The Haunted Horrors of Stonewall

Prologue

"Mom," Carmen said, through tears, wiping her nose on her sweater. 

"No..." she whispered. She looked around, her vision blurry. Here she was, in some demented dream realm, and all she knew was that her mother was gone. She looked at the ragdolls hanged from the trees, the blood in the grass, the pumpkins with their little faces. And her response was always "Mom".

As she began to sob harder, she heard the crunching of the leaves and knew someone was looking for her. Wiping her tears, she looked up to find two girls dressed perfectly for the cold weather, their concerned faces directed at Carmen. "Are you okay?"

"O-of course," Carmen replied. But soon she felt she needed to be alone and pushed them aside, saying "Run along now, punks," and left them to exchange a confused glance. And soon she was behind the haunted cabin, where someone - no, something, looked back at her. And she felt a sharp impact and then she felt free. She jumped around, climbing each tree - even after falling out of one, she felt no pain. But soon the girls came back and she hid.

"Oh my God!" one screamed. "What happened? Oh my God! Her head... her hands!" And Carmen moved closer, to try and see what the commotion was all about. And as she walked, she stepped over the leaves, which made no noise in return; no satisfying crunch. Out of hiding now, she decided to ask the girls why they were freaking out.

"Hello? Ladies? What happened?" She said, placing a shoulder on one of them. The girl she touched shivered, but did not respond. She asked again, but no response. "Hello, can you hear me?" Carmen called out. She yelled, she screamed, she threw a rock at them, but they did not react in any way.

So Carmen decided to look for what they were observing. And she found it, yes, but it was not what she was expecting. A knife through the head, hands detached, and eyes missing, Carmen was surprised to find that the girl she was looking at was;

Her.

Carmen screamed and jolted back. Was it possible that she was dead? She looked down at herself, noticing the paleness of her skin, the glow of her body. She remembered how she felt no pain, how she felt so free, how the leaves made no noise, and most of all how the girls did not react to her conversation.

Carmen was dead.