Prologue: "Mommy?"

Charles Beckendorf

Location: Munich-Germany, Prant Incorporated.

Date: October 19

Time: 4:15

3 Days before "The Fall."

Young Charles Beckendorf, 9 years old, ran out of the elevator and headed straight towards Diana Beckendorf's office on the 30th floor.

"Slow down Mr. Beckendorf!" Jakob Weber called out from within the elevator in an attempt to catch the young boy. He had an act for running off whenever he was really excited about something. Mr. Weber had been serving the Beckendorf family for ages and looking out for the boy since he was only a baby. He was also one of the only few father figures young Charles had in his life. His real father would pop up every now and then at the Beckendorf residence, but never seemed to have enough time for anything more than a hello and goodbye.

Why this was the case, Ms. Beckendorf never shared, and Mr. Weber never over stepped his employee to employer boundaries. He was only a few years from retirement at age 68.

Charles ran past all of his mother's office employee's and business people until he arrived in front of a big office with glass for walls. Inside was a pretty brown skinned woman. She had short curly brown hair that stayed above her ears. Her eyes were hazel and though they could be warm and inviting, they could also appear intimidating and threatening if angered. She was wearing a maroon dress-jacket and a white blouse. Her skirt was the same maroon as her Jacket.

She was CFO of Prant Incorporated. Currently putting pen to paper, she was jotting down notes she would need for the meeting she was to attend in a few minutes.

Charles grabbed the beautifully carved wooden handle and pushed the door open before yelling, "Mommy!"

"Charlie, sweet heart, keep your voice down while mommy is working." Diana said standing up. "Oof!"

Charles had dropped his backpack on the floor and jumped into his mother arms. She wrapped her arms around the little ball of energy and put him on her hip. The boy moved his hands around her neck. The boy looked exactly like his mother. Short curly brown hair. Hazel eyes. A winning smile. The boy was currently dressed in his school uniform. Vesta Elementary School. It consisted of tan colored khakis with a black belt tied around his hips. On top right-hand corner, he had a dark blue shirt with the words "Vesta Elementary School," in little white sowed on letters. The shirt was collared, and boy did little children hate collars.

"Oh, you just get heavier every day, now don't you? You eat all your lunch?" She asked kissing his cheek.

"Yes. All my vegetables too!"

"Oh really? Well you know what that means, since you ate all your vegetables for the whole week, and its Friday."

"We're going to the Zoo!" He said half talking half yelling.

Diana laughed and said "That's right. But first, mommy has to go and attend this meeting really quick."

Charles, though still energized felt a little discouraged that they couldn't go immediately and made a puppy dog face. He pushed out his bottom lip and opened his eyes as wide as he could possibly make them go.

"Don't you give me that face," She said, "It will only be twenty minutes. Thirty tops."

"Ok…" He sighed.

"Do you hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?"

"That…That right there." She said, pausing for dramatic effect. "You know what that sounds like?"

"What?" He asked suddenly very curious.

"It sounds like the…tickle monster!" She said letting him down to the floor and moving her fingers on all his tickle spots at once.

"No!" The boy yelled laughing. "Stop!"

But before he could continue yelling for mercy, he was out of breath and pinned to the couch while his mother showed his tickle spots no mercy. He tried to pull away. but she was to quick. He'd attempt to cover once spot, but she'd just move to another one she knew he was not protecting.

"Ms. Beckendorf I am so sorry. The little man just got away from me when we exited the elevator. It won't happen again."

Upon Mr. Weber's entry into her office, Charles body was finally spared as Diana got off the couch and straitened her jacket and touching her hair.

"That's quite alright Mr. Weber. You of all people know he is a slippery one. Please have the car brought around to the front of the building by 4:40."

"Ah, his weekly reward trip to the Zoo is today yes?" Mr. Weber said straightening his suit.

"Indeed, it is. Are you gonna go with Mr. Weber sweetie or are you staying here until my meeting is finished."

"I will stay in here, so I can play on your phone." He admitted with absolutely no shame.

"Come now Mr. Beckendorf. Let us not pester your mother."

"Its fine. My meeting will hardly be long at all. You can just bring the car around and he'll remain here." Diana said walking back around her desk and gather her notes and Files into a manila folder and double checking if there was anything else she was missing.

"Certainly," He said nodding his head once and respectfully leaving the room to head to the elevators.

"Now Charlie, what are the rules of mommy's office?" She asked walking over to the boy with the files in her right hand, and her phone in the other.

"No exploring. Stay on the couch. If I need to use the bathroom, go quietly without disturbing any of the people and come straight back."

"Don't forget wash your hands when you finish using the bathroom. And what do you do if you need something?"

