The creak of metal chains in their pivot squealed as the empty swing swayed in the breeze. It took a beat for the screaming to start. I understood, it took me a minute to find my voice, too. Blood poured from the head of the limp child. She lay on the ground, crimson staining the hopscotch chalk she had just jumped through.

One by one, crows had begun to land near the playground. On the equipment. Their caws rent the air, mingled with the laughter of children playing. Until the ring of aluminum on bone shocked everyone into silence.

My daughter stood, blood-stained aluminum bat hanging loosely at her side. Bile rose up my throat, a nausea I could not quell choking out my screams and all sense as I heaved into the bushes I’d been sitting beside. When it was over, I looked up.

Katarina met my eye, gaze solemn. Then she smiled.

How had we gotten here? Had I missed all the signs?

When she was four, I’d seen her in the backyard, catching butterflies. It was such a beautiful thing, to see her giggle as she chased them with her net. She caught one, and I’d clapped, proud of my little girl. Had I intentionally blocked out the part of my memory where she’d torn off that butterflies wings? Her giggle grew as she tore at the fragile membranes, shredding the helpless creature.

Our neighbor had a dog when we moved in, back when I’d first been married. Katarina’s father had left when she was three. He swore up and down she was evil, and he wanted nothing to do with her. When she was five, she would complain that the neighbor’s dog kept her awake at night with his incessant barking.

Their dog had turned up dead one morning, and my backdoor had been wide open. Katarina’s clothes had bloodstains on them. She swore she had nothing to do with the dog’s death, and there were no scratches or bites on her. Looking out at the playground now, I knew.

She just turned 8 this year. Her birthday was 6/26. Was that a coincidence? Was it code for the closest thing it could be to 666?

A woman lunged for my daughter, and instinct had me shooting forward to intercept her. I slipped on pieces of skull that made me want to hurl again as I dragged Kat behind me, her dark eyes narrowed on the woman charging for her.

“You murderer!” She was screeching.

Everything seemed to slow down around me. I looked down at my daughter, torn between defending her and hurting her myself. If I hadn’t just watched her bludgeon that girl to death, I wouldn’t have believed it. She was only 8, she shouldn’t have been strong enough to do that kind of damage, even if she wanted to.

Katarina smiled up at me, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Horror clogged my lungs as I stared into those dark depths, seeing nothing behind them. She stepped around me, as though moving through water, and I watched her swing the bat once more, bashing it into the face of the distraught mother.

“She shouldn’t have touched my things.” Katarina’s soft, lilting voice sounded the same as it always had. But there was no doubt in my mind.

My child was pure evil.