There are no surprises in this world. Paul learned that lesson a very long time ago. Since long before he could remember he knew everything that was going to happen in his life. He knew what day his parents were going to die and how. He also knew that his baby sister would die the same way a year later.
Growing up he would pray that all the ideas and thoughts that he had were just dreams, but when all of them started coming true, he knew that they were far from ordinary.
As he had predicted, his parents got the flu around his tenth birthday and died only a few short weeks after, then the following year around his eleventh, his little sister Chloe contracted the same virus. She too died only a few short weeks later.
Having no real immediate family, Paul was whisked away by the state, as he knew he would be. However, the orphanages were completely packed in his hometown of Bloomdale, Ohio. So instead he was placed out of state in Arizona. From then on, he spent the rest of his childhood bouncing around foster homes.
It had been two years since he aged out. He was living in a tiny apartment in Arizona when he had the worst dream of all.
He awoke in the middle of the night, cold sweat running down his face. In his dream he saw death.
I suppose you could say that he was one of the lucky ones because he knew what was going to happen, I however categorize him as unlucky for the exact same reason.
Paul didn't bother to go back to sleep after what he had seen. He didn't want to take the chance that he would see it again. This was one of those dreams where he wished it was just a silly nightmare brought on by something he had watched on TV. Unfortunately, it was all too real.
Flashes of images from the nightmare raced through his mind. Blood, there was so much blood. He could see the faces of the dead, so many dead. Trapped souls lost and forgotten by time only to be awoken by the living.
All through the rest of the night, Paul sat on his bed reliving the nightmare over and over again. He didn't know how, but he was going to stop it. He was going to save those people. He was going to save himself. Because among the huddled masses of the dead, he saw himself as he was now. So, in the morning when the mail came, and he found the envelope containing the deadly letter, he knew he had to go.
After all it was his only chance at saving the people from the nightmare he knew was brewing.
YOU ARE READING
What Lies Beneath
Mystery / ThrillerEight strangers find themselves trapped in a mysterious house, the only thing they know is that they each received an invitation. With death lurking around every corner and a mystery to solve, can they make it out alive before the house claims them...
