***ok first of all i am a high school student please give feed back on how to improve my story! thx!!!!***


Seven-Days Written by: Bryan James Brommeland

July 21
Kyle does not leave his room. Only screams and laughter can be heard though the muffles of the basement door. Isolated in his own thoughts, we choose to let him be, undisturbed.

Five days earlier, 7:00 am, July 16
Tracey Thomas, Kyle’s foster mom, quite the morning person, is up early as usual. Lethargically she steps towards the kitchen, coffee pot in hand.
“Smash” - in a violent drop, the pot hits the stone tiles of the kitchen floor, nothing could have prepared her for this.
“Rob I need you in the kitchen, please hurry” Tracey says in a shy frightened tone.
She repeats herself “Please hurry!”
Rob, Kyle’s foster dad, replies “What is it?” as he rushes to the kitchen at a speedy pace. Tracey and Rob stare down into the kitchen sink. Only these words escaped his mouth “Don’t call a Plumber, I’ll handle this”.
A cat lay bloody and dismembered, mummified in its own blood and fur, torn apart, but still recognizable as the neighbor’s cat. She laid in the sink, still much hidden in the kitchen garbage disposal.

Shocked and deeply disturbed they stood shaken by the uncomfortable scene that had suddenly erupted. Neither Tracey nor Rob took action towards the broken coffee pot, or sink. They left the mess undisturbed. Now running late, both Rob and Tracey have to catch the bus to work due to their recently broke down Toyota Camry. Tracey arrives at her job as a nurse at children’s hospital but she is unable to concentrate all day.
“It was always reliable” Rob mumbled to himself on the crowded, early morning bus ride.
Back at home, Kyle sat in his basement suite, which he is lucky to have. With his parents gone, he sat, laughing and crying.
Upon his parents’ return Kyle was quiet, everything in order except for the mess in the kitchen. Now, worn out by their mornings, their long work days and their rush hour bus rides, Kyle’s foster parent’s retreat to their top floor room after dinner.

The next day, July 17
Kyle’s parents wake up now only slightly more prepared for this morning’s fiasco. Kyle’s caffeine deprived mom wanders downstairs only to find a trail of backwards steps, marked in blood leading to Kyle’s room. Tracey rushes into Kyle’s room while yowling for Rob to come. Rob rushes down the stairs and all is silent except for the turning of the doorknob’s echo.
Tracey tightly grabs Rob’s hand as they look at Kyle. The foot of his bed is soaked red with blood!
Kyle, now woken, seems to be just as confused and worried as his parents. Kyle whimpers “Tracey, Rob - I’m Scared”.
Tracey inspects Kyle’s feet that are covered in deep lacerations. A large piece of glass pronounced in Kyle’s foot read “--2 cups” - glass from the earlier dropped coffee pot. Rob, who is scared, tries to make sense of it all. He firmly asks Kyle if he thinks he may have sleep walked.
With tears flowing Kyle replies “I don’t know”.
Tracey takes Kyle to the washroom to attend to the wounds on his feet. For some reason, she chose to take care of Kyle’s injuries herself rather than bring her son to her work place.

Tracey and Rob both call in sick to work, leaving almost identical phone calls. Now free to handle the confusion, Rob turns his attention towards the sink. Soon he has the poor tortured soul laid to rest in four garbage bags. The glass was swept. The blood stains were diminishing, being soaked and scrubbed with cold water. Tracey diligently worked in the kitchen preparing a family dinner of roasted chicken, stir fried beans and carrots with a rustic mashed potatoes. They sit down at the table that is seated for three.
An uncomfortable silence is solved by Tracey, she asks Kyle “Has anything been bothering you lately?”
Kyle murmurs, “No everything is fine”. As dinner comes to an end Kyle is the first to leave, Tracy far too exhausted to do the dishes, leaves them for the night.

July 18
Tracey is preparing breakfast for Rob, Kyle and herself. Rob is soon off to work. Tracey decides that she needs to take some time away to relax, so she stays home for the day. While at home she rests, as Kyle draws in his room. Much later Rob arrives home, with Chinese take-out. After dinner Rob grabs the loan fortune cookie, Cracks it, it reads, “instead of worrying and agonizing, move ahead constructively”. Rob and Tracey before bed say, “good night, love you” to Kyle.

