Chapter 1
It was early October and the leaves were starting to get colorful but ancient, falling off the trees onto the cold bare ground. This was always my favorite time of year listening to the wind whistle through the withering trees and the aroma of the cool crisp air surrounding my corpse of a body. It always remind me of a better time, a time before my world started withering away into nothing but habitual doings with no real drive but to make my mother happy. Don't get me wrong, I was not always like this, I use to be much more vibrant and joyous. I use to be the epitome of joyfulness and happiness if you can believe that. I guess it all went down-hill three summers ago when my father passed.
My father was the type of man who was not easily disturbed or upset, well at least that is how he presented himself. I was always daddy's little girl. He my mother and I would go to the park in our little run down mess of a town called Sand Valley on random days and just be happy. Our little town was very out of the way of the world so the outside world was just a blur to those of us who lived here which was not a bad thing although it got boring always seeing the same people day in and day out. Our favorite thing to do was go under the old willow tree in the far corner of the park and just talk, tell stories, and make jokes. My father was always poking fun at my mother and despite the seemingly grumpy comments she responded with you could see the twinkle of love and joy in her eyes as he said them with a touch of a smile creeping at the corner of her pristine lips.
Three summers ago was when the measles epidemic spread all over Connecticut. This was as far as I knew but it could of spread far past though I am unsure due to the fact that we got little information about the outside world. My father was sick for a few grueling weeks until he left us. His condition was so bad that the only cure was death. I remember being so mad at him for getting sick that on the last day I ran to that willow tree and just cried. I could not handle the pain; I could not even bare to look at him in the state he was in any longer. When I got back to the house my mother was sobbing over his fresh corpse and I was just frozen. My entire being went numb for a few moments and then all the anger I had towards his sickness was directed towards myself and the fact that I was not there in his last moments. The feeling of regret and anguish consumed me and that's when the spiral started without any inkling that things could ever get better.
Although my mother and I were spared from this plague that took him from us, our lives were forever changed. My mother swore that she would never remarry and I swore to do all in my power to make this as easy on her as possible. After my father's death we lost a great amount of our income and we were barely getting by. At this point we had no choice but to find a home to work for that would give us room and board which was not something I was happy about although I would have never guessed the happenings that occurred in the very house that we came to live in. The dwelling was called the Aickman house. My name is Willow Gift and there will be two dead rising tonight.