"Ask your assistant Ms. Greta if she can help me." He Said positioning himself properly on her black leather couch.

"Good boy." She said bending down and kissing his cheeks repeatedly.

"And don't drop my phone please." She said remembering the incident from last month.

"I won't." He said taking the phone from her and already punching in her passcode.

"Mmhmm…" She said looking down at him with all the love in the world. "Whatever you say. I'll be right back. Love you Charlie. And pick your bag up off the floor."

"Love you too mom!" He said from behind the phone already scrolling to the right to find Temple Run.

Diana slipped out of her office and walked down the hall to the meeting room, truly not knowing what was to come or, how much she would wish they had just gone straight to the Zoo like they normally did on Fridays.

Charles plugged in his ear phones into the audio hole on the top of the phone and laid down on the couch, making sure not to put his feet on it with his shoes still on. He kicked them off and put one leg over the other as Temple Run went through its beginning loading screen. For such a young kid, his reflexes had always been excellent. Him and his friends loved temple run, but he was by far the best out of all of them. As a matter of fact, he was better at almost everything than his friends were. In gym class, he was always the fastest and top marked. In history he always seemed to retain information much better and much longer than his peers.

And when it came to Temple Run, there was no one better. He had no clue what a "Leader Board," was. But he was among the top 50 players in the entire world. Doctors diagnosed him with ADHD as a child. The first sign being he was always doing something with his hands. Flicking something, putting things together, taking them apart. He absolutely loved Legos. His mother and Mr. Weber would come into his room at times and just stare an awe at his magnificent builds. One time he built an exact replica to size and scope of a Velociraptor. When it came to his hands, for some reason he just exceled beyond even the most expert artist and crafters. He actually told his mother he wanted to be a sculptor when he grew up.

Charles was getting a little sleepy. The soft couch, in addition to the air conditioning in the room only pulled him further into the possibility of falling asleep. He had no idea how long he had really been playing the game. And he wasn't board in the slightest. But the atmosphere simply put him at peace. What would dozing off for just a few minutes hurt?

His eyes got heavier and heavier until they were closed. And for a few seconds his thumb continued to direct the runner expertly. Until the runner missed a right turn and ran straight off the ledge, signaling the boys entrance into sleep.

#PJO#

He became aware just for a minute, his eyes fluttering open slightly. All Charles saw was black. He charted it up to him having his face pressed into the couch and closed his eyes again. How long he had been asleep didn't matter to him. He knew his mom would be back and wake up. And they would go to the Zoo. He snuggled even deeper into the couch and let sleep take him once more. He also guessed the distant noise was not someone yelling. Just a stray noise from a dream he already forgot about.

#PJO#

Charles Beckendorf

Location: Munich-Germany, Prat Corporation.

Date: October 19

Time: ?

3 days before "The Fall."

"Aaahhh…" Was the sound that came out of Charles mouth as he yawned and stretched his arms as far as they would go. His movement caused the leather beneath him to make a rubbing noise.

He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly trying to get the weird taste out of his mouth. He took a deep breath, rolled over and opened his eyes. The breath was knocked out of him and he sat up immediately.

It was dark. Completely dark. The sun wasn't even showing outside his mother's window. The office was pick black except for the blinking light every few seconds coming from his mother's desk.

"Mom?!" Charles called out. "Mommy?!"

No response.

Charles stood up and was suddenly immersed in bright light he was not expecting. It made his eyes sting. He could feel tears coming. And it wasn't because the lights had turned. The motion sensors must have kicked in when he stood up. He looked all around the glass office and saw that in one of the cubicles a few feet away, the overhead sensor light was on. Charles didn't hesitate.

"Mom!" He called pushing the glass door open. He was hit with a sudden terrible odor. He had to cover his nose.

What was that terrible smell? The best thing he could think of was 2-day old dead rat.

His nose still covered with his elbow, he made his way over to where the over head light was. He was that the light right next to that one turned on as well. Whoever it was must have been moving. He broke into a sprint trying to get to his…

"Mom!" He said turning the corner and running straight.

He saw a figure not looking at him. But he could tell immediately that the person standing in front of him was a man, and not his mother.

"Excuse me!" He said jogging up to the man who still hadn't turned around just yet. "Do you know where my mom Diana Beckendorf is?"

He jogged up to the man until he was just a few feet away. The terrible smell got a little stronger. "Excuse me. Sir?" He asked touching the man's shift.

"Ehh…" The man said. And slowly, he turned around, causing Charles to gasp and back up in fear.

