Based on Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return. It's set in the current day, 4 years and 8 months after the last incident in Gatlin, Nebraska. June 2002. All characters except Gabriel, Rachel, Hannah, and the name Samuel are mine. Samuel is just a name in 666…. This fic is the first thing ever written that gives him personality!



Long Live the Demon Child!





1.

The Beginning

1.1 It was the middle of the night; this she could tell by the darkness of the sky and the position of the moon's light. Hannah gazed around blearily as she stood in her pajamas on the desolate street near her broken down rental car. She gasped as she turned to her right, then again as she looked to her left. Cornfields. It was Gatlin. The smell of evil mixed with manure and decaying flesh lingered in the night air and assaulted her nostrils, nearly making her gag. As she ran back to her car, she heard something. It was laughter…. But this was not just any laughter. This was the high- pitched laughter of children. She stared into the cornfield next to her car, voice gripped with intense fear so she could utter not a sound. The wind blew fiercely then. Hannah looked around, her hair flying around and the wind blinding her with bits of corn leaves and husks as they whisked by. The laughter ensued…louder and louder and closer as if an entire town of children was approaching her from the fields. Then the winds and the laughter stopped, and she slowly let go of the door handle. Carefully, Hannah turned around to look at the other side of the road. There, standing before her was a multitude of children, ranging in age from early childhood to late adolescence. They surrounded her from both sides of the street, forming a large circle around her and her vehicle. Just as Hannah finally felt she had control over herself and was about to speak, there was an intense clap of thunder. The children all smiled. "He comes," one little boy said. "It is your turn." The circle parted as two rows of corn facing Hannah parted. She stared into the black abyss between each row, and her eyes widened as the figure of a small boy, dressed in black emerged from the sea of corn. It was her son. Hannah rushed forward and picked the tiny child up into her arms, and…

Hannah jolted awake at around 3:00am and sat up. "No," she told herself. "It's only a dream! " And yet, Hannah was terrified. The sheets and pillows on her tiny twin bed were absolutely soaked in sweat, just as they'd been once a month for the past four or so years. The medication had made the dreams stop for the most part, but she still had a monthly episode, right near the end of the month. She wiped her brow and took a deep breath, turned her bedside lamp on, then swung her legs around to dangle off the side of the bed. The emotional sting of the terrifying dream ebbed, and she sighed deeply. She opened her bottle of pills, poured out two and popped them into her mouth. Just as she reached out to grab the glass sitting on the nightstand, she heard a child's shriek from the other room. She quickly downed her medication and sped across the tiny bedroom to the door.

"I'm coming, already…"

She paused to take a deep breath before opening the door. The child shrieked again, and she immediately got goosebumps. A voice inside her head, something dark and evil whispered into her mind. "Sammy should never have to yell a second time, Hannah. Never." Hannah quickly shoved the thought from her mind, dismissing it as a part of the "illness" she had. Hannah told herself over and over that the voice she heard occasionally would fade with the dreams. She exited into the tiny hall, flipped on the hall light and fumbled her way tiredly to his room, which was directly adjacent to her own. A bright green sign adorned the door, with Samuel's name painted on in a cheerful blue color.

"What is it, Sammy?"

Hannah made her way in and across his room. Samuel shifted and pulled himself to a sitting position, looking at her. He was a beautiful child. Alabaster skin, clear ice-blue eyes, and dark brown nearly black hair. Hannah was glad the abortion was a failure. He pouted, looking up at her.

"I dreamed Teacher hit me, and then she died. The man in the black jacket killed her."

Hannah frowned as a dark, ominous feeling pulled harshly at her stomach. "It's that damn television," she thought to herself, shoving the tugging in her stomach away. She forced a smile at her child, trying to dismiss the thought from her mind.

"It'll be okay, sweetie, it's just a dream. Miss Ellison is a good teacher. She always says nice things about you, like how well you did saying your alphabet yesterday. She says you're the smartest kid in her class. And I bet that bad man was just some scary person from TV. Do you want to go back to sleep, or do you want Mommy to read you a story?"

Hannah looked at the boy, expecting an answer. For some reason, Hannah had always asked him what he wanted in a polite tone, even when stressed, and was ever careful about not invoking his ire. He frightened her when he was angry, but she never knew why, except that her shrink said it might be part of her psychosis. Samuel smiled brightly up at his mother, eyes sparkling in the dim light of his bedside Pokemon lamp.

"Read me the story about the three little pigs again. Please." Sammy was such a polite child. He'd been that way since he could talk.

Hannah nodded and walked across the room towards a little blue bookshelf. On her way, something out of the ordinary caught her eye and caused her to pause briefly. It was the strangely uncluttered appearance of the room…. It was strewn with toys and picture books not two days ago, and now everything was arranged neatly into the shelves. She shivered slightly before picking the Little Golden Book that Samuel was so keen about, then headed back to sit next to him on the bed. Samuel frowned for a moment.

"Miss Ellison's like the big bad wolf, Mommy." Hannah looked at him, brow knit. "Now why would you say something like that?"

"Cuz, Mommy! Miss Ellison hitted Dylan with a ruler. She made him cry."

"Dylan's mommy signed a piece of paper so Miss Ellison could spank him if he's bad, Sammy. I didn't sign the paper, so they can't spank you."

Samuel was silent then and just leaned against his mother, thumb-in-mouth. She started to read, and he was soon asleep. After tucking him in, Hannah tiptoed silently back out of the room and re-entered hers. Hannah drifted into a deep sleep, which seemed peaceful for a while…

"Child."

Hannah twitched a bit in her sleep, grimacing.

"CHILD."

"No! Go away…you're not there…"

"Child, you cannot control nor can you alter your destiny."

She rolled over, face down on her pillow.

1.2 "You're not real!"

"I am very real, and you know it. Child, your Day of Judgment will arrive soon."

"You don't scare me."

"Don't lie to yourself, Hannah. You're not very good at it."

A beeping noise, loud and harsh, ringing in her ears is what woke Hannah up. She bolted upright, panting and sobbing at the same time. Quickly gaining control of herself, she reached over and shoved the dial on her alarm clock to the left.

"8:00…I'm late!"

She threw her covers off, sped across the carpet to her dresser, yanked open two drawers and started throwing clothes on the bed: tight-fitting blue jeans, a v-neck blue shirt, a pair of white socks. She threw herself into the bathroom, quickly scrubbed her face, gathered some makeup into a purse, and bolted out of her bedroom. She opened Sam's door and stopped dead in her tracks.

The bed was made, and there in front of Hannah, stood her son. His hair was slicked back, and he was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a Pokemon T- shirt, white socks, and Pokemon-themed Velcro shoes, each placed on the right foot. He smiled at her, hands folded behind his back.

"Hi, Mommy. I got up before you did and brushed my hair and gotted dressed. I didn't wanna wake you up cuz you were dreaming."

Hannah stared at him for a long moment. "Eerie. Something's strange today, isn't it Hannah?" She forced the voice away again and kneeled before the boy.

"You're more organized than I'll ever be, that's for sure. C'mon, Mommy's late for work and you have to go see Brytnie."

Samuel grinned broadly. "I like Brytnie. She gives me chee-tos."

Hannah hoisted him onto her hip and headed out of his room, closing the door behind her. In the kitchen, she grabbed a Hot Pocket to microwave at work and a little box of cheerios for Samuel to snack on in the car, then headed out.

This is where it begins.