Chapter One

Halloween Horrors

I stand-alone as I hear the drips of blood flow in the

sink. They said she was bled dry. But who will really know her story?  She is with us no more. She went to the dark

side of paradise, yelling for someone to tell her story. “Won’t anyone tell my

story!” she cries out. Night after night this poor damned soul has to wander

the dark sides of a place where death hovers over you. Until one stormy night

her voice was heard!

 It was years ago that the storm hit my little safe haven.

Years ago that I heard that horrible banshee scream. Many moons have passed

since that young woman told me her story. The horror of it followed me through

my dreams for years to come, haunting my every waking thought. For years I had

no idea what to do about the story she told me. If I told people would they

think I was crazy? She assured me that they wouldn't but what does she know,

she’s dead to this world. For years it was on my conscience wanting and waiting

to come up in the stories I'd write. Sometimes I would write down her story

without even knowing it and then I’d have to burn those wretched papers. But it

doesn’t matter anymore for I’m on my deathbed and it’s time to tell the story,

her story.

(Pheona's Diary entry: October 31st 2004)

The town was filled with people walking by making

spectacles out of themselves over a petty holiday they called Halloween. The

children were dressed up as creatures I’ve never thought to see again, some

scary some cute. The grownups justified this act by laughing and tagging along

with their children. Some of the adults were dressed up to. What a horrible

despicable act I thought to myself. It’s funny you know, what my people think

of creatures is what these humans think of us.

(Present day 3004)

That was one of Pheona’s last entries. As an award winning

horror novelist you’d think I’d get used to the nightmares but I’d never had

any this bad. A couple of years back I had recurring nightmares about a girl in

a factory. I had become so engrossed in this girl that I had to find out more.

I searched and searched for the factory she was in until I found it. Except for

it wasn’t a factory but an old house. It looked like it had been deserted for

quite a while. I broke in and started to look around. To my utter amazement I

found a family portrait. Their sat my girl from the nightmares and a boy stood

next to her.  When I read the back of the

picture I found out that it was Pheona and Connor Harman.

(Connor’s Diary entry: January 2nd 2004)

Our parents are making us go to the human world to prove to

the elders that there is no reason to fear them. I don’t agree with this

assessment. To have my sister and myself sent to the human world is a suicide

mission. I don’t want to go but I will because of family honor and to keep my

sister safe. She is not like us; she is hopeful that we can become friends with

the humans so our kind and the human race will be able to live together.

Pheona’s Diary entry: January 2nd)

Today my brother and I have found out that we are going to

the human world. I’m so excited to finally be able to meet the race our people

fear so much. To find out everything about them, what will they think of us?

Will they like my brother and me? I can’t wait to go. Hopefully after this our

races will be able to live in peace and harmony with each other.

(Present day)

 As I walked through

that old house looking for some clue of who these people were I couldn’t help

but feel like someone was watching me, leading me to my next find, a find that

would help me to write her story. I find that even to me the events that

happened that day are a little odd. It felt like someone was leading me to the

upstairs. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have ever ascended those stairs. They looked so

old that I had visions that as soon as I walked on them I would fall through

and snap my neck. Maybe that was just someone else telling me not to go any

further.  But as crazy as I am I went up

to the top floor, and started to look around. My surroundings included two

bedrooms and a bathroom. The bedrooms were ordinary enough but I could sense

that something awful happened in that bathroom.

(Connor’s Diary entry: March 20 2004)

We have been at the house in the human world for a month

now. The house we are staying is not what you’d call a comfortable living

quarter. My sister and I share the upstairs. There are two bedrooms and a

bathroom. Our bedrooms are small and have no windows. It’s hard to imagine that

anybody would want to live like this.

(Pheona's Diary entry: March 24th)

My brother has not been in a good mood lately. He does not

like our living quarters. I don’t find a single thing wrong with the rooms. My

brother says that’s the optimism in me. We haven’t met very many humans yet but

I’m sure we will.

(Present day)

The first bedroom I went into was by my guess was Connor’s.

It was small and very empty. I was keenly disappointed. I walked next door to

the other bedroom it wasn’t much different, except I had this urgent feeling to

look around better. So I started to go through all of the drawers. When I got

to the closet I felt this strange air surrounding me. It was neither cool nor

warm. I decided it would just be best to make myself think it wasn’t there. I

opened the closet half expecting someone to be in there. What I found was a

small door. I was a little nervous to open it but the writers’ instincts came

out and won. What I found in that little door was two very old books with weird

inscriptions on them. I put them in my bag and left in a hurry. When I got home

I called my friend who worked with encoding inscriptions.

(Pheona's Diary entry: June 30)

It’s been months I’ve made a few human friends. My brother

still insists on not becoming close to the human race. I hope sooner or later

that he will come to understand that the humans aren’t what the elders said

they were.

(Present Day)

When Cole came over to decode the inscriptions we found out

after hours of careful studying that the front of the books said Pheona’s and

Connor’s' Journals. I was so excited and I started reading their journals, at

first they were like everybody else’s journals. But then it started to get

weird. I started to get this chill down my spine it was like nothing I’ve ever

felt before. The girl was so hopeful while her brother went down into a world

of dark despair.

(Connor’s Dairy entry: July 4th)

Pheona and I went out with some of her friends for this

annual fire banquet. I was impressed by the colors that lit up the night air.

It was quite extraordinary.  I went to

get the girls some soda and that’s when I had first seen him. He was hiding in

the shadows but I knew he was there, watching me, watching Pheona. It scares me

even now thinking about the man hiding in the shadows. Who was he? Was he one

of us? Was he here to keep us safe? All I knew was that he had the scent of the

shadow world and that he was dangerous.

