Possessed: Book 1

Chapter 1: Dark Beginnings

My name is Reagan Cobblestone. The story I am about to tell is a true story about me and my family.

I don't expect you to believe it, but I have hope that maybe someone will read this and one day learns from my experience.

It all started on that fateful night. Like a match being used to light a candle, everything should have been obvious. But maybe it was my fear? My inability to understand? Whatever it was, I regret everything that happened after that night.

I was standing in front of my kitchen window, washing some dishes and waiting for my brother, Jake, to get home from his first day at his new school. I had forced my brother to attend the recently opened Christian high school, Shining Christian Academy, down the block and I instantly regretted it because from the second I told him he had no choice but to go to the stupid school, he'd given me nothing but a hard time.

It was getting late when I heard the front door open. I expectantly turned around, waiting for my brother to give me the news on how his first day at school had been, but to my surprise, no one was there and the front door wasn't open. My brother was a teenager, so of course, I immediately assumed that he was just trying to pull some stupid prank on me.

"Jake?" I called my brothers name half expecting him to jump out at me laughing, thinking that he had got me. But, no one responded and instead I was just greeted with the awkward silence.

There was no point in calling out his name again because I would just be making myself look stupid, so instead, I turned back around and went back to washing the dishes.

When I was done, I looked up at the clock and realized that it was almost 7 PM. I knew that my brother should've been home hours ago. I had grown concerned at that point, so I decided I would just call him up and ask where he was.

Maybe he went to a friends house. I thought. I took out my cell phone and quickly dialed his number and prayed that he would answer. But instead, all I got was his voicemail.

"Jake, it's your sister," I said after the tone. "You were supposed to be home a few hours ago and you haven't called me. I hope you're OK..." After a brief pause, I added "I love you. Call me." And then, before I could embarrass myself any more, I hung up and put my phone on the counter. And then I waited.

Another hour went by and I still hadn't received anything from Jake. I started to get really nervous. He'd never been that late before. And his school should've let him out at 5.

There had been news reports recently of someone in the area who was kidnapping teenage boys. And, if I knew my brother well enough, he was definitely their type of target. Based on the reports, they were only going after young teenage boys who walked home alone and, bad as it may sound, my brother definitely did that. There had already been two disappearances, and I didn't want Jake to make it three.

There's no need to panic. I thought to myself. Being stupid, I couldn't help myself and grabbed my phone and called him again. And this time someone answered. But it wasn't my brother, instead, it was a female voice that was familiar to me.

"Hello?" The voice that answered belonged to my friend, Jamie Ventura.

I had known her since middle school. Sweet, shy, liked to keep mostly to herself. I knew that she and Jake had feelings for each other and honestly I couldn't blame him. She was very pretty with long light brown hair and brown eyes. The freckles on her cheeks somehow made her even prettier. And I had every idea of what she saw in my brother.

His short, messy, black hair made his ocean blue eyes stand out from behind his glasses. Even though he was only 15, the boy already had a small stubble of facial hair.