• December 1st, 1986, for some people it is a day they will never forget. While others will never remember it. The day began more spectacular than any other day in the town of Seacrole. The sun rose in a golden splender to gently warm all in attendance. The shining rays awaken the people of the town on this gental Sunday morning. All except those who are already laying awake. A young man named Johnny Dreggs, slightly older than nineteen, sits facing his own reflection, dripping in cold sweat. Silent and shivering, he lights a cigarette and breathes deeply of the chemical smoke. Something sinister was in the works, and Johnny felt more alone now than ever before. Time was pressing forth and people went about their lives, unaware of the horors pestering Johnny since the clock had struck midnight. Hairs stand up slowly on Johnny’s neck as his mind races over what he had seen and heard. Upon the stroke of midnight, a chorous of spine chilling voices filled his head. The language and chants were unable to be fully understood but Johnny knew what they were about deep in his heart. The words bit at his soul and whispered softly into his mind that everything was going to come to an end.

    The low grumble of the chorous was unlike any voice he had ever heard in his life. Though the voices rattle through his brain even now, the sight he was forced to behold will haunt him to the very last seconds of his life. A pale figure loomed over him. A thin, man-like creature with teeth that curve to a jagged point. With hair like dead vines he swallowed Johnny as the chanting grew louder. Johhny fell into nothingness as the terrifying face of the beast flashed and dissipated around him. Before long, the nothingness faded till Johnny found himself falling through the sky of a decimated world.

    Upon hitting the ground Johhny awoke. At that exact moment before waking he heard a voice whisper that clearly translated to the word "soon". Johnny breathed out the smoke upon finishing his recollection. His eyes showing the pain and destruction he had witnessed. Perhaps it was the shock, but all Johnny felt he could do was continue with his daily life. Though his goal to continue was a simple one, he did so with a wrecked soul. Johnny worked full time at the public library a few blocks from his second story appartment. He left his room at about a quarter till nine in the clothes he had worn the previous night. Johnny walked the three blocks to the library in a trance. He made it to the library purely by memory, for Johnny was little more than an empty shell of himself. The doors seemed heavier than usual and slowly swung open and a cool rush of air flowed over him.

    Johnny vegitated at his desk and became lost in the patterns on the floor. He looks up on instinct, or perhaps dumb luck, and settled his eyes on a pretty face. This pretty faced happened to belong to a girl named Laura. Laura attended the college a few miles down the road and frequented the library for studying or simply as a place to think. Her mid length brown hair shined as it brushed against her cheeks and rested upon her shoulders. Johnny’s concentration and gloom had dissapeared for that fleeting instant it took to exchange glances. Though the dark had been broken by the contact temporarily, an even more intense feeling of dread took over. He sat behind his confined desk and shouldered his grim burden in silence. Hours passed like minutes in the almost empty library untill the swinging of the front doors shock Johnny to attention. A sweet smell overcame his senses as he turned towards the door. The same shining face from earlier had returned. Again, his mind seemed to stray from the gloom and was locked on her. Johnny looked to the floor quickly as Laura noticed him staring and came towards the counter. As a sweet greeting escaped her lips, Johnny gained a sick confidence due to the horrid end he had forseen. His eyes immediately met hers as he greeted her in return. Laura looked up shyly and mentioned small talk such as the weather and how johnny’s day had been. Johnny had almost burst out laughing but managed to subdue the urge. Instead, he cut directly to the point and offered to take her to dinner when the library closes in an hour. She chuckled and was a little shocked at the forwardness of the offer, but agrees to go with him. She smiled and went off to study for the hour before closing time. Johnny sat back in his chair and thought about her, and only her for the next hour.

    After closing up for the night, Johnny and Laura walked liesurely around the corner to a small diner. the offwhite walls of the diner seemed to close in around them, and for the moment the only two people there were Johnny and Laura. The privacy of the moment was softly broken by the waitress. The waitress took down the orders and dissapeared into the kitchen. After what seemed like seconds, the food arrived. Johnny and Laura ate between bits of flirty conversation. Upon exiting the diner, Johnny walked his newfound interest to her car and snuck a small kiss before she drives off towards her campus home. Johnny walked home with joy in his stride and a bit of a strut from his smooth kiss sneaking. He twisted the key to open the door to his appartment and felt the wight of a hundred worlds return upon his shoulders. He hangs on to the memory of his young love as he curls up in his bed to rest. Johnny returned to the library the next day to work hoping Laura would walk through the doors. He stayed an hour past closing time waiting and hoping to see a glimpse of her but was not so lucky. He returned to his home for another night of gloom and loneliness. He woke and returned to his job, but was greeted at the door by his supervisor Lynne. Lynne was a sweet older lady who watched over the library as well as a number of other public establishments. She gently broke the news of his dismissal as an employee. Johnny couldnt even think to question why. He sunk into his nightmare and sat on the bench in front of the library. Johnny sat there watching, waiting, and hoping to see the face of his only source of relief. He would return to his home at night and spend his days on the bench in front of the library. On Saturday night the moon shone greatly in the sky and illuminated all in attendance. Johnny sat and waited untill a glimmer of hope caught the corner of his eye. His eyes softly lifter from the floor to the right side of him. The precious arm of his savior was in sight.

    Though his love was there, he followed her arm only to find it linked in the arm of a tanned and sculpted bully of a man. The eyes of Johnny and Laura met for an instant, but her stare was unknowing and cold. His heart had sunken to the floor by the time johnny returned to his appartment. His legs had soullessly led him home and over to his nightstand drawer. He dropped to his knees and oppened the creaking wooder drawer to reveal a small handgun given to him by his father in the name of defense. His eyes closed as the gun pressed against his heart. Johnny’s finger pulled slowly down on the cold metal trigger as the beast swallowed him whole.