“Dear Victor,” he wrote. “Your dear little brother William has been killed! The killer took the gold chain William wore around his neck. From it hung a picture of your mother. Oh, Victor, William was killed for a gold chain! I need you near me, my son. Please come home at once!”

I left right away. The trip was long. And I was very sad. I kept thinking about the little brother whom I would never see again.

At last I came to the mountains not far from my father’s town. It was night and I was alone on the road. A great storm had started. Thunder roared over my head. Lightning flashed in the sky. And, all of a sudden, I saw the Monster!

He was very close. But it all happened so quickly. When the sky lit up, I saw him. Then all went dark.

Lightning flashed again. Now he was high up. He had already climbed the mountain. In no time, he was gone.

 

I closed my eyes and began to cry. For I now knew who the killer of my brother was. It was the devil that I myself had made!

But there was more horrible news to come. I heard it as soon as I got to my father’s house.

“Oh, Victor,” my father cried out. “It’s worse than we thought. The killer lived in our own home. It was Justine, our own maid! The police found her near where William was killed. She was in a barn, pretending to sleep. And she had the chain with your mother’s picture!”

“You are wrong, Father,” I exclaimed. “It’s a mistake! Justine didn’t do it!”

“But how do you know?”

I could not answer. He, too, would not have believed me. No one had ever heard of such a monster before.