wide lawn. Beyond the lawn was the forest. It was almost spooky being out here all alone. The trees were dying and shedding their leaves. The air was chilled and the sky had been cast over with a storm approaching on the horizon. Not to mention it was October and everyone was generally in a spooky mood. Decorations could be seen all over town, but not at this house. This house was surrounded by dead bushes and old worn out spiderwebs. It looked spooky enough all on its own.

Virgil Wells was a plumber. And while he usually didn’t go on jobs alone, his brother was going through marital issues and didn’t want to be disturbed. Virgil could understand, given that he’d been divorced himself for two years now. It wasn’t often that he thought of his ex-wife, but their once anniversary was coming up in a few days, and it was hitting him hard. It was rather difficult to focus on his work. That was why he had been planning this trip out of town. He would meet his brother at their rented cabin later that evening. They were going to hang out, have a few beers and watch Football. All he had to do was get through this last job. Pulling himself together, he grabbed his tool bag and walked up to the house.

He’d been given special instructions since Ms. Stone wasn’t home. There was a key hidden under the doormat. He was to take it, enter the house, fix the kitchen sink, and lock the door on his way out. It was all very simple. He’d done it for this client before. She was often in need of repairs given that her house was so big and old. Virgil bent down and lifted up the mat. The key was right where the client said it’d be. He picked it up and shoved it into the lock ungracefully. With rough hands, he turned it, but it never clicked. He tried the other way and hearing the click, found himself locking the door. This was strange. Usually, homeowners didn’t leave their doors unlocked for a plumber. Maybe his client was home after all.

Virgil knocked on the door, but there came no reply. Figuring he had a job to do, and eager to get to the cabin, he let himself in. The house was a bit messy, but nothing out of the ordinary. What was different were the decorations. It was filled from top to bottom with antique artifacts, some of them easily worth thousands. Virgil took a moment to admire a few of his favorite pieces before heading for the kitchen. Passing the parlor, he continued to look around just to see if his client had collected anything new. He was about to go and investigate what was on the far table but figured he had a job to do and he’d better get on with it.

The kitchen was just a few rooms over and was also filled with artifacts. There were old teapots and cutlery hanging on the walls. An old stove sat in the corner; it must have been a hundred years old. But Virgil wasn’t here to admire teapots or antique cooking devices. He hunkered down in front of the sink and looked at the pipes. They weren’t in too bad condition. A little rust was starting to form, but it wouldn’t be a problem for a long time. Running a bit of water, he noticed the problem right away. There was a small leak in the pipe. It left a little puddle on the floor. Virgil reminded himself to wipe it up once he was done with his work. It would be all too easy to fix the leak and wouldn’t take more than a few minutes. In fact, he had probably fixed more leaky pipes than anything else in his entire career. He searched around in his bag for his wrench. Grasping it tightly, he fixed it around the pipe. Then, he twisted the joints tighter together. 

But it was harder to turn than he’d expected. Losing his grip on the wrench, he dropped it. Virgil sat there for a moment and stared at the wrench in contempt. He let out a low sigh at the minor inconvenience. Leaning down under the sink, he huffed for breath. He was not exactly a fit man and climbing under sinks was never easy, especially as he got older. Virgil felt around with his sweaty hands for the missing wrench, never noticing the shadow closing in on him. There came a slight creak of the floorboards, but he ignored it, focused on finding the wrench. He picked it up, pushed it back around the pipe, and tugged. He felt the joints of the pipe bend to his will and come back together, sealing up the leak. Setting down the wrench he wiped the sweat off his brow.

He didn’t notice a hand reach into his tool bag just inches from him and pull out the hammer. He only felt it for a second as it came crashing down into his skull. He was dead instantly.