Hedgesville, West Virginia

Caspian Residence

Saturday, August 10, 1996

7:37 PM

She stood uneasily in what appeared to be a dark, empty room. Ahead of her, a solitary door stood. Just gazing at the doorway caused her skin to crawl.

Isolation seemed to surround her. Making her feel even more edgy.

The air around her vibrated, creating a troubling throbbing throughout her body. Also disrupting her thoughts.

Jennie woke from the disorder to find a darkness spilling down the walls. It seeped ever so slowly, hitting the floor then inching its way toward her.

A smell of decaying flesh and metal fill her senses as her face scrunched up in disgust. When the shadow neared she recognized it to be blood.

Her body trembled. Her mind couldn’t focus.

“Stop it!” she screamed out.

Pressing her back against the wall behind her, she tried to recoil from the nearing liquid. Her eyes closed tightly. The panic within was building.

Abruptly she rushed forward. Through the blood, toward the doorway that stood ahead of her, she fought ahead.

Her hand grasped the doorknob then tried desperately to turn it. When the knob refused to move, she began to urgently shake it.

Tears began to flow down her cheeks. Her lips were trembling. Without any hesitation, she began to pound her fists into the door.

“Let me out!” she cried.

Giving up her fighting, she leaned against the door only to fall forward. Her body crashed.

Upon sitting up and looking around, she was in a new room. A familiar one. Her family’s living room. And everything seemed perfect. Nothing was wrong.

A sigh of relief escaped her. Maybe it had all been a horrible dream.

The scene was typical. Her father was sitting in his recliner, reading the newspaper. Her mother was relaxing in her chair with a magazine.

“Mom?” she called out, standing up and stepping forward toward the familiar figure. She reached out, seeking comfort from her nightmare.

She paused. Something seemed off. Her mother didn’t appear to be breathing. Just sitting perfectly still.

Jennie’s eyes turned to her father. “Dad?”

As the newspaper began to descend from her father’s face, she cringed at the sight. No eyes. Just empty, bleeding sockets. His lips were pulled into a cruel smile.

“You can always come with us,” stated her father.

“No!” Jennie screamed loudly. “No!”

Again the walls began to bleed while shadows began to envelope the room. She eventually found herself standing in a blacked out room.

No sights. No smells. Just the sound of her own breathing. And a distant resonance of dripping.

“What now?” she questioned apprehensively.

The odd noise was nearing. And the room was becoming slowly colder.

When the sensation of something icy against her bare skin caught her off guard, she whipped around in hopes of seeing something. But there was nothing but the dark.

She braved the nothingness and sought out for anything with her hands. Another chilled droplet fell onto her arm causing her to withdraw.

Jennie stepped back, bumping her body against something warm. Something that was clearly alive and breathing.

Whipping around, a bright light erupted. Blinded for a brief moment, she covered her eyes with the back of her arm. Slowly she drew it down as she focused on her surroundings.

In front of her was a tall, dark figure. All she could see was the sneering smile, the cruel eyes, and the chained, bladed weapon that was being held high above the person’s head.

A malicious laugh poured into the air just as the cutting edge of the weapon abruptly came down...

“Leave me alone!” Jennie screamed as she lunged forward in the car seat. She breathed heavily while staring down at the floorboards.

“Jennifer?”

Her attention turned to the right to find the passenger door open and Nick leaning down, gazing concernedly.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” she whispered, “just a bad dream.” The familiar chill from within the nightmare still seized at her skin, making the hairs on the back of her arms stand.

“At least,” Nick stated flatly, “we’re here.”

“We are?” she questioned, pushing the visions from her mind. She began then to look around. It was clear that the car was sitting in a dark garage. “I was really out of it, huh?”

“Yeah,” he said with a feeble smile, “especially since it was just a thirty minute trip.”

Slowly getting out of the car, Jennie got to her feet and stretched her arms into the air. Her eyes fell onto Nick.

“So this is home…?”

“If you want to call it that.,” he responded.

She looked away. Unsure how to answer him, she remained silent.

“How about I introduce you to my kids,” he remarked, trying to break the quiet. “Then you can get something to eat and clean up.”

“Yeah,” she replied, gazing down at her soiled clothing. “Cleaning up sounds nice.”