Michelle was loud.

Michelle was loud and outgoing and would never shut up, as her friends told her, and she had all the friends. 

After all, who didn't want to be friends with the girl with the dead brother?

Michelle's brother had been killed about three weeks ago and her family had moved immediately afterwards. Greenview was a small town next to a forest and it was far away from the school where her brother's skull had been bashed in with a brick.

Now, Michelle's life was a lot easier. After the funeral, her brother had been buried right beside the forest behind Michelle's house, and she went out to visit him regularly. Despite the various tales about a monster hiding in the forest, it was peaceful. At least, on the outside.

Michelle had never actually gone into the forest. Nobody in town had, and anybody who did didn't come out. There were various different tales and theories about why this was, and no particular one seemed to be strongest. The only thing in common was that they all said something about a monster in the forest.

In fact, Michelle sat at the edge of the forest now, sitting in front of the small grave. It wasn't much, but it did have a cross that she'd made herself with the wood carving chisel that her mother had given her.

As far as Michelle was concerned, there was no monster in the woods. The only reason she didn't walk in right then and there to prove it was because there definitely was something that got the people going in there. Definitely not a monster, though. Perhaps they'd gotten lost and had starved to death, or gotten jumped by wolves or something. Monster or no, there was definitely something dangerous about the forest.

Michelle got to her feet and kicked a rock. She hadn't been there at her brother's death, but she'd heard stories. They were all different, though, and Michelle didn't have anyone she could actually talk to who knew what happened. 

Michelle liked discoveries. She likes to play detective, and she absolutely hated other people knowing things that she didn't. And one thing she knew about detective cases was tat everybody was always biased. Since she hadn't been there herself, she would never really know what happened.

If she asked the person who'd killed her brother, guilty or not their story would always make it sound like they were in the right. And, as much as she loved Micheal, he definitely was biased on something. Michelle knew that he'd pick on people often, but she'd never heard of anything bad enough to get him killed. Some people around school said he punted a kid into a wall, but there were also stories that the place was haunted. Rumors couldn't be trusted, especially not at Michelle's old school.

But she had a new school now, so she didn't have to worry about any of that. Michelle just had to go to school and be good and not think about any of that. It was behind her.

That was what she thought, until the murderer herself moved in across the street.