Prologue
The girl, age seven, is waking up from a night of sleep, her long brown hair knotted together in a tangled mess. She’s wearing a light blue nightgown that falls just below her knees, clutching a ragged brown bear in her arms as her bare feet land on the cold wood floor. She walks to her door, her small hand wrapping around the knob. She gives it a turn, opening it slowly to prevent too much noise. Her small feet pad softly on the floor as she walks to her parent’s room bleary-eyed.
“Momma?” She calls out, her voice barely above a whisper as she walks into their bedroom. Her small feet make their way to her mother’s side of the bed. Peeking on the bed, she finds it empty. She stares at it in confusion before shrugging with her small shoulders and turning on her heels, making her way out of the barren bedroom. “Momma?”
She makes her way down the quiet hallway and into the kitchen, expecting to find her parents in there. Normally on a Sunday morning, her mother is making breakfast while her father drinks his coffee and reads interesting stories out loud from the local newspaper. This particular Sunday morning though, she finds the kitchen empty.
“Momma? Papa?” Her tiny voice echoes through the house. Surely they would have heard her by now. She leaves the kitchen and wanders into the large living room. A fireplace lays at the far end with embers from a fire that seems to have just gone out. Two large chairs sit side-by-side in front of it, occupied. She smiles walking towards the chairs. “Momma, didn’t you hear me calling?”
As she gets closer, the people in the chairs remain in their positions, unmoving. “Papa?” Her voice quivers a bit as she sees a crimson stain on her father’s chest. “Papa, are you alright?” He doesn’t move. He doesn’t acknowledge her. He just stares ahead with a blank look in his green eyes. She turns to her mother who looks ahead with the same blank look to her pale blue-grey eyes, so much like her own. She bares a similar crimson stain on her breast, though her’s is larger. “Momma, what’s wrong?”
She gives her mother’s arm a shake, letting out a shriek of terror as her mother’s head sinks to the side, lifelessly. “Momma please!” She cries, tears prickling the corners of her fear filled, blue grey eyes. “Momma, why aren’t you listening to me?!” She turns to her father next. “Papa! Papa!” She gives him a shake, sobbing her tiny little heart out. His head does the same as her mother’s, causing the small child to emit a blood curdling scream that shakes the very core of the Earth.
