Karen first noticed the spot when she was making the bed. Sam was in the shower, the water insulating him from the shriek. It wasn’t until he pulled the towel from his head that he heard his name desperately being called.

Sprinting up the stairs to the bedroom, he burst in and found a bloody circle, roughly the size of a bowling ball in the middle of the bed.

“Where did this come from,” Karen asked.

Steve stammered and immediatly looked at his girlfriend in a panic. His mind swam until logic drained the pool.

“Take off your clothes.”

“What?”

“I want to make sure you’re not bleeding.”

Each stripped and examined each other, combing over each other’s bodies and finding nothing. The dog came next, with no wound, cut, lasceration or gouge to be found on any living creature in the home.

They were safe, but there it was – a big bloody circle on the sheets, still wet and glistening in the morning sun, a crimson puzzle with no answer. They were safe, but they never felt that way ever again.