Chapter 1: Christmas in May

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Chapter 1: Christmas in May

She had followed the stranger's voice this far, so why turn back now? Looking up at the old house before her, a chill swept through her body. She knew this house, from the outside, at least. The weathered, gray siding, the filthy windows, the overgrown vines creeping up the porch supports - yes, she knew this house. Turning to look behind her, she realized that the whole valley was steeped in an eerie fog and the tops of the mountains barely peeked out above their misty cloak. The only thing she could truly make out was this house.

Drawing in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and stepped up onto the ancient porch. The splintered boards creaked beneath her feet, but it was the groan of the rusty chains, swinging an invisible being on the dilapidated porch swing, that she found most unnerving. Her arm tense, she placed her hand on the tarnished brass knob, closed her eyes, and turned it. 

The door practically opened itself and she gasped at what it revealed. She knew this house very well, in fact, because on the inside, it was her own. The trepidation melted away as she stepped over the threshold and took in all the familiar sights of home: the little, pale green roses on the cream-colored wallpaper, the faded, blue couch, the worn out wingback chair, the radio in its position of prominence.  

With a sigh of relief, she shut the door behind her and walked toward the kitchen, expecting to find her family there.

But she didn't make it.

An unseen force pinned her to the ground. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. When she attempted to struggle against the phantom assailant, she found her muscles were paralyzed. Suddenly, a searing pain unlike anything she'd ever felt shot through her body, and she let out another silent scream.

Somewhere in the distance, she could hear her step-father laughing. She called out his name, in hopes he might come to her aid. But again, no sound escaped her lips, and she quickly gave up; he only laughed like that when he was drunk, anyway. 

She didn't know how much longer she could endure the pain and she was beginning to feel like she was suffocating. No, she was suffocating. As the room around her blurred and the pain dulled, the voice of the stranger whispered in her ear, "Everything you've ever known is a lie." 

*****

Ginny Paserella awoke with a start, her heart pounding mercilessly in her chest. She rolled over on her back and closed her eyes again, grateful to be able to move and breathe. It was morning, but she still might be able to get a little more sleep in before having to get up for school. Her brother had other plans, though. She covered her head with her pillow in an attempt to drown out his pretend snoring down on the bottom bunk. Having already turned sixteen, he still was not beyond doing whatever he could to get under her skin.  

She lay there contemplating how much she would enjoy going down there and shoving her pillow in his face to hush him up. But she knew she'd never get away with it; he would claim he'd really been sleeping and that her actions could easily be construed as attempted murder. She wished he was stupider than he was.

Only after several agonizing minutes of this did her mother stick her head through the doorway and put an end to Ginny's waking torment. "Y'all get up, now."

Ginny flung off the cover and rushed down the ladder in hopes of beating Kody to the outhouse, but being on that bottom bunk gave him the advantage. She groaned as he slipped out the back door in front of her; there was much to be said for being the first to use the outhouse in the morning.

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