July 19
Rob woke up early, he headed to the kitchen and pulled out the old French press, He prepared a hot cup of coffee for Tracey. As he reached into the fridge to grab the cream, Rob stopped in his tracks. He plucked off a picture that was held on to the face of the fridge with a few kitchen magnets.
Chills traveled down the length of his spine, his mind racing with a new belief, acknowledgment that his son killed the cat! The drawing displayed the neighbor’s cat, and two tall figures dressed in all black. It was drawn with a bitter colour pallet, made with the same markers he bought Kyle not to long ago.
His denial now shifted, he conceded that his son killed the cat. He neatly folded the drawing and placed it in his back pocket. He brought Tracey a cup of coffee but as he passed the cup to her he decided not to show her the drawing.
“Tracey, let’s both go back to work and get over what has happened. It’s over, everything is ok now”.
Tracey replied “Yes, but I want to get the Nanny in today, I don’t want to leave Kyle home alone after what has happened.”

When they returned from work the nanny was nowhere to be seen. They concluded that she left early. They gave her a call but there was no answer.
Kyle was still in his room. He always liked to go outside. They both remembered how much he loved going outside as a younger kid; we have always wondered what happened.
Tracey and Rob, too tired to cook, ordered take-out dinner. Not Chinese food but Antonio’s, Kyle’s favorite meal. Kyle did not eat much; he appeared not to be hungry.
After dinner Rob went straight to bed. So did Tracey, neither of them had been so spent in their lives.

July 20
Tracey was woken up by what sounded like crying, oddly enough it was followed by laughter. She woke up Ron, only seconds later they both rushed to Kyle’s room. Rob opened the door. Tracey rushed in as Rob followed behind.
They found Kyle sitting in his chair, surrounded by his drawings, the walls covered in his evil illustrations. The Nanny lying deceased, cold and crimson!
They are now beside themselves. Tracey’s nasally panting in tune with the loud thumping of her heart beat.
Frightened into a state of paranoia and mixed thoughts, Rob decided that this was too much as he firmly grips Tracey hand and left the room with haste.
Locking the door behind him, he decides to show Tracey the drawing; he quickly went upstairs and grabbed it out of his pocket. The picture was more clear than ever, but unlike before there was a bloody handprint on the back of the sheet. Strikingly, the handprint was far too large to be Kyle’s.
Frightened into stupidity they decide not to call the police. Tracey and Rob locked and boarded shut the basement suite’s door with Kyle still inside. It was the only room in the house without windows or an exit. The one sole exit was blocked. Tracey and Rob retired to their room, their door locked as well.

July 21
Again woken by crying and laughter, they chose to let Kyle be.
For one brief moment they opened the door.
They saw Kyle feeding on the blood soaked body of their Nanny!
“Knock, knock” came from the front door.
Slowly peaking to see who’s there, Tracey looked through the peephole in the door, but she saw no one. Suddenly a letter slipped through from under the door. Rob backed up from the door, crouched down, and reached to retrieve the mysterious unmarked envelope. Inside was a picture of Kyle and two unknown adults. They were tall, dressed in all black. They were the people in Kyle’s drawing!

Inside was also a letter, nothing more, the letter read.

“To whom I am speaking to, give back what’s ours. We have been looking, searching, and now we have found. The boy you have named Kyle is not yours. We have visited you many times, watched Kyle grow up. We are among you. Leave your home at once.”


Rob and Tracey quickly packed, only bringing the most necessary items.
With Kyle still locked in his room, they left in a taxi to Coleman’s Hotel. There they spend the night. Nightmares plagued both Tracey and Rob, their bodies at rest, their minds at dismay.

July 22
At 3am there was a rattle at the door that woke up both Tracey and Rob.
“Creak”
The door opened. Rob and Tracey tightly gripped each other, faces white from fear.
Rob scrambled to turn on the side table’s lamp. They screamed almost in harmony. “Click”
The side table’s lamp came on. There was Kyle, standing at the foot of the bed, blood drenched and reeking of death.
Kyle, not looking like himself.