Chapter 1

I want to say first of all that my family has always been amazing, until this string of events I thought we were all happy and normal. Instead in the lives that followed I learned a lot of secrets. It really started with my birthday. I was born on the vernal equinox, March 20^th. My family always goes to a camp that my grandmother owns for a couple of weeks on and after my birthday.

It’s pretty big, aside from my grandmother’s oversized cabin; there are five or six smaller cabins, and a barn in the family area. If you cross over the hill there is a natural spring and on the other side of that there is the camp. The camp is commercial; a main meeting house with kitchen and dining areas and several small cabins along the lake that used it as a summer camp.

My family comes up here for each of the solstices and the equinoxes. My grandmother, Abigail lives here. My grandfather passed away last year. My mother, Evelyn, and my father, George have four children: Violet, Kirk, Ivy, and me. I have two aunts Willow and Leah. Leah married Isaac and they had three kids; Rose, Lily, and Ben.

We were at my grandmother’s table when all of this began. Everyone had crowded around. We’d eaten and had cake and I was opening my presents. The last present was wrapped in all black paper with black ribbon and a black bow. It was shiny and felt heavy in my hands. It didn’t have a label, so I asked, “Who is the goth gift from?”

I looked around the room and was met my everyone glancing at each other and then eventually a few headshakes and ‘not me’ style dismissals. So, I spoke, “Well, whomever it’s from Thank you,” I cracked open the wrapping paper and saw a brown, leather book that was ice cold to the touch.

I had to hold on to the wrapping paper to touch it comfortably and I flipped it over in my hands. It was a diary or journal complete with a key. The key was ornate despite being tiny and had a scythe on it. I experimentally ran my thumb along the decorative scythe at the read of the diary’s key and found my thumb come back dripping blood. It was sharp.

My grandmother kicked up a fuss, “Oh, let me grab the first aid kit.” And rushed back into the kitchen. I could hear the family chatting, but it felt distant and muffled. I put the key into the journal and opened it. It was blank till a drop of blood from my thumb hit the page inside and then the pages seemed to fill with writing and a newspaper article appeared glued to the interior of the front cover.

I was intent to read it, but my grandmother came back and insisted on treating my tiny cut and after that it was time to clean up. It didn’t take long to tear down the party. My cousins and siblings were headed over to the lake to swim, but I felt compelled to look at the journal more in depth, so I climbed the stairs to my room. I set at the desk in the room and opened it. It wasn’t ice cold anymore, but it felt sticky as if the tiny drop of blood that had hit the interior page and coated the entire thing and congealed.

I looked at the article first. It read:

Castille Herald

Deadly Resort Fire

Danny Alvarez / AP

A fire at the Whisper Lake Camp and Resort resulted in twelve deaths despite the quick intervention of the Castille County Fire department. 14 horse and 19 other farm animals were also killed in the blaze.

On Sunday, 31 March the lone survivor of a disastrous fire at the Whisper Lake Camp and Resort dialed 911 and reported that the incident. Castille County firefighters were able to respond with 37 minutes. The blaze was able to be brought under control after nearly three hours of active response. The victims have not been publicly identified by authorities.

The lone survivor, Eddie Whisper is currently being held by the Castille County Sherriff’s Department after evidence suggested an accelerant was used to start the deadly blaze.

An interview conducted with the state fire inspector indicated that the fire started in the barn and spread to the residences in clean, straight lines indicating a planned path was covered in an accelerant to guide the fire to the dwellings

Whisper was not harmed during the blaze and officials have yet to determine a motive. Whisper is currently being charged with 12 counts of 1^st Degree arson, 12 counts of 1^st degree Murder, and 33 counts of cruelty to animals.

Sherriff Adrian Parker is quoted as saying, “I will not rest until justice is done and this boy is sent to the chair. He murdered his entire family for no discernable reason. In my 30 years in law enforcement, I’ve yet to encounter anyone as monstrous as Eddie Whisper.”

I looked at the article’s date again. It was dated for April 3rd, 2024.

This had to be some kind of prank; a future article that has my entire family dead and me in jail. Not the best prank.

It was when I looked at the second page that my heart stuttered. There were dozens of scrawled sentences and it was in my hand writing. The next 8 pages were nonsense. Single sentences with some crossed out and some things underlined. There was even a smiley face next to one.