Grey mists,
Swirling round,
Hiding horrors,
Disguising fears.

Bright lights,
Gay colors,
Highlighting joys
And showing wonders.

Many shades of
Washed-out blue,
Dark and chilling,
Unveiling a thousand
Regrets.

John Casey was getting back home after a short walk around the neighborhood. As he walked into the house, he found it strange that the lights were out. He flicked the switch on the wall to turn on the chandelier in the living room. Nothing. He went around, feeling his way down the hallway, flicking switches to no avail.

"Mary? Where are you?" he yelled.

No answer.

He called for Nora.

No answer.

By this point Mr. Casey was beginning to worry. He remembered of how he felt when he heard that his brother was missing. He couldn't let his family down.

"We should probably get out of here" breathed Stephen. "Like right now."

But Nora was curious. She was determined that whatever had caused her father to be traumatized in his early days was all either a hallucination, or some maniac determined to ruin other people's normal lives. And she was going to prove it. She took out her phone and tapped on the camera app, which was quickly becoming useless in the approaching darkness.

"No." Her voice shook when she said it, and it was then that she noticed that she was scared as well.

Chapter One: The Beginning

---------------------------- Fredericksville, Missouri, 1969 ---------------------------

IV
“Don’t you dare,” I breathed. “Don’t you dare, don’t you dare, don’t you dare.”
As if by magic, he bolted into a sitting position, hacking away.
First, I couldn’t speak. Second, I launched myself at him for a hug-tackle. Third, I stopped short and screamed in terror. Fourth, I followed through on my second impulse, throwing my arms around him like a sister. Fifth, I smacked him with a breathless, “Wygate, you’re alive what happened how could you scare me like that I’m—going—to—kill—you!”

It had to work, it had to… but it didn’t.

Oh, how my niece sickened me! I was in the depths of the sickly poor, and she had a huge fortune. I suffered horribly; a single piece of bread for supper, and she had a wonderful feast all her own. If only I could get my hands, dirty and weathered as they were, on the huge supply of money locked up in her guardian’s attic!

A nightmare
We did not know
What to do. It was
Like hell on earth,
But we were brave.
Many young souls
Were spared, young souls were lost,
but God was with us
And all the shouting
Was music to us!
BAGNG BOOM!
Was all that could
Be heard!
God is by our side.