This is for an English project. This "newspaper article" is supposed to be 250-275 words long, but it's actually 5oo-something words long . . . I'm not sure how to cut half of it out, and I need to finish it today. *sigh*
Anyway, enough of my grumbling. Enjoy!
The trial of a deranged man accused of slaughtering his wife with an axe is to take place early next month.
A few days before the discovery of the woman's corpse, neighbors reported that Jane Allan, the gentle lady who moved to their neighborhood after a terrible fire seized their home, had not been seen for days.
"Jane usually took a stroll around the neighborhood by herself everyday," one of said neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "So when none of us even caught a glimpse of Jane for days, we knew something was wrong."
Before filing a report, the neighbors tried to ask Mr. Allan where his wife was. "Mr. Allan told us that she was visiting her parents. He seemed glad to be rid of his wife."
A search party inspected the house, but Jane was not discovered. Though they did find a drop of blood on the stairs leading to the drab, filthy cellar, Mr. Allan insisted that it was from an accident when he sliced open his own finger. He proved his claim with a scar. Disappointed, the search party left empty-handed.
The following day, a party of the police performed another inspection of the Allan home. After examining every nook and cranny of the house, the party was making their way up the stairs from the cellar when Mr. Allan began acting very queer. The calm composure he had maintained during the search slipped away with each nonsensical word he spoke.
"He began boasting about the solidity of his house and informed us that the walls were put together firmly, tapping his cane against one of the walls to prove his point. The moment his cane made contact with the wall, a horrid, bloodcurdling cry that somewhat resembled a scream of a child throwing a tantrum and the howl of a damnable creature of Hell—a scream that paralyzed us all and made us fear for our souls—pervaded throughout the cellar," one of the policemen of the search party recalled with a shudder. "Mr. Allan was the first to move. He staggered to the opposite wall with a look of pure repugnance and terror on his face. For a moment, the cellar was completely silent, save for the sound of Mr. Allan's staggered breathing. Then, everyone regained their ability to move, and the wall was torn down."
Behind the wall was a woman's corpse, already decaying and nearly unidentifiable. On her blood-coated skull, there was a wide slit that exposed parts of her brain, the work of an axe. But the source of the sound was a one-eyed cat, its mouth full of the woman's blood.
A closer examination of the corpse confirmed that it belonged to Jane Allan.
Mr. Allan's trial is set for the third of October, and many of his neighbors plan to attend. One particular neighbor had something pressing to say.
"Jane's husband was always a suspicious character," Mary Smith, one of the neighbors who notified the police, said in between heartfelt sobs after hearing about the death of her benign neighbor. "No matter what he says to defend himself, I know he's the one who killed poor Jane."
Creepy! *shudder* Anyway, please leave a review!