Chapter 1
The
moon hung low in the sky. It was
unusually large in the evening. Summer had
been unusually long this year. Countless
people had enjoyed the long lazy days with family and friends. Outdoor
barbecues were the smell that permeated the air and the sound of young children
playing made the days all the more enjoyable.
In the air if you listened when all
fell silent for a moment you could hear loud voices in the house at the end of
the block. The volume of the voices only
grew to recognition at quiet moments between the screams of the children and
the chirping of the crickets in the day’s twilight. But if you got close enough maybe you, a
passer by walking your dog could clearly make out the argument the two men were
having inside. You could also hear a woman crying softly through an open window
in the adjoining room. Most would continue
walking not wanting to involve themselves in the problems of others. But for the sake of the story let’s say that
on this particular night the passerby is you and the argument piques your
curiosity to the point where you have no choice but to open your ears and
listen to the fragments of the angry voices within the house at the end of the
block.
“Why can you not just try and
understand what the fuck I’m trying to tell you. You never listen. You have been here for well over three years
and have been nothing but a drain on us.
Why can’t you even try and help out around here.”
“I do help out around here
you just never notice and I’m getting sick of every time something annoys you
that I get the brunt of your anger.”
“What anger? I’m just saying that it gets tiring to worry
about whether or not you’re even going to do anything that I ask you to do
around here. You have never had a job
and I feel as though you’re taking advantage of Karen and myself.”
How the fuck am I taking advantage of
you two when I have put most of the utilities in my name even though you
couldn’t pay the bills and now they’re shut off, you’re lucky I haven’t just
left and moved back in with my parents.”
“How are Karen and I supposed to pay
the bills, Karen is very sick and we can barely afford the meds keeping her
alive at this point and the welfare system is no help at all and if you’re so
keen on leaving then maybe that is just what you will have to do because we are
tired of worrying about you.”
“Fine you want me to leave then I
will, I’m sick of this happy house shit anyway.”
As the voices fade as you walk on, you
are happy that the problems in your life are small compared to the problems
evidently facing the people in the house at the end of the block. Problems always seem to be bigger when
experienced firsthand but in the end you feel better that it is not you having
to deal with the problems of others. You
have a job to support your family and life is nice and quiet. But understand this my dear reader that in
the blink of an eye the world can change and the problems that face the people
in the house could become yours. Now you
walk off down the block forgetting the people in the house at the end of the
block, your momentary compassion for their strife fading with each successive
foot step.
This is the world we live in at this
time in history. People have become
selfish and lazy, compassion is seen in tiny increments when it suit’s a
person. The needs of the individual have
replaced the needs of the masses. Who are
we to blame for this. The rich? The
poor? The good? The evil? Who can take
the blame for what this world has become and who can we put before the people
to be judged for the problems of the world.
Well my dear reader the answer is that you need to look no further than
yourself, we are all guilty of making this world what it has become and we have
become stagnant in changing it.
Food is readily available and games
and electronic devices have captured our attention to the point we have
forgotten the outside world. The
problems of the people only exist on the television and in the newspapers but
if we see the poor and downtrodden on the street corner we avoid contact with
them just wanting to continue on with our daily affairs. We prefer not to see the ugly side of things
unless it is presented in 3D or HD where we can pretend to care for an hour or
a half hour then forget about it.
Were you not entertained to hear the
argument of the men in the house at the end of the block? Is that not why you slowed down to hear what
they were arguing about? You feel pity
for them but did you go to the door and offer your hand to them, you have money
yet your wallet stayed closed. That was
not pity you showed as you faded into the distance my dear reader, it was selfishness. Selfishness will be the end of us all. Every life matters, every person counts and
before the earth dies and we fade away into memory we will all see just how
much we need each other.
Let us now pull back to see the nice
suburban landscape with the neatly trimmed lawns and sprinklers thrashing to
and fro in the evening air. From a
distance it is such a peaceful scene.
All the problems that exist below the roof of the house at the end of
the block cannot be seen or heard from this distance. It is tranquil and a truly lovely sight to
behold.
The sun sets over the low hills and
night falls across the beautiful suburban landscape and darkness prevails for a
time before the brightness of the full moon comes casting a silver illumination
across the tranquility of the warm night
air. But there is now something not ever
seen with such a peaceful scene. Because
as I said before, everything can change in an instant and even the people in
the house at the end of the blocks problems will seem miniscule compared to the
overwhelming fear that will wash over them and the world in the early morning
hours.
The moon was so bright and large as it
hung low in the sky, you could stare at if for an hour and its beauty would
distract you from seeing the obvious object sneaking up below it that should
not be there. But when you finally are
able to tear your eyes away and glance at the object below the brilliance of
the moon, only curiosity would fill you before the recognition brought the
purest form of terror to your heart.
The object was what looked to be a small red moon and the worst of it
was although dim it has become very noticeable.
It was a quarter the size of the moon and getting bigger even to the
naked eye. The world would change my
dear reader and you now have a front row seat to true terror. Enjoy.
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