Chapter 1

Dark trees danced in my vision as I walked down the lonely street. My tiny legs pushing me to walk faster before the sky became completely dark, because that was when things got dangerous. My family and I lived on the outskirts of our town and save from going to school, we were not allowed to mingle with other people.

From the stories I had gathered so far, the town people hated my family, my mother to be exact. With her bright auburn hair that shone against her very pale skin and eyes that never had the same color, everyone said she was perfect. Too perfect to be human.

Not to me. Even though we didn’t get along, I loved my mother and didn’t understand why everyone treated her the way they did. With my dad we were just a little family that everyone else ignored.

It had been hard attending high school. All through junior year I had been bullied, like I was anything less than others. I had no friends, nobody I talked to. It was just me and my dad, he was the one person in my entire life that cared for me.

Something moved in my peripheral vision and I became still. I waited, listening for any sound but there was none. I continued walking, faster than before. Dad was going to scold me. He hated that I had to walk home alone and always warned me to get back early.

I always followed that rule until today. I had been more than a few minutes late leaving school because there was a paper I wanted a head start in, it was due Monday. As I took the last turn towards my house I froze.

I could see my house just down the street but that was not the problem. There was a dark cloud hovering over it. As I stood watching it, I felt chills to my bone. Something was wrong. I took a step forward only to feel something move behind me.

When I turned there was no one there. I felt my heart start beating faster as the sky suddenly started getting dark. It wasn’t until I took another step that I heard someone whisper my name and I turned abruptly. There was no one still.

At that I turned towards my house and ran. I forced my legs to move faster as I ran with everything that I had. I snuck a quick glance at the forest that was on the other side of me and saw a blurry figure, by then I was in front of my house.

I took a closer look and the blur turned to a face but when I blinked again it was gone. I shrugged the feeling away, just happy that I was back home and safe. I put my palm on my chest to make sure I was actually here, and in the present.

I was walking towards the door when I noticed two police cars parked by the side of the house. No one was ever here so why were police cars parked outside our house? I moved up the stairs and opened the door, dumping my bag by the door.

“Daddy!” I yelled, going straight to his study where he usually was by this time but it was empty.

“You’re not hiding from me again, are you?” I asked loudly so my voice echoed through the entire house. He was going to hear me wherever he was. He had a habit of hiding when he knew I was back from school and jumping out to scare me.

I tried the kitchen next but he wasn’t there. I turned towards the stairs and jumped, screaming when I saw her just standing there.

I counted to three in my head before looking at her “Mum you scared me, where is dad?” I asked her. Usually her lips were set in a thin line, but not this time. Her entire body held no expression, she looked like a statue in that moment.

“Mum?” I called to get her attention. Her eyes snapped back to me, as she was about to answer, two uniformed men walked down the stairs. One stopping to whisper something into her ear.

The other looked at me with pity but said nothing. “Mum, where’s dad?” I asked again, a dark feeling settling in my stomach. She looked at me but she wasn’t looking. It felt like her eyes were on me but she couldn’t see me.

Knowing I wasn’t going to get anything out of her. I pushed pass the policeman and ran up the stairs. I went straight to dad’s room, my legs suddenly becoming heavy as I stood in front of it. I pushed the door open, afraid of what I would see.

The first thing that caught my eyes was the untidy room. Daddy never kept a thing out of place and as I looked around the room everything kept getting weirder. There were claw marks on the wall, like someone had let in a wild animal into the room.

The headboard was broken but that was not my major concern. Where was dad? I moved further into the room only to stumble on something. I looked down to see what I tripped on and when I did, all I could do was scream.

I couldn’t stop screaming. I didn’t stop until a palm clamped over my mouth, it stopped my screaming but didn’t stop the tears that were streaming down my face.

My daddy lay there, eyes open and staring into nothing as he lay in the pool of his own blood. What happened? How? Why? I had a lot of questions, so much that it made me dizzy. I tried to move to him when someone held me back.

I struggled to get out of their hold but they were much stronger. It wasn’t until I bucked under my feet that the person let me go. I slid to the floor, my eyes trained on my father’s still figure. My daddy was dead.

