by Morganne Michaels

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 11, 2008

Finding Poe
Every suburban neighborhood has one. It's the house, weathered gray, clinging to the last chips of paint, where the little old lady with hundreds of cats lives. Every time you need to walk past it, your heart begins to pound, you hold your breath and run.
The sun always sets quicker behind the graying house and darkness seems to spread out from it, like fingers of a spider's web. The house is haunted. The sister's who live across the street from 1313 Long-view circle, never questioned it once. McKayla and Regan live in the same cul-de-sac and sometimes late at night they look out of their bedroom window and see strange things. The long grass waves in the wind, and sometimes flickering lights weave through it at night, casting terrible shadows into their darkened room.

The two sisters walked home from school, that Halloween afternoon, and shuddered slightly at the sight of the haunted house. They ran quickly until they were out its shadows. McKayla walked in and dropped her backpack onto the floor in the living room. She plopped down onto the couch and flipped through the channels. "Poe? Poe! Where are you?" She heard her sister call out.

"McKayla, I can't find Poe. I've looked in all of the usual spots!" Regan loved her black cat named Poe' and everyday, while McKayla raced to be in charge of the TV, Regan ran to find Poe. "What if he's outside?" Regan gasped, her panic rising slightly. Typical, a black cat goes missing on Halloween, thought McKayla.

"I'm sure he's fine. Look again." McKayla yawned.

Regan sat down next to her sister. "I'm telling you, Kayla, he isn't here."

"Alright." McKayla answered. She pulled her backpack to her, grasping a notebook and a pencil. She poised them over her lap. "Okay, list the usual suspects." Regan smiled at her, and then put her mind to work.
"Um, Kendal across the street picked him up and took him home last time. Remember?" Regan began. One of the curtains ruffled behind her ear. The window had been opened! Poe had been set free.

McKayla scribbled, "Anyone else?"

Regan's mind raced. "What about J.R.? He is always bringing some new pet home." Their friend in the center of the cul-de-sac had what his mom dubbed can I keep it?' syndrome.
"I think you're forgetting at least two people." McKayla added.

"No." Regan whispered.

"Yes, I am afraid it's a possibility." They both turned and looked out of the large window behind them. There stood the haunted house, home of an old woman who loved cats more than she loved anything

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