Chapter 1: DUSK
The tangerine sun decends behind the massive wall of autumn kissed tye-dyed maple tree's surrounding our quant village. Its a breathtaking view honestly....well that is until it cast the daily crimson haze upon earths due dampened surface mixing with the thick fog that covers the smoky-grey cobblestone sidewalks below my feet, and the air arounnd me becomes heavy and chills me almost to the bone making me realize its almost DUSK. To most people around the globe its a beautiful time of sunsets and releaving the heat from the day, but for the place we call home it signifies "darkness is upon us". No we aren't 'the town that dreaded sundown' but our tale of horror in my opion is much darker and sinister, for it is not a human that causes our terror but more a creature from hell that we can not see nor hear coming.
By 8pm everynight our town looks like a ghost town, everything is shut down and theres not a soul...at least not a living soul walking around or even seen. Well except me that has no fear, i think its all a very indepth ghost story to keep us teenagers inside and out of trouble. It all started back in 1950s I think, when a couple of kids that had been out partying for Halloween decided to play in the graveyard at dusk, they say 10 went in only 4 came out of the metal fence and in the morning all they saw where the kids claimed to be was a ouja board. In the center of the witches wheel directly in the middle of the cemetary written in 'blood' was the one word message "DUSK". The investigation and fear went on for what seemed an enturnity granted it was about a year but still to have a town wide curefew of 8pm no matter your age seemed a bit extreme. The other 6 teenagers were never found, not even a piece of their body, its like they just vanished into thin air, so the town tried to go back to normal. Until devils night the very next year written in red again infront of the four remaining teenagers home was the word DUSK, which caused again mass hysteria, people began to call it the curse of dusk, and the curfew went back into effect....well by midnight on Halloween all four of the missing teenagers were found mutilated al over town, pieces of their bodies here and there, their screaming decapitaed heads? stabbed upon the fence post of the cemetary almost as a trophy for whom ever done it.
The town, now living in total fear 60 years later, we dont have a normal halloween, we light candles and jack o'lanterns around town and the primiters of the boundries are armed police officers ready for anything that seems strange. Well as i stated earlier I dont let fear run me, so here it is dusk is upon us and im now sitting right infront of our antique clock tour, camera in hand as always, sence i do work for the paper i want to see if i cant get to the bottom of this mystery this curse whatever you'd like to call it that strikes the FEAR OF GOD into our small community and has had for many years.
"do you have a death wish Luna? Your breaking the law ya know" Officer O'della said as he pulled up in the squad car next to me.
"no Sir no death wish, but i'm actually working, so technically im not breaking the law, im getting the scoop on this Phantom that plagues our town, your telling me you dont question what or who is at fault?"
"well yes of course its my job to serve and protect but..."
" and its my job to inform the community of anything that arises right?"
"well yes.....Fine Luna, but take this for protection"
and he hands me a rosery "God be with her" he says as I grab it and he quickly speeds away.
"yea sure dude not that i need the protection, but ok" I laugh as i put it in my pocket and nestle down into the indian postistion and lean my back up against the red brick piler of the tower.
Looking around the oil powered street lamps began to flicker on going down the street one right after the other, making the rolling fog, no higher then my knee, glow inteneslly and the wind almost making a whistling sound as it blows through the hollowed streets and corners of the buildings. I slowly look left to right then right to left not wanting to miss a single thing, as the sun finishes its decent behind the tree's and is buried by the horizon the air is damn right ice cold and the fog well the old saying of thicker then pea soup fits perfectly, even with the street lamps going i almost have to squint to see some area's. As i peer towards the cemetary, something catches my attention....what the....who the............ A tall dark figure briskly appers and i'd swear he/she/whatever it was, was literally floating ontop of the fog. It stretched it's long scarney arms out as if stretching like you would do waking up, and it lifted its head rotating it left to right almost like cracking its neck....but there was no legs at least that i could see unless they were under the fog. it was wearing a long raggidy greyish cloack. There was legs.....he stepped over the 10 ft high fence i'd swore he was from the ground to the darkened skies tall. I hid behind the pilar i was just resting upon, no clue what the hell i was looking at and no way i was going to be seen by it. Every step it took the ground would shake, or was that the thunder to accompany the abrupt thunderstorm that started the minute i saw the creature. In the flashes of violet and electric blue lightening i saw it stumbling toward town, getting closer and closer toward the clock tower. Hearts pounding pulse rasing, breath is getting shorter and faster.
It stoped in the middle of the town square looking around, im snapping pictures left and right, i now know there is something evil in our village, as he went to finish walking toward crowley bridge i thought i was safe....until.... my foot slipped and i stumbled out of my safety zone and onto the wet pavement scrapping my knee. OOOOWWW SHIT, i yelled without thinking about it. It turned, lookimg at me i went to stand to run but i was froze in fear holding my camera tightly i snapped one last pic as a huge head lowered down towards me and its blackened out eye holes met mine, i rememeber taking a deep breath and went to scream....then lights out.
"i heard she was in the graveyard...." " no no no she was coming out of church" the townsfolk spark in conversation as they discover a half smashed camera...." thats her camera, i told you she should have listened but no she had to get nosey. now look she's in his grasp, he took her too" within the hour the headlines read...
"THE CURSE OF DUSK STRIKES AGAIN"
and under it the last picture on the camera roll, the upclose face or lack of picture of the devil haunting after dark....
"LOCAL REPORTOR OFFICALLY MISSING, DID HER JOB COST HER, HEROWN LIFE?"
That was the headlines for the next couple of months in our small town and looks like she got her story.....just at the cost of her soul.
