Jump Rope

QUIET CHILD

Haley had always been the quiet child, the sensitive child, the secretive child who liked to go off and play by herself. And she never told anybody about what she saw the day her father died. Never told them about the red striped jump rope wrapped around her father's wrists as he lay in a pool of blood. Or about the other little girl- the one who looked just like Haley- who had taken the jump rope and skipped away, singing a childish tune...

DEADLY CHILD

Everyone thought it was suicide. even the police said so. After all, they hadn't seen what Haley had seen- the evidence that her father couldn't have killed himself, not with his hands tied. And Haley wasn't about to tell them. She was too scared. Too scared of seeing that other little girl again. And feeling the jump rope tighten about her own fragile throat...