I.
One Corner of the Square
All Saints' Day was the day the bodies were discovered. It was early afternoon when a neighbor came knocking. The neighbor, Barbara Easton, was tending to some leaves on the lawn when she noticed the house next door had a window ajar, class panes broken and cracked. She paused for a moment and gasped. Late Halloween night, she was certain she heard screams coming from somewhere on the street, but because it was Halloween she didn't think much of it. With two demanding toddlers, Barbara wasn't someone to call the police for a noise violation.
Now perhaps the screams made more sense.
Carefully crossing over into the yard, she reached the back patio and turned the knob to the back door slowly. The door opened easily. Slowly stepping inside, she raised the rake in her hand as a weapon. "Nathan? Elke?" Barbara let the door shut behind her as she moved further into the darkened house. The Ebbinghams had always kept heavy velvet curtains on all the windows, which Barbara thought made the entire place seem ominous and a bit depressing, which was strange because the young couple both had very vibrant personalities.
There was no one on the first floor, so she cautiously moved up the stairs, continuing to call their names.
Barbara moved into the bedroom closest to the stairs and jumped into the doorframe.
Nathan Ebbingham, faced the door, sitting, head rested back against the end of the large bed. Barbara immediately knew he was dead, and the most haunting thing was the terrified expression on his face, as if frozen. His eyes were wide, mouth slack. "Oh, Nathan," she whispered, quite fond of her neighbor.
Next on the bed, Barbara spotted Elke. A few years younger than her husband, Elke had always been a beauty-everyone thought so. She had curly dark hair and a nice even complexion. Even in death, she did not look any less beautiful. What was odd was how tightly her eyes were squeezed shut, as opposed to Nathan's, whose were wide open.
What did make Barbara shriek was what she saw when she moved closer to the bed. Half pinned underneath Elke was their son, Marcus. He appeared to be asleep, so Barbara pulled him from underneath his mother and attempted to rouse the child. When her fingers brushed his neck and she didn't feel a heartbeat, Barbara was quick to retract her limbs.
She stared for a few seconds, and then Barbara ran back home and got her husband. He called the police and she was asked a thousand questions, some of which accusatory.
It was late when the bodies were finally taken to some unknown destination and Barbara was cleared of any possible charges after they determined she had just found the bodies.
That night, Barbara sat in her bathrobe, staring out the picture window overlooking her lawn. She had a strong drink in a crystal tumbler, and her husband had an arm wound across her back.
Barbara was deciding finding her dead next door neighbors was the most gruesome thing to happen to her, when a swift knock at the door broke her morbid reverie.
"Who the hell comes knocking at an hour like this?" Her husband stood up angrily.
"John, it's fine. The police probably forgot something." She opened the door and frowned at the sight in front of her.
A man with a long white beard, a pointed hat and half moon spectacles over twinkling eyes stood there. He wore what looked like a Halloween costume, satin blue robes all the way to the ground. At his side sat a cat with a very intense gaze.
Suddenly irritated, she asked, "Can I help you, sir?"
He simply smiled kindly and whispered something in a different language, pointing what looked like a warped stick at her.
Barbara and John shut the door and went back to where they were sitting. Holding up the tumbler glass, Barbara turned it around in her hand and inspected it. "I don't think I need this anymore."
John sighed wistfully and looked out the window, to the house next door. "Wouldn't it be nice if we got new neighbors with kids Kitty's and Becky's ages?" The house had been on the market for several months, after the previous owners had moved to a retirement community.
Nodding in agreement, Barbara wasn't sure why she was thinking about the most morbid sight she'd seen, which had been when her childhood dog got hit by a passing car.
Something from that day felt different, like there were several missing hours, an important piece of information. Eventually, some new neighbors moved in next door, and Barbara never remembered or thought again how she felt on the first of November, 1981.
Here's the beginning of what I hope is an epic, enjoyable tale. I promise this chapter will make more sense as the story unfolds. I hope you enjoyed. Review!
