Author's Note: Enjoy this teaser prologue while you wait for the next season.
Winter's Eve
The fire crackled gently in the hearth as a log settled in the fireplace on the other side of Lewis' bedroom. Flickering flames shed a warm glow from the dying embers cast elongated shadows along the far wall toward the front of the house. Lewis' ears listened for the sounds of the Joja Corp. delivery and the hefty thump on his front porch alerted him that Morris had kept his end of the bargain. With the payment for the mysterious debt-collector in his possession, Lewis was convinced he was safe now.
Selling the Community Center would buy him time to figure things out for Spring. As much as he hated to see it go, this was for the best. Perhaps by then, Shane would give up on the heavy burden of mayoral duties, and things could go back to the way they were before all this nonsense. Still, Lewis knew he would need to make himself scarce as soon as the sun rose in order to avoid any of the fallout. Jojo Corp. was efficient when things went their way and he fully expected the demolition to begin at daybreak. Lewis glanced at his suitcase, already packed to leave for Grampleton at first light.
But his ears alerted him to a rustling in the room, like sand falling in an hourglass. A cloud of ash began to fall onto the fire in the hearth, extinguishing the light and causing a plume of particles to release into the air. Lewis coughed and shot out of bed when he realized his fatal error.
I forgot to put the money in the refrigerator! The anonymous benefactor had always insisted that the installments be left in the appliance for collection and now whatever creature had come to collect payment had arrived. In a panic, the grey-haired man rushed to the front door, fumbling with the lock before he yanked the door open. A frigid gust blew into the house as Lewis reached for the sack of gold, but it was too late.
Something grasped his ankles and knocked Lewis to the floor with a hard thud. The former mayor felt his head spin as his sight blurred, only barely able to register the shadows moving in his peripheral vision. A figure stood over him menacingly, dressed in dark clothing and a large-brimmed hat that almost glittered in the moonlight pouring in from the open doorway. Inhumanly large, black eyes bore down on Lewis.
"Time's up, old man…"
"B-bu-but I have the money!" Lewis protested with an indignant shout. "Right here!"
The figure shook their head. "Now, now, Lewis. Your deadline already passed before that money reached your doorstep."
"But it's in my possession!" The mustachioed man's face quivered in fear. What did this lunatic plan to do to him?
"I have been a very generous man, mister former mayor." His creditor chuckled under his breath. "I even warned you in my letter: 'not a moment more.'"
"The money is in that bag right there!" Lewis tried to crawl toward the payment left by Joja Corp. to save himself. "Look, it's all right there!"
A hiss escaped the lender's mouth. "Late is late, Lewis. Whether it's one second or a thousand years."
Lewis' eyes widened in horror as he grasped that his lender was going to show no mercy whatsoever. "Please, sir! I'll do anything, just let me live!" the villager begged.
"Ha! You think I'm going to kill you?" the man replied with an amused expression. He squatted down to Lewis' level and tugged teasingly at the man's mustache. "We're going to have lots of fun, friend." He gestured toward the slippery shadows. "Take him away, ladies. We have ourselves a new plaything."
"No! No, you can't do this to me!" Lewis shrieked in horror as his body was engulfed by a myriad of jet-black tentacles that burst from the darkness and dragged him away into the night. "Let me go! Please, let me go!"
After she deposited the sack of money on the old man's porch, Cheryl concealed herself in the bushes as instructed by Morris. She would wait all of five minutes and if the crusty old guy did not come out to take the delivery, the red-headed store supervisor would simply take it back to Joja Mart in the morning. Or at least, that's what she was told. That kind of money could change a person's life and how would they know if she just called in sick that day and decided never to show up for work again? It was all cash, it was not like it could be traced.
Joja would owe it to her for all the work she put into the company, especially after Shane left. The guy had been a workhorse and now Cheryl was the only regular full-timer. Not to mention this was not the first time she had been assigned to a new Joja Mart in the middle of nowhere. She was constantly being shuffled about wherever the company decided she was needed most. But just because she was young and single did not mean she did not want to settle down somewhere!
About two minutes after midnight, Cheryl's fuming was interrupted as the grey-haired man flung open the door. There go my dreams of living a life of luxury on Ginger Island… The woman thought sourly. She was about to leave when she heard a thump, as if something heavy had dropped on the ground. Did the old guy faint?
The hairs on the back of the ginger's neck stood on end as Cheryl cowered in the bushes in front of Lewis' house, stifling the urge to cry out when she heard Lewis beg a mysterious intruder for his life. A strange haze began to descend on the house, as if it were covered in a mist. Strangely, the air was warmer somehow.
Then the noises went deadly quiet and Cheryl did not dare to move. A strange man - not the old guy she saw before - stepped out and threw the sack of money over his shoulder. She silently cursed, but the Joja Mart supervisor did not dare move. Cheryl felt her blood run cold when the unnaturally colored man's gaze pinned her to the frozen earth beneath her feet. He raised his index finger to his mouth, but said nothing to her. Instead, he whistled a strange tune as he disappeared back into the house, closing the door behind him.