 (Present Day)

Dangerous, shadow world, one of us, this was the first clue

that I had received that they were not exactly from this world, that they

weren’t human. So what were they and what did they want. I became so engrossed

in what was going on in their lives that I put mine on hold. All I ever did was

read their journals. People would come to see me and I would send them away. My

own daughter came to see me and I sent her away. She told me before she left

that she was afraid for me because I’d become so completely obsessed in this

fantasy world that I had created. Was she right? Was I completely obsessed? Did

I make this all up?

(Pheona's Diary entry: August 18)

I am worried for the first time in my life. My brother is

becoming obsessed with our people, always looking over his shoulder. He is

scaring me.  He is always talking about

watching our backs because someone was out to get us, I am so afraid. I just

want to go home.

(Connor’s Diary entry: August 18th)

I’ve seen the shadow walker now so many times, to many

times. He’s following us I just know it. I tried to warn Pheona but she just

keeps telling me that I need to loosen up. How can I loosen up when some Psycho

is stalking us? I’ve tried to get through to my parents but the shadow world

isn’t letting me.

(Present Day)

Who is this stalker and what does he want with the

Harman’s? The journal entries just keep getting weirder and weirder. I had a

conversation with my daughter the other day about the story and the journals. She’s

coming over to read them both.

(Connor’s Diary Entry: August 20th)

I followed the shadow walker today. We went deep into the

woods. When I got there I watched him open up a door. What I saw was shocking

for me to watch. The shadow walker was indeed one of our people. But he was

feeding on both humans and our kind. I was so disgusted that I ran back to my

house. I had to tell Pheona. Had to warn her to be careful with whom she hung

out with or she could end up like those other girls, vermin for some freak to

feed off of.

(Present Day)

Following the journal entry I saw a newspaper clipping. The

headline had said two girls found in the woods. The girls had gone off with a

guy from school and were found the next morning bled dry. When I showed my

daughter the clipping she was shocked. I had to ask her what was wrong. She

handed me the newspaper from yesterday. The main heading read, “Two girls found

bled dry in woods.” I read the rest of the article and sure enough it was the

same as the last article. My daughter started to laugh hysterically and said “do

you know what this means dad? It means that the guy from Connor’s journal is

real and alive today.” Later that night I realized what that meant exactly.

That this guy had to be over a hundred years old but still look young enough to

be in college. I knew without a doubt in my head that this guy wasn’t human. I

started to research all of the articles that had anything to do with students

being bled dry. There were so many and they were all from different years.

During my research of the murders I had received an anonymous call saying that

if I didn’t stop researching the murders that it would endanger my family. Of

course being so engrossed in what was going on in the news and in the Harman’s

journals I ignored the call. I figured it was just some teenagers pulling a

sick joke.

(Connor’s Diary Entry: September 16th)

The shadow walker found me when I followed him. He tried to

kill me but I got away. My only goal now is to get my sister and myself out of

here and into safety. But where is safety? All I know is that somewhere someone

lied to us about the humans. They’re not just vermin. But I still don’t think

very highly of them.

(Pheona’s Diary Entry: September 16th)

I’m really worried about our safety. Connor told me about

the shadow walker. I’m starting to wonder if coming here was such a good idea

after all. The humans still don’t know about what we are. Will they accept us

for who we are? Will they turn away from us when they find out? Will my friends

not want to be my friends anymore? What will happen to us if they turn away

from us?

(Present Day)

I couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like to go

through what those kids were going through, to wonder what people would say.

It’s been weeks now since I received the first threat. Many more have followed

in its place. More murders have occurred and the police don’t have any clues to

who a suspect could be. They just say that it’s a copycat murder from the

murders that have been happening in the town for over a hundred years. So how

can the sleepy little town of Scaremback have had these horrible murders for a

hundred years and didn’t have a single crime before the Harman’s' had come.

They were somehow connected I just knew it.  But how and why they were connected to this mass of murders? I couldn’t

be sure but I knew I had to find out. My daughter still hasn’t called me. She

was supposed to come over yesterday to look over the new articles I had gotten.

(Pheona’s Diary Entry: September 30)

Connor and I are becoming very hostile and we don’t leave

our rooms very often. I have seen the shadow walker; he scares me very much.

We’ve tried to get a hold of our parents but it’s very difficult because of the

difference in between our worlds. It’s like the portals closed or something.

All I know is that something strange is going on. There is something else

strange going on here in this world. College students, my peers are vanishing

and found the next morning in the woods bled dry. We had a problem that was

similar to that with one of the elders’ son. He would grab the teenage girls

from both worlds and drink their blood till there was no more. I remember

standing in my parents’ bedroom closet while the elders talked to them about

the neighbor girl. I remember exactly what they had said like it was yesterday.

They told my parents not to let me out of the house until the boy was found and

rightly punished. Of course being myself I went out that very night. A hand

grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the woods. I thought to scream but a

voice spoke and told me not to or trouble would come. I couldn’t think to do

anything but follow the person who had grabbed me.

(Present Day)

I awoke in a sweat this morning from a horrible nightmare.

My daughter was in my arms crying. The murderer that they are now calling the

drainer had drained her. How appropriate. I’m still shivering from the realness

of the dream. I could almost feel her in my arms. It was a strange feeling. I

called my daughter to make sure she was okay. I got her roommate who told me

she hasn’t been home for three days now. I told her thank you and called up an

old friend of mine that was in the PI business. We looked everywhere for her

but still couldn’t find her. I was so scared that she was dead, that I wouldn’t

ever see her again. Cliff the PI told me to just stay at home and relax. Relax

I’m supposed to relax while my daughter is missing are you crazy. I went home

against my wishes and read more of the journals.