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Chapter 1

"Hey, Josh, you might want a look at this."

A police officer points towards a bush, or what's behind that bush. Their voice carries an unusual heaviness.

Another man in a long black coat saunters cordially towards the bush. After he sees whatever lies behind the green array of leaves, though, it seems to not only take away his breath, but his gleeful smile, too.

His auburn eyes focus, squinting.

For a moment, I get a feeling of nostalgia, as if I've seen the man before.

I get up, and instead of just sitting on my couch, I walk towards the faint, dim window for a closer look.

I am curious as to why police officers swarm my street like bees to a flower.

Too curious. Everyone has always told me that.

"Piper, curiosity often leads people to getting into trouble. You don't want to get into trouble."

The words of my mother, father, sister, teachers, and even friends always echo in my head, a constant reminder. Now even I make a habit of telling myself this.

I look out, only to realize how very un-curious I should be right now, of all times, because what I see might be the very thing everyone warned me about. Even through the snow, it's unmistakable.

A body.

A senseless, comatose body. I never once imagined this being what I would see where I live, but I guess that most things happen when you least expect them to.

My heart skips a beat, I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Who is that?

Their body is pale, and as my eyes flash over them, the first thing that catches my gaze is their eyes.

Their wide, open eyes.

I know better than to look longer, I know that right now the thing I should be doing is trying to forget what I just saw, but instead, for some odd reason, I do the exact opposite. I grab my coat and slip on my shoes.

It's as if I'm being possessed by a demon whose sole purpose is to drag me to my demise.

The next thing I know, I'm outside speaking to the man that looked behind the bush as if nothing were wrong.

Something was indeed wrong.

"Excuse me?" I ask him, waiting for him to look my way. My feet sink into the deep snow covering the isolated road.

"Yeah?" He asks as he turns around to look at me. "Hi. 'You live here?"

He holds out his hand.

Again, I feel like I know him from somewhere. I try to shake the feeling off, but it sticks with me the whole conversation.

"I was just wondering what was going on." I stutter, looking around as if I have no clue what is behind those bushes. I'm trying to make sure that no one knows I saw what I saw, otherwise something terrible could happen to me.

"Well, right now you're not allowed to know," He looks around. His Irish accent is anything but inconspicuous, "But as soon as we know exactly what has happened here all of the residents will find out. There's no need to be worried, we're sure it's nothing too bad."

We're sure it's nothing too bad.

The words replay, over and over again in my head. I can't fathom how he can lie about something so big, so effortlessly.

He gives me a smile, showing off his perfectly white teeth, looking me straight in the eye.

He seems like the type of person who would never lie.