This is an original story. I wrote it for English class (again) and I am proud of this story. Don't flame if you don't like it, just don't review. Enjoy.

Appearances Are Deceiving

I don't know what happened. Why was Benjamin doing this?

All my life, Benjamin, my next-door neighbour, had been nice and friendly. He was not the kind of man to commit any sort of crime. He was the type to give little children candy, volunteer at a nursing home, and lend help to people without a price.

The weirdness began about two weeks ago. I had offered to help Benjamin walk his Great Dane, Arvin. As I returned to Benjamin's house, I saw red liquid all over the inside of the windows. When I questioned Benjamin, he said he had accidentally sprayed the red paint he was using to paint the living room on the windows. I believed him. It was around the time I finally noticed that Benjamin began to act very strange.

I continued to walk his dog. He always seemed tense whenever I rang his doorbell before and after the walk. He'd get the dog and quickly shut the door in my face. I recall an afternoon when Benjamin wasn't waiting to give me Arvin. I knocked on his door. There was only silence. I turned the doorknob to find it was unlocked, and I slowly opened the door and crept inside. There was no sign of life in that house. I called out; and again there was no answer. I walked down the hallway and turned into the living room. I saw the paint Benjamin said to be using, but it looked too watery. I saw no signs of renovation in that room other than a large sledgehammer.

Before I could see more, I was suddenly pulled out of the room by a cruel hand. It yanked me around, face to face with my neighbour. His face was furious and threatening. He roughly guided me out of the house. He never said a word.

That evening, while I lay in my bed trying to fall asleep, I was jolted awake by a bloodcurdling scream. It was quiet, could have possibly been a television, but I had a deep feeling it was real. I looked out of my open window to see lights flickering in the house next door. I quickly got dressed and ran out of the house. There was a full moon shining over the field where the abandoned factory stood in the distance. I pushed it out of my mind and turned my attention to the problem at hand. I hopped the fence and crawled over to a small window that overlooked the living room. I pulled myself up to see inside. I felt my blood run cold.

In the glow of the television stood Benjamin, and in his hand was the large old-fashioned steel sledgehammer. He stood over the body of a red haired woman. He wiped his brow and walked out of sight into the kitchen. I couldn't move. My brain told me to run, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. I listened to the silence. I reached into my pocket to get my cell phone to call the police. My hands shook so hard that I dropped it. It let out a loud ring. Suddenly, Benjamin was there, standing and looking at me from inside the house.

We didn't move. I suddenly bolted from the yard running as fast as I could. I headed into the field to the factory. Benjamin was a few meters behind me. I was surprisingly grateful that he brought the sledgehammer with him as it started to slow him down.

I ran up to the entrance of the factory and ran through the door. I slammed the door with all my might. Just as I bolted the lock, the hammer came through the door and nearly hit me. The hammer pulled back, and I saw Benjamin's face. I dashed down the dusty cobweb covered hallway. I could hear Benjamin banging on the door with the hammer.

I found myself in the main room of the building. Everything was covered in at least two centimetres of dust. I ran to the far side of the room and frantically looked for a place to hide. I found a barrel that hid a small opening in the brick wall. I squeezed into the opening. It was almost like an escape route. I crept down the passage and reached out in front of me. I thought I'd feel brick, but instead I grabbed a cold steel ledge. I felt around to find it to be a ladder. I started to climb up. When I reached the top, I found myself on the catwalk about ten meters above the ground. I crawled toward the edge and looked down. Benjamin had finally broken through the door and had begun to search for me.

I heard him call out, "Jillian, I'm not going to hurt you…come out, come out wherever you are," over and over again. I felt tears welling in my eyes. As he walked out of sight, I could distinctly hear his footsteps and the sound of his hammer being scraped along the ground.

"Jillian, come out. We can come to some sort of agreement. That woman deserved what she got. No one will miss her. She had no family or friends. She was a prostitute. No one wants her and no one will miss her…" he called out. I started to move across the iron slowly. I stood up when I got to the end. There was a window that was just large enough for me to slip through. I pulled off the boards closing up the window. As I pulled away the last board, the window fell open, making an echoing bang. I spun around to see Benjamin staring up at me with a crooked smile on his face.

"I found you," he laughed. I forced myself through the window, and I found myself on the roof. Tears streamed down my face. I was going to die here. I forced myself to look over the edge and stare at the ground three stories below.

"You have been a bad girl, Jillian," Benjamin insanely stated. I closed my eyes and turned to face him.

"Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide," he grinned. I watched him carefully and tried to keep my distance. He would take a step forward, and I would take a step back. I hit my leg against the siding of the roof, knowing my ability to move back had ended. I watched him pick up the hammer and start to run at me. He let his arm swing, and I ducked under his legs. I kicked him in the back of the leg. With the unbalanced weight of the hammer and the pain in his leg, he stumbled and lost his balance. The next thing I knew was he was gone. I picked myself up, and put my hands to my face. As I calmed down, I looked over the side of the building. I saw him lying on an old iron fence, with the fence post stabbing in his back. His face had a glazed look over it, and from what I could see, his eyes were glassed over. His eyes looked grey as he stared at me. I slowly pulled away from the sight, collapsed and wept. I wrapped my face in my arms and sobbed. I slowly reached for my cell phone and dialled 911 emergency assistance. I sat on top of the roof until the police stormed through the window.

The last thing I remember before falling into darkness was whispering to myself, "It's finally over …"