Chapter 1 – The Disappearance

September 23, 2022

The children patrolled along the edge of the old road just outside of Amity Park, Colorado. This road was all but forgotten by the general public and was traveled only by those who took it to get to their area of living or to cause trouble in the middle of nowhere. Trees grew wildly along this road, reaching out towards the blue sky; the sun glistened through the leaves, creating little patches of shadow the children walked between. David and Christine Fenton walked ahead of the group, while Erica Foley and Micky Chang kept their distance from each other.

"So," David said, "Where are we going again?"

"To the haunted house, twerp," Micky said.

"And you wonder why we don't talk to you as much," Erica said.

"Hey, just telling the truth," Micky said, "He's a twerp."

"Shut up, butt-munch," Christine said, "and stop picking on my brother. He didn't do anything to you."

"What you going to do about it, wimp?" Micky chided.

"Poop-face."

"Turd-burglar."

"Enough," David said, "We're getting closer."

"Have your mom and dad heard of this place?" Erica asked, catching up to the Fenton kids in front of her, "I mean, given their business, you'd think they might be really into this place."

"Nah," Christine said, "They just worry about places that people complain about." Her mom and dad had the second job of ghost hunting, something passed on from their grandparents. Her dad's day job consisted of working on rockets for NASA, and her mom was a music store manager. There was something in them, however, which made then want to continue her dad's family tradition. Their lives were like those of the T.A.P.S. members, with a day job and a night job. Still, they managed to make time for their kids, or at least they felt so. David and Christine, being young, still had trouble understanding why their parents had to be so busy.

David was wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans. He had black hair, just like his dad's. Christine had on a black t-shirt with the band "Led Zeppelin" on the front and a black and red plaid skort. She had black hair with a white streak that curved around the back to her temple areas. Micky wore a green shirt with some sort of strange pink monster on the front and black jeans, He had black and red spiked hair. Erica wore a yellow shirt and red skirt, just like her mom used to. Her hair was in braids

The four of them neared a pathway off the road that led down into a ditch between the trees. In this small downward grove was the dilapidated house Micky had discovered a week ago, taking a long walk alone and trying to not think about his mom's mental state or his dad's sole focus on his mother's recovery. The house was a two story structure with what looked like a stitched in roof at one time. The old wood of the walls seemed to have been rotted by numerous rainstorms. The windows were cracked, and each crack looked like a pupil, staring out upon those that would dare pass by.

"And this place is haunted?" Erica asked sarcastically, "My mom has done her share of ghost hunting, and this doesn't look anything like where she would go."

"It looks like it to me," David said, "If I were a ghost, I'd probably stay here."

"This place looks like somewhere mom would visit," Christine said, "on or off the job."

"You've got a point," David responded. They made their way down the steep path, thinking that if they ran too fast, they would fall over, and trying to keep at that steady pace that would give them perfect balance. Dirt and dust piled up around their shoes as they skidded to a stop.

"Hey," Micky pointed out, "That wasn't there before." The four were now looking at a large hole in the side of the house. It was a perfect circle with a red ring around it and writing none of them were able to read. "Do you think this place was used by witches at one time?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Christine said, walking closer to it and cocking her head with interest.

"Well, then," Micky said, "now, let's get down to business. I dare any one of you to go in there."

"What?" David asked, "Are you crazy?"

"Yeah, go on in, ghost hunter kid," Micky said, "Or are you too dang chicken?"

"Well if you're so brave," Christine responded, "why don't you go on in yourself?"

"Yeah, chicken-wuss," Erica said, "if you're so dang brave, you go in."

"Well I…" Micky stuttered.

Just then, Christine heard some sort of sound from the hole that made her blood freeze. It sounded like that of a little girl, crying and giving a haunting echo as she did. There was a sense of caring, motherly instinct Christine had that made her want to investigate further, but she couldn't see anything through the darkened opening. Unlike her mom, Christine used to play with dolls all the time. Mrs. Fenton could not figure it out, but she still accepted her daughter as being just a caring person and playing as one likewise.

"Chris," David said, "you're not thinking of going in there are you?"

"Don't you hear that sound, Dave?" Christine asked.

"No," David said, "What sound?"

"You're freaking us out," Erica said.

"Well I don't care if you guys can't hear it," Christine said, "There might be someone hurt in there. I've got to go see." With that, without hesitation, she stepped through the dark portal and into the nothingness the other's eyes could not pierce. The remaining three gathered around the hole and tried to pier in but to no avail.

"What do you see?" Micky asked, but his response was not even answered by an echo.

They waited for what felt like an eternity; it was actually just five minutes, but it felt like longer. They were all worried about what she might have encountered or that the ghost had gotten her. David couldn't take it anymore and got up.

"Hey, Dave," Erica asked, "What are you doing?"

"Hey, dude," Micky said, "don't be as stupid as you are in school all the time. This isn't like wanting to sit at the front of the class or staying after class to get extra help, knowing the teacher could eat your brains. This is a serious ghost issue here."

"I don't care," David said, "That's my sister in there. I've got to make sure she's okay." He then climbed through the black hole himself and into the house.

"No, don't" Micky and Erica both said, getting up and following after him, climbing through the hole themselves. What they found on the other end was just the just the dusty, wooden floorboard of the abandoned house. The Fenton kids were not to be found anywhere. Micky checked downstairs, the musty smell appealing to him rather than agitating him. Erica checked upstairs and could find nothing in the bedrooms but some unturned sheets and old clothes within the closet.

"Did you see anything?" Erica asked as she and Micky climbed back out of the hole.

"No," Micky said, "not a thing."

"We've got to tell our parents," Erica responded in a panicked voice. They both looked back at the hole and saw that the red ring with the weird writing had disappeared. Now it was just a simple hole in the side of the house. Shaking in every limb, they ran back up the steep path and down the road. They ran until their muscles felt as if they were about to snap before they got back to the main road within Amity Park.

Danielle found herself standing on what felt like metal grating in near pitch darkness. Rain was falling all around her. She looked down and saw what looked like a bizarre broken meat factory. What was strange about it was that the hanging meat looked like human flesh and twitching human body parts, all done up in a macabre, twisted fashion. There looked to be another floor beneath her; she saw what looked like two kids walking around down there. She looked closer and saw that they were none other than her two second cousins. Slightly ahead of them was another child, in a blue dress, staring up at her with a ghastly face that sent her brain yammering into the center of her skull.

She woke up in her apartment in a cold sweat, sitting at her desk in her apartment, the window outside revealing the night's sky. Something was wrong, and she knew it. Danny had to hear about this; she would call him tomorrow.