EVIL IN DISGUISE
   Red Bank, New Jersey was a quiet town with a population of 12,200. Most people recognized each other. They were hardly any cases of murder or any type of crime. Everyone was kind to each other, and life was peaceful.
   Anna, an unemployed 23 year old, just moved to the city to live with her abusive step-father. She just dropped out of college due to the massive amount of debt. She needed an easy job that pays fairly well; she decided to babysit. To others, she appeared decent, with the way she spoke, dressed, and behaved. She finally landed a job with a 13 month old girl named Ashley.
   Every minute she spent with the little girl, flashed back memories of her awful childhood and, how her step-father abused her. She reached out to others, yet no one believed her; they thought she was insane. Her step-father’s abuse continued for years until she turned eighteen; she moved out to begin a new life. No matter how much she tried the scars her step-father left on her life kept on bringing her down.
   After a few hours, Ashley began to cry. She cried and cried leaving Anna with no idea of what to do. Frustrated, she left the little toddler on the floor, but the crying grew louder and louder. As Anna stared at the little girl, images of her childhood began to flashback again. She saw herself sitting in the corner, right next to the window, beaten, unfed, and hopeless. She saw the tears in her eyes pour like a never ending river. Growing up, she had no one to turn to besides her cruel father who was only there to beat the living daylights out of her.

   She decided to feed Ashley, but the baby vomited everything on Anna. She became very furious at the crying child. She got up and closed all the windows and doors; then she got a steel torch from the garage. She knew she had to leave little or no evidence whatsoever. So she stomped on her stomach three times, hit her head multiple times with the steel torch, and punched her in the stomach. To complete the job she took a blanket and wrapped it around her head. She put her hands on the child’s neck and choked her to death.
   After the work was done, she ran to the phone to call Ashley’s mom saying, “Ma’am Ashley’s not breathing, I don’t know what happened, should I call the ambulance?”
Ashley’s mom replied saying, “Call the ambulance, I’m on my way.”
   The ambulance arrived and took Ashley away. The Police questioned Anna and Ashley’s parents on what had happened.
Anna said, “I fed Ashley and put her to sleep, that’s all that happened, I promise.”
Anna thought she was a good actress; she thought she succeeded in fooling everyone.
   In less than 24 hours, the Doctors confirmed Ashley’s death. They performed an autopsy on her, and found out she suffered a skull fracture, cranial hemorrhaging, and died from blunt force trauma. Word spread through the city like wildfire, and soon everyone was talking about it.
   Since Anna choked Ashley with a blanket, there was no evidence of DNA. The police were still questioning how the child got a trauma in the few hours she was being babysitted. The Police immediately put Anna on the suspect list, and they were building a profile, gathering as much evidence as possible. They knew it’ll take a while to crack the case, but that didn’t make them give up.
   It wasn’t too long before Red Bank was back to normal. Kids roaming the streets, adults moving in and out to their various workplaces, everything went back to normal. Or so they thought…..
   Three days later, the citizens woke up to the most horrific scene. Anna was hanged on a cross just as if she were a scare-crow. She was viciously stabbed multiple times in the neck, and her chest was hardly recognizable. Her face was terribly disfigured, and it was as if it was about to fall off her neck, dripping a pool of blood. Her legs and arms were missing chunks of flesh, and she had lost both eyes. She was marked with an X which seemed to be red spray paint.

   Above the cross was a note written in red saying,” Beware of me, for I am watching, I know you all, you’ll be safe as long as you don’t cross my path.”
Who had taken vengeance on Anna? Was Red Bank not such a perfect place after all?