Visitor

On the seventh day the creature that wore young Amy went to visit her parent's home. 

Only young Amy's mother was there. The creature knocked on the back door in the kitchen just as gently as young Amy would have. 

-Can I come in? the creature asked in young Amy's voice. 

Young Amy's mother had spent most of the last seven days in the kitchen. She had been making a stew the day young Amy had went missing and had kept making it. She thought her daughter would return to her, even if she knew in her heart that her son would not. 

She added more ingredients to the stew and fed it to Mr. Allen and the man who would come over from the search parties. 

They stopped looking when they found the bodies of the other children, even though young Amy was not there. The police were most perturbed that the body of 17-year-old Tommy had been found, and the bite marks on their necks. 

The government men from the agency told the police not to worry about the bite marks. But it still left the police without a theory. Other children were still going missing but 17-year-old Tommy had been found. 

-Mother, can I come in? the creature repeated in young Amy's voice. 

-Yes, young Amy's mother responded, as if coming out of a trance, and walked over to open the door for young Amy. 

As she opened it, she realized it hadn't been locked, the she saw her daughter, pale in the evening light. 

At a loss for words and starved for sleep, young Amy's mother began to cry. 

The creature who wore young Amy could smell the meats in the stew. A young girl would be hungry, it thought, and walked in a stilted gait toward the pot. 

Young Amy's mother looked on, still in shock. 

-Your father will want to see you, she mumbled. He's out looking for you, her mother added. Everyone else gave up. 

-My brother is dead but I am here, the creature that wore young Amy said in young Amy's voice. 

Young Amy's mother began again to cry. 

-I am hungry, mother, the creature that wore young Amy hissed in young Amy's voice as she dipped a finger into the stew. 

-Be careful, Mrs. Allen yelled instinctively, the stew is very hot. The stove had been on for seven days and she did not feel well. 

But the creature who wore young Amy was not hungry for the stew. The creature was not sure why it had come to young Amy's house. Young Amy, too, was dead. 

The head vampire wanted the creature who wore young Amy to collect more children. Vampire children were easier to feed, could get into the smaller places, and worked well with the kind of petty thieving schemes the vampires had resorted to in their desolation. 

The creature that wore young Amy knew that the head vampire did not want it to feed on young Amy's mother. Young Amy was still missing. 

So why was it here?

Young Amy's mother had been watching the creature who wore her daughter and thinking the same thing. It had been fishing the meats out of the stew and shoveling them into its mouth, the juices spilling between her fingers and from her mouth back into the pot. 

-How did you get away? young Amy's mother asked the creature who wore young Amy. 

-I ran, the creature said in the best imitation of young Amy's affectation it could muster. I ran and ran and ran. 

The creature who wore young Amy looked to the door. It wanted to run now. Young Amy it remembered wanted to run but could not. The creature could feel the death throes of young Amy inside it. 

Had young Amy's ghost ran here?

There was a bed in this place, a real bed. Under the covers the creature thought young Amy's body would be safe from the son. The head vampire would not like it but the creature wanted to stay. It had collected so many children for the head vampire already. 

-Do you have something to do with the missing children? young Amy's mother asked. She had backed away from the creature who wore young Amy and was standing with her back just to the door. 

-No, the creature said in young Amy's innocent voice. Everyone else is dead. Even brother. 

Young Amy's mother did not have the strength to say that that was not what she had meant. She felt like the creature knew that.

Just then, Mr. Allen walked in with a small bag of groceries, the first he'd done since the children's disappearance, and upon seeing young Amy immediately dropped it, spilling the fresh fruit and vegetable all over the kitchen floor. 

Mrs. Allen saw one of the apples roll toward the feet of the creature who wore young Amy. She saw it start to spoil as soon as it hit the ground and roll. By the time it hit young Amy's worn out shoes it had turned into a husk. 

-Amy! young Amy's father exclaimed at the sight of his daughter who was lost. 

But it wasn't Amy, young Amy's mother tried to tell her husband with her eyes. Her voice had left her, and she didn't know where it had went.