another knock on the door . “ Ugh , again ?” I open the door to see no one there , however , I see footprints . I follow them to my backyard , to my shed , and then to the woods at the back of my house . In the distance I see a red X on the ground , again with the footprints leading to it . My curiosity gets the better of me and I walk over to the marking , that just so happens to have a shovel next to it . I pick it up and see it has indents in it forming words “ Dig , dig , dig .” I lose control of my body and i start to involuntarily dig down . As I reach the bottom , I see something .
“ A box ?” I regained control of my body and decided to pick it up . I rush back to my house gripping the box . I get to my table and place the box on it . I start opening it , and surprisingly its not locked . Inside there is a bunch of bubble wrap which seems to be brand new , despite the box looking to be over one hundred years old . I take out the bubble wrap and reach the bottom of the box , where I see ANOTHER box . I take the smaller box , looking to be even older than the one it was in , and try to open it . This one seems to be locked , but the lock is old , rusty , and eroded . I grab a hammer to try and break the lock open to get in , but it wont budge . “ Welp , I tried . Ill just break the box .” I swing the hammer on the box and it burst open . Inside seems to be a letter . It ’ s completely blank , however it seems to have wet spots evenly placed on it . Thinking its invisible ink , I get my black light I bought from a state fair years ago and shine it on the paper . It surprisingly worked and the paper has one sentence I read it and it says …