The man, no, he was no man. He was something…so much worse than a man. His skin was a pale green and looked waxy but dry at the same time. He had disgusting wet pieces of what looked like meat on his buttoned-up shirt. His face was absolutely awful. His eyes were sunk into his face and looked to be glazed over. They had no color. No retina. No cornea. No pupil. They had a terrible far off look embedded to the core. His jaw…his jaw was missing. A long and swollen string of red was there instead and rested on his chest. Red was all over his face. He was missing an ear. And he seemed to have a chunk missing from his arm.

But the scariest thing of all, wasn't the mans face. It wasn't the chunks of meat on his shirt. Or the part of his arm missing. It wasn't the far look in his eyes. It wasn't the grey/green looking skin on his body. It wasn't the terrible moaning the man was producing.

It was the fact, that as soon as the man turned around and registered who he was looking at…he began approaching.

"Get way from me!" Charles yelled, "MOM!"

He turned to his left and retraced his steps going back in the direction of the office, activating all the over head lights. He continued to scream his mother's name, but he still got no answer. Charles ran for 15 more second before ducking to the right and hiding under the desk of a cubicle.

"Mom…Mom…Mom…" He repeated in utter tears and sobbing his heart out. "Where are you?"

And then a thought hit him. One that even though the situation was still scary, it provided him with some form of peace. What if this was just a nightmare? What if this was all in his head? That happened every now and then. He'd have a dream of something terrible and wake up after pinching himself or hitting something.

Charles brought his hand to his upper arm and pinched lightly.

Nothing.

He pinched even harder.

Nothing.

"No, no, no…please…wake up. Wake up!" He yelled.

He was in even heavier tears this time.

"Ehh…" He heard come from his left.

Charles somehow forced himself to shut up and keep quiet. That putrid smell intensified every second. He was still crying, but his lips were pressed together tightly. Noise was still coming out of his nose, so he held a hand over that. And then, that's when the man, no, the creature came into his line of sight again.

"Ehh…Urglll….Ehh…"

Charles stayed quiet.

He could feel his heart punching his chest harder than anything he had ever felt. He didn't blink. His eyes were wide. His jaw was clenched. His knees were against his hammering chest. There was nothing but the man's moaning to break the terrible banging in his ears.

"Mom…" He said behind his hands.

And that was all it took.

The man turned his head and glared directly at Charles.

"No! Go away! Mom! Help me! Somebody please!"

Charles crawled out from under the desk and tried to run away, Only, the creature got a hold of his left leg first. The young boy was tripped and fell to the ground.

"MOMMY! HELP ME! MOMMY!" He cried as loud as possible.

Charles attempted to break the things grip, but it was entirely too strong. He kicked and screamed for everything he was worth. The man didn't have a bottom jaw, so when he attempted to bite into the boy's leg, all that happened was a tear in his pants and a nasty looking scar appearing on his calve.

"OW! GO AWAY! SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE" He begged hysterically.

He tried crawling away from the man that was now on his knees and continuously trying to bite into his flesh. And that's when Charles saw it. A light turn on in the distance.

"HERE! OVER HERE! HELP ME!" He cried.

Charles looked down at the man that was now digging his nails into his leg and let out the fiercest, loudest, most throat ruining scream yet. And suddenly, he could see his hands were on fire. He didn't know what it was. What it was for, but it didn't hurt. Or if it did, he certainly couldn't feel it. He put his hand on the mans face and the thing combusted in flames. Turns out their skin is highly flammable.

Charles got up, but couldn't run, and could barely walk.

"Over here!" He yelled to the light that had turned on from the direction of the elevator. "Help me!"

He limped and used as many walls as he had access to. Another light turned on from his right. 2 more from his left where the stairs were.

"Thank god…" He said crying and limping. "Mom are you there?"

He leaned against a wall before he felt his leg give out and resorted to just letting the adults come to him. The fire in his hands extinguished.

A leg appeared around the corner. A leg he recognized. In a maroon skirt.

"Mom!" He said barely able to pick his head up. "This crazy man was chasing me all over the place and he started biting me!"

But as he managed to look up, he saw the clothes his mother was wearing, except they were torn to pieces. Battered. The skin on her leg was gray/green.

"Mommy?" He asked.

Upon looking at her face, he felt a terrible gut wrenching force grab onto his heart.

"NO! MOMMY!" He said looking up at her.

She looked down at him and bent down to her knees. She took hold of him by his hair and tilted his head back roughly.

"MOM! PLEASE! PLEASE! DON'T!" He begged, not being able to see anything anymore. The tears in his eyes made everything too blurry.

"Mommy…" He said weakly, "Please dorrrrllllgralll…" The last of his words were inaudible, as the woman who was once his mother sunk her teeth into the flesh that was his neck…