I felt myself being pulled away as I struggled to get closer to him. One of the officers and mum was standing over his body, doing God knows what.

“Daddy!” I screamed, hoping that he would somehow hear me and come back to life. I needed him to come back.

Mum looked at me, there was a hint of smile but I might have made that up in my head. I let whoever was holding me drag me out of the room but not before I saw the two bite marks on his neck. Where did that come from?

The door closed and all I could do was just sit down there and stare at it. Just this morning we were talking, laughing, he even promised to get me ice cream.

I shook my head frantically, he couldn’t be dead. This was just one of his tricks that he liked to play. I stood up and dusted my bottom, all I had to do was just sleep and he’ll be there when I wake up.

My room was on the other side of the house, several rooms down the west wing. It was usually freezing cold there but I never complained to dad because if I was being honest, I liked it that way.

Clothes were scattered everywhere and there was barely space to move around. With no intention of cleaning the space, I pulled off my clothes and threw them on the ever-growing pile of dirty clothes on the floor.

My underwear was next to go. Tying my hair in a bun, I slipped under my blanket and snuggled my pillow. I was going to have a well-deserved nap, and when I wake up daddy would be there.

It was well past evening when my eyes opened, my lids still hanging heavy with sleep. My body felt stiff and my head ached. When I finally got up from the bed, it was completely dark outside.

My gaze was still outside my window when I saw the face I had seen earlier again. The thick trees that was opposite our house could not hide the figure. It was glowing in the dark with red eyes. No one ever came as far out as this, so it couldn’t be someone from the town. And I’ve never seen anyone with eyes that glowed like that.

Was I hallucinating again? I closed my eyes and counted to ten before looking again. This time the face was closer and it had a body. The person wore a long back coat that seemed to be endless.

I took a step back from the window. Every time I blinked, the person came closer and I could finally get a good look at the face. Very bright eyes that had no particular color, plump lips, and very long hair.

Suddenly I felt very cold air on my body. Caressing from my shoulder and down my arms. I tried to move when I realized I had been standing naked all this while, but I couldn’t. I was glued to the spot, looking at bright eyes that was trapping me in.

The cold air wrapped around my waist before brushing the tips of my breasts and moving back to my arms, as if embracing me. I tried to move but I still couldn’t, I was frozen to the spot.

I heard footsteps coming to my door. It must be dad coming to call me down for dinner. I opened my mouth to scream for him but no sound came out.

It wasn’t until my doorknob turned that I suddenly moved, stumbling to the floor in the process. When I looked back out the window, all I saw was nothing. The person was gone.

I grabbed my blanket to cover myself immediately as the door opened. I was disappointed when mum’s face poked in.

She stood there, unsure of what to say before coming into the room. She crossed her arms over her chest and uncrossed them, something she did whenever she was nervous.

I sighed, “Did dad ask you to call me for dinner?”. I put down the blanket and pulled a graphic tee that was on the floor over my head “Tell me him I’ll be down in five” I said to her, searching for a short to wear under.

Mum sighed heavily and I turned back to her “What is it?” I asked. She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her.

“I…” she started but seemed at loss for words which was weird. Mum always had something to say.

“I know you’re probably in shock at what happened but…your dad is not coming back. And I don’t want you pretending that he’s still here for both our sake” she finished, looking at me with pity.

I laughed “I totally did not understand what you just said. And where did dad go that you’re saying he’s not coming back?”

She glanced around the room, her eyes looking at everything but at mine. “I don’t know how else to say this but, your dead is dead Bethy. And he’s never coming back to us”

I’ve never found anything more hilarious in my life “Is it because of all the blood in his room? We both know it’s one of his pranks on me” my eyes finally found a short across the room and I put it on “I’m already prepared to give him a piece of my mind when we’re done with dinner”.

“Elizabeth!” mum suddenly yelled, making my eyes go wild. She never screamed at me. “Your dad is fucking dead! Dead as in never coming back and the last thing I want is you pretending that he’s still fucking alive” she said in one outburst.

I just stared at her as she breathed heavily. She was lying. They were both taking this prank to another level “Okay you guys got me” I said, putting my hands up in mock surrender “Your prank worked can we go have dinner?”.