In Darkness Hides

Have you ever been alone in the dark, I mean really alone with no one in the house but you? Are you afraid because you are alone? Or is it because you can’t see what’s in the shadows? Monsters, snakes, an escaped lunatic, anything could be hiding in the darkest of shadows and you would never know, just watching and waiting. The fear becomes terror when you know what’s hiding there, just toying with you, waiting for the perfect moment to jump out at you.

Some say it was mass hysteria while others simply refuse to believe it, as if it never happened. Others just don’t talk about it, but it did happen and it will happen again. All we can do is be prepared and never forget. It started with a series of earthquakes throughout the night, everyone on Earth had to have felt them. They were nothing major but they were big enough to get your attention. I remember I had just woken up my daughter so she could get ready for school when a larger earthquake hit. After checking up on her, I ran outside to see if it caused any major damage to the house or neighborhood. Something was different. I noticed the sun was not rising, like it wasn’t there. I ran back inside to look at the clock and it was around 7:00 AM. This time of year the sun should have been at least brightening the sky in the east.
“What the hell? I must be dreaming.”
Then my world went black.
When I came to, it was hard to breathe and I could hardly move. For three days I was stuck to the floor, the only way I could tell was by the old grandfather clock we had sitting in the corner of the room. I didn’t know what exactly had happened or how but the gravity I felt on my body was immense, not normal. It seemed maybe ten times what it should be, I can’t be sure. All I knew for sure was that I was pinned to the floor and getting up was not an option. The sun was not rising and setting as usual, it started to set at about eleven AM. I also remember the sun would set though the picture window in the front of the house where as now, it would rise. The first day everything felt like a dream. I was disoriented and dizzy, in and out of sleep. It was very quiet and from what i could tell there was no electricity, the only sound I heard was that of my lungs gasping for air. I tried to move but nothing happened, my body squirmed a little so I knew I wasn’t paralyzed. I tried to figure out what was happening but my mind kept drifting away from the subject and nothing made sense. It was as if this was all some strange dream or nightmare. It didn’t really matter because it’s not like I could have done anything about it anyway.
By the next day the storms came in. I could hear trees falling and branches snapping but the wind didn’t sound that strong. Every drop of rain seemed to pound on the roof as if it were raining small rocks. I was still constantly drifting in and out of consciousness when a large tree from the neighbor’s yard, crashed into the garage and woke me. I tried to move again but the weight was still too much for me. I began to wonder if this was happening everywhere and at the time I just couldn’t comprehend that with the Earth being in a new position, it indeed affected the entire planet. My mouth was drying out and I remember wishing I had water when a strong wind pushed through the crack in the glass on the picture window. The glass shattered and the pieces nailed themselves into the hard wood floor. It scared me so much that I lost control of my bladder. With the added weight, that glass could have killed me. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Not even a title yet

This is from a very old idea and I have no clue how it will turn out. This is how I build up some of my stories. I set up the story line in first person and add on from there. So this is a rough rough draft and I’m kind of excited to see where it goes.

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My name is Cevin Del Lorrelli, pronounced like Kevin. My father was a clown indeed. That’s why he spelled it with a C, as in clown. He loved making people laugh and putting smiles on the faces of children. After a show, he would show up to birthday parties just for the love of it. He would never charge a dime. It was a sad day in clown history when he passed. He was duped into thinking he was going to entertain at a child’s party but when he got there… Well let’s just say he didn’t die doing what he loved. The show he worked for kept me with them and started paying me to work in the background. I tried to be a clown but they kept telling no. I just wanted to follow in my fathers footsteps.

One night while I was breaking down a tent, I learned a secret about the show that I was never supposed to know. I learned that everything was real. The magicians performed real magic and the trapeze artists could really fly. The clowns that ran everything were not human, they wore the makeup to hide what they really looked like. All this was hidden in plain sight, not even I knew. My dad knew they weren’t human and didn’t mind. He just saw them as fellow clowns. I found out that they kept my dad around to avoid suspicion and talk to police if they needed him to. They had to get rid of him once he learned what they were really doing. They would stop at towns with a high missing persons rate so no one would catch on, and no one ever did. These things would lure an unsuspecting family to a private show then devour them. In my fathers name, I couldn’t let that happen.
After overhearing them talk, I just had to see for myself. That night I crept into the private tent that I was never allowed to enter and I hid. They started with a simple show full of jokes and gags then would bring the family to the center of the tent and surround them. They became like wild beasts, ripping and tearing away at their flesh. I made my way out of the tent and tried not to vomit. I knew their secret and if they knew I found out, they would have killed me too.
The next day I avoided everyone and stuck to my job. I hammered in the stakes that came loose, picked up trash and made sure the show would go on. When anyone would ask me anything, I just kept my head down. The night came and they were getting ready for another private show. I hid in the tent once more and this time, I brought my hammer.

The entire first chapter of Life Once Was

Here it is, the entire first chapter of my novel.

Dreams can be quite strange , they can be good, bad or both. They can be your most amazing fantasy or be your worst nightmare, reflect what happened during your day or bring out your worst fears from the past. The strangest things about dreams is that they can be deceptive by giving you a truthful glimpse of what is to come. Dreams are strange indeed.
As David walked down the street with his thick leather boots and olive drab jacket, he had no emotion of any kind on his face. He just moved with a purpose. All was dark and quiet except for the little bit of liquid sloshing around in the gas can he had with him. The moon was dim but gave off just enough light for him to see his surroundings. There were no people around that he could see, the streets were empty, lifeless and silence was cold. He wasn’t sure where he was or how he got there though the neighborhood felt eerily familiar. Still, he didn’t let it bother him, he just kept on walking with the wind seemingly following him. The houses around him were abandoned and falling apart but not enough to conceal their former charm and composition. He could still tell that this was once a beautiful neighborhood that was full of life. The once white picket fences were now in disrepair, charred and broken, plants that had been vibrant were shriveled and dried up and dead, lawns once neatly manicured were spotted with overgrown weeds with trash and debris blowing around them.
When he came to the middle of the block he stopped and thew the near empty gas can at a house. Reaching into his pockets he pulled out a lighter and some crudely fashioned sticks wrapped in and oil soaked rags. David spoke under his breath, “It’s time to start anew.” Then without thought and still emotionless, he lit the rags on fire then threw them at the nearest house. Almost instantly the house took to the flame and spread up and down the street jumping from house to house following the trail of gasoline he had laid out.
David kept walking down the empty street, houses now ablaze, like nothing was wrong. Just watching the houses burn as if the neighborhood was still in it’s prime and covered in Christmas lights. This brought David comfort and somehow made him feel safer. He gave himself false memories of children that once played there, laughing and chasing each other up and down the street. Of people pulling into their driveway and waving at their neighbors. He thought of an old woman that took pride and loved working in her flower garden. He just wanted to picture that neighborhood they way it might have been. Continuing on, the fire from the burning houses lit up the sky with it’s orange glow, lighting his way through the night. Then something in one of the houses caught his attention, pulling him out of his daydream. He noticed some kind of movement coming from behind the flames. When he got a better look, his eyes widened as he saw the burning silhouettes running around erratically inside the inferno. David began to panic. He started waving his arms and running toward the burning figures trying to get their attention. He began shouting, screaming, calling for anyone who could hear him but something was different, something wasn’t right. As he shouted his voice was not there, instead only silence was emitted. His mouth was open but the only sounds were that of wood crackling in the fires.