I stuck my head inside the master bedroom. There was so much blood. More than the pictures revealed. The bloodied handprints and splatters were still on the wall, and a chill swept over me. I backed away and nearly stepped on Olivia's furry friend, Peepers. The orange and white cat jumped away from the heel of my shoe just in time.
On the wall was a family portrait of Olivia and her parents. The image of the three of them hugging one another with wide smiles instigated a lump in my throat. And, for a moment, my face replaced Mrs. Masters in the picture, my arms around Lacey, now five years old. I blinked back tears. The picture displayed the original occupants, a family split apart by tragedy.
I walked down the hall and stopped in front of a door that displayed two small hands in yellow paint. "Olivia's Room" it spelled in vibrant pink letters below the child's handprints. I opened the door to a very girly room that made me smile. The walls were painted a cool shade of violet. I would have chosen the same color for Lacey. Pretty matching pillows lay on the floor next to an unmade bed.
Peepers the cat, jumped on Olivia's bed, licking itself. I opened a closet that housed little girl dresses and shoes. The innocence of these clothes didn't seem to match the person whom the police believed committed the bloody crimes in the other room. Having met Olivia and observed her closely, I found it difficult to diagnose her as mentally ill. She had been so congruent with her story about the fairies, as if she believed she'd really seen them.
I walked out of the closet and turned to see Peepers scratching the air vent at the side of the corner wall. The cat was sticking its paws in and out of the grooves, hissing. It was quite agitated.
It was the air vent that Olivia told me about. The secret hideway she said lodged her deadly friends. Could these nightmare fairies really exist? I remembered the drawings—butterflies with hideious heads, black eyes, sharp teeth, and claws. The tiny, sickle-shaped wounds on the parents' bodies flashed through my mind.
Nonsense, I told myself, such creatures don't exist. Yet my heart rate quickened. I hadn't realized I was on my knees until I was in front of the vent. Peepers still scratched and hissed. I peered inside, cautiously. The crawlspace was definitley big enough for Olivia to fit in. It was dark inside but I could see something glimmer in the darkness.