Deep in thought, Maddox came to an abrupt stop at the most colorful thing on the street: the stoplight. As he gazed at the sky, it faded in and out of a dreary blue, the sun not visible behind the darkened clouds. Although the street didn’t have too many cars, when they came, they came fast. While he looked around waiting for the crosswalk to become available, an elderly lady came up to stand beside him, a green cane in her left hand. Her hair gleamed blonde above the layer of white, and she stood barely up to his shoulder on her green flats.

            Suddenly, the woman reached her hand around his arm, and he went stiff. Realizing she probably just needed help across the street which had just become crossable, he put his hand on top of hers to hold it there before he started walking. Once across the street, the woman directed him to her house a few feet away. It looked

quite old with loose planks only partly nailed into messy paneling. Most of the buildings surrounding it were much more modern but a dull gray. Hers was a paled yellow including the door and the window railings. They slowly walked up the steep steps to the porch where a broken but usable porch swing swayed in the

slight breeze.

            “Poly,” the woman said plainly as she opened the door. Maddox didn’t know whether the woman was telling him her name or if she had given him a name. He decided it was her name and referred to her as that while he pondered her. Poly’s head turned to face Maddox with a large smile as the door creaked open. She stretched forth her slightly wrinkled hand as a gesture to welcome him inside. Once he did, she gestured again towards a chair with hardly a cushion, and he took his seat. The walls and furniture were bare, the only decoration an old green cuckoo clock above the chair he sat in and hanging leaves under a cabinet in the wall that separates the living room and the kitchen. To the right were stairs to what Maddox assumed was a basement and a door with unknown destination.

            “Cookie?” Poly asked. Shrugging, Maddox continued to stare in the direction of the staircase. Poly only smiled again and went in the same of his gaze. One step at a time, Poly descended the staircase and Maddox could only wonder.

            Quite some time had passed before Maddox grew tired of waiting. He carefully eased himself out of the comfortless chair and made his way towards the staircase. He descended cautiously, and when he came to the end, he looked up to see a dimly lit room. Warily, he looked around. Poly was nowhere to be seen. After a moment, he continued into the depths of  the basement, arriving upon a small kitchenette containing just a sink, a fridge, and a knife block taking up the only counterspace available. Upon a closer look, Maddox could see that one of the knives were missing. There certainly was the possibility that there could be no knife that fits this specific hole, but with the frightening atmosphere of the basement, he could not but be scared.

            Suddenly, Maddox could hear scratching on the wall opposite of the kitchenette. At that moment, he wanted to run back up the stairs and out the entryway into the dreary world he knew, but curiosity got the best of him. Forgetting entirely about the cookie Poly had offered him and the knife block with a missing knife, he continued towards the scratching noise. Through the dim lighting, Maddox could finally make out a figure crouched in the corner, that of which he found to be Poly. Feeling more relaxed, he approached casually, and when he was close enough, he knelt down behind Poly; the scratching stopped and the room became silent. As he was about to speak, Poly turned, faster than Maddox thought possible, arm outstretched, knife in hand, and a wide grin spread ear to ear. She was aiming for his heart.