"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present." Francis Bacon
The light of God surrounds us (me).
The love of God enfolds us (me).
The power of God protects us (me).
The presence of God watches over us (me).
Wherever we are (I am), God is.
And all is well.
A gray SUV pulled up in front of a light blue one floor house. A family of five steps out of the vehicle. The middle aged brunette man closes his eyes, signing in content. The family wasn't doing so well back in Gary, Indiana with Sam, the husband and father of the family, losing his job along with losing a daughter to suicide. But then he got a job offer that required him to relocated to a suburban town.
"So what do you think?" Sam asks his wife.
The red haired woman looks over to her husband. "I seen the house before, Sam. Not like I'm seeing it for the first time."
The married couple's oldest son, AJ, steps out of the SUV with a large box in his hand. "Better than Gary, I'll say." he snorted. "Not a piece of shit."
Charlene slap her son on the head. "Aiden James, watch your mouth."
"Mom, you're gonna make me drop the boxes." AJ complains trying to stop the boxes from dropping from his grip.
"But you know better. I don't care if you are 20 years old." She scowls, going to unlock the door to the new house.
Sam shook his head. He looks back inside the van. In the back seat was the couple's other two children: 16 year old Cassidy and 11 year old Zoe. The youngest daughter was eager to see what the new house look like as she fumbles with her seat belt.
"Let me help." offers Sam.
"Daddy I can do it." she said to him, finally freeing herself.
"Ok," Sam chuckles. His smiles fades seeing his oldest daughter's expressionless face. Ever since her twin committed suicide, it was like a part of her died. Sam and Charlene took her to see a therapist but it wasn't much help. Cassidy rarely talks anymore, just only when spoken directly to. "Cass?"
Cassidy looks up from her sketchbook to look at her father. "Yeah?" she said in a low voice.
He clears his throat. "What do you think of the new house?"
She turns to examine it from inside the car. "It's…okay. I guess." She shrugs.
Sam frowns. "C'mon, kiddo. I'm sure you'll grow to like it."
"If you say so."
"I promise." said Sam. "Come help your brother with those other boxes."
Cassidy nods as she steps out of the car.
As soon as everyone manage to get all of their stuff inside the house, they was amazed of how huge and cozy it was inside. It had three bathrooms, three bedrooms, an office space, decent size kitchen that was connected to the dining room, a basement and a attic.
"I guess Cass and Zoe will be rooming together." said AJ, as he settled into the one of the bedrooms.
"I hope you don't mind Cass," said Charlene.
She only shook her head. "It's fine really."
The older woman signs at her daughter. "Alright." She lets Cassidy and Zoe take their boxes into their room.
Sam had wraps his arms around his wife's waist. "Maybe she just needs a new start."
"Do you tell yourself that to feel better about Charlie?" She questions. "I'm worried about her. Sometimes it's like I lost her too."
Sam buries his face into her hair. "It's been hard. I'm gonna put some of the stuff in the attic."
"Why not the basement?"
"Basements flood honey." Sam said simply, going to the car to get the rest of the stuff.
When Sam went up into the attic, he noticed how it was strangely so clean of dust and spider webs.
"They really cleaned up this attic." he mumbles to himself.
Sam was setting some boxes in the corner as he came across one labeled 'Baby photos'. He opens them up, smiling to himself. There were pictures of AJ, Cassidy, Charlie and Zoe when they were babies. He even found a couple ultra sound photos of when Charlene was pregnant with Cassidy and Charlie. He sadly places it back in the box and moves onto the next one.
"I thought I labeled all the boxes." Sam said to himself as he saw one that was blank of any writing. He opens it to see a Super 8 camera and some film canisters. Sam didn't know where the box came from or how it even got there. He looks over the film canisters and noticed they were labeled in chronological order.
"Pool Party (1966), BBQ (1979), Lawn Work (1986), Sleepy Time (1998)," Sam reads in a low voice. He wonders if this from a previous family who live here and somehow forgotten about it. He found it strangle how this stuff just magically appears out of now where. He looks over the last two films: one was labeled 'Family Hangout' (2011) and the last was labeled 'House Painting' (2012).
"2012?" he whispers. "That's not even six months ago." This made him have a strangle uneasy filling.
He was curious to know what was on this films. Once he managed to set up the super 8 camera he decides to play the one labeled 'Lawn Work'. The film was shot in the dark and it appears to be raining. Sam moves closer to get a better look. It looks like a lawn mower that was running on its on in a front lawn. He shook his head. It was just some useless film of someone mowing the lawn in the dark.
"Sam I need you!" Charlene calls from downstairs.
He turns away from the film, unaware that the useless film wasn't so useless as it showed a quick glimpse of a teenage girl, tied down on the ground as she was run down by the lawn mower.
"Coming!" Sam calls, turning back to turn off the Super 8 camera. He leaves the attic, unaware of the evil presence that was once again lurking in the shadows.
AN-In case you're wondering about the chant I found it online. It's going be used by Cassidy a lot as she knows something wrong about the house.