“Predatory Property” - 2nd Place - by Mitchell Maknis

PREDATORY PROPERTY - SECOND PLACE

Mitchell Maknis*

Looking out the window, at the paper white sandbox house, she could feel it. The isolation. The silence. She would miss it.

The chimney was crumbling, the roof collapsing, and massive fissures erupted from the core of its foundation.

Broken windows exposed The house’s cavernous skeleton. It was decrepit but it never seemed to change.

Riddled with weeds, and cloaked by carnivorous apple trees the house was imperiled by hungry flora, pulling it down into an earthy grave.

Within a week it was gone. The murderous apple trees still stood. Victorious. Cloaking the scene of the crime. Choking it. Killing it. She would miss it.