Chapter 1

Today is the day when I can finally get answers for all the things my parents have kept from me. It has been so frustrating dealing with their constant whataboutery all these years, which is why I have worked hard for this opportunity; to go and find the answers for myself.

I flipped over the note on my desk and quickly wrote the words, ‘To Mom and Dad’. I got up and grabbed my bag and slung it onto my shoulders and quickly left the room. I don't have a lot of time left, I need to get to the bus stop within the next hour. 

I closed my eyes and tried to get a sense for where Mrs Chelsea was as I sense where she may be within the house, I find the nurturing and loving presence. I headed down the stairs and saw the familiar figure of Mrs Chelsea walking down the hall, in the same blue and white uniform she always wore.

“Good Afternoon Master Scott.” She calmly greeted “Are you off to another one of your shifts at the local pizzeria?”

“Hello Mrs Chelsea;” I say as I wave; “no, I’ve decided to take the next few days off from work just to rest a bit.”

“That's simply wonderful;” she says whilst clapping her hands together; “I was just about to put on some tea, would you care to join me?”

Oh gosh, I can feel my mouth watering just thinking about having some of Mrs Chelsea's tea… with some scones and… I… can't. 

“Sorry Mrs Chelsea, I’m afraid I’ll have to take a rain check on that, I’ve already made plans, I’m going to see a movie” I say reluctantly.

“Oh, well then have fun Master Scott.” She says as she waves me goodbye. 

I bid her farewell and made my way out of the large house. It was a good thing that I found her before leaving, that way she’ll probably tell my parents that I just went out to the movies when they get home, which will buy time for me to be as far from the city as possible before they realise that I have left. By then they will find the letter I left and will probably try to send someone to come and get me, but by then I will have arrived in Littlesmith.

I grab my bike, riding down the long winding road towards the gate of the Scott Manor and make my way out and ride quickly towards the outer edges of Grimm City’s only borough, Saints Lodge.

As I enter the borough, I quickly weave my way through towards the bus stop. As I turned the corner I slowed down and got off my bike and walked to the bus stop and sat down on the bench. 

I flipped over my wrist to look at the time, seeing that the black digital watch reads 13:43, I sighed in relief as I still have 17 more minutes before the bus arrives.

I pull out my notebook and a pencil from my bag and flip over to a fresh new page. I look across the street at a red car and begin to sketch it whilst I wait.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

As I am laying down the construction lines, I am greeted by a sense of something familiar, cheerful and warm presence approaching from the right breaks through my blanket of concentration.

“Good Afternoon Samuel, I take it that you are well?” A man in a black robe with a white collar greets me from my right. 

“Good Afternoon Father Joshua. I am doing quite well.” I say after I stand and give him a handshake. “What brings you out here on this fine day, Father?” 

“Well the demonic activity within the business district has been getting quite bad as of late, so I’ve been handing these out;” he says as he hands me a flyer with a marked map of the business district on it; “we’ve marked out the safest path out of the district should any unfortunate soul find themselves trapped there after sunset. You should be careful to avoid that part of the city.”

I shook my head in response; “Don't worry about me Father, I’m headed out of town for the time being.”

Father Joshua furrowed his brown brows in confusion; “and where would you be going, that is, if you don't mind me asking?”

“I'm heading home,” I say with a smile on my face.

“Home? You mean you're headed to Littlesmith?” I nodded in response. “Well then safe travels, young man. Till we meet again.” 

Father Joshua went off, probably to hand out more of these flyers. I analysed the pamphlet again and noticed that there were areas of the map marked in red, which was quite shocking considering what I’ve heard about how bad the business district gets during nightfall. Now I want to avoid going there as much as possible, so it's probably pretty good that I won't have to worry about living in this godforsaken city any longer.

I’m taken out of my thoughts when the blue bus arrives and I put the book, pencil and flyer into my bag and pull out my ticket. The bus door opens and out steps a slim man of short stature wearing a blue shirt with the emblem of the Trailblazing lazing Transportation Company on his shirt pocket.

The man looks around and when he sees me he proceeds to greet me; “Good Afternoon, I’m Larry;” he says as he gives me a handshake. 

“Hi, I’m Sam.”

“Well Sam, you're very early. The bus only leaves in 90 minutes.”

“Yeah, I know.” I chuckled. “I’m just excited to finally go home after all these years” 

Larry nods in response; “Well, I guess we'll be waiting for the rest of these folks to arrive-”

Boom! Krrsh!

The bus is sent flying over both our heads, straight into the building behind us and in the spot where the bus had been is a lady dressed in a white wedding gown with black hair and nasty black claws where her hands should be. 

I recognised her and quickly grabbed Larry and put my index finger on my lips. He nervously nodded as we both anxiously watched the lady approach. I heard the tapping of heels as she drew closer. She grabbed our faces and began to examine us with her beady black eyes. She shakes her head at me and tosses me aside and begins to examine Larry more closely. A smile slowly creeps onto her face as she says, “Found you, my groom.”

“No!” I screamed out as I scrambled to get to Larry, but she turned her head to me, with her face now contorted into a more monstrous form with her teeth now taking up half her face. She screams, launching me back across the entire block. 

I am caught by someone, which shouldn't be possible given the speed I was going at. 

A grisly voice rings out from behind me; “Well, well, well. If it isn't the young prince of Grimm City, Samuel Scott. Today must be my lucky day.” 

I slowly turned around in fear as I looked at who had caught me, and when I saw the pale blue skin along with the crazed smile and the manic red eyes that I had seen dozens, no, hundreds of times on the front page of many newspapers, all that managed to escape my lips was: “How?”

“Hahahaha! You look just like that priest I offed earlier, bamboozled and confused.” He said this as he lifted me up into the air and began to choke me out. “You people in the east of the city have lived your lives sheltered from reality, and to that I say enough.” My vision started to go blurry as my lungs screamed out in pain. “We've found ways to get around the holy orders and soon, us Preters’ll figure out how to deal with the primordials, but first we’ll deal with you and your family-” As he continues to ramble on, all the sound I heard is muffled and everything faded to black.