Hello Friend

PROLOGUE

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June 11, 1998
11:21AM

"Friend...? Where are you, friend?"

Four-year-old Kol Strijd called out into the thick forest covering the South Hill Memorial. She stood on her heels nervously, rocking back and forth. She had been waiting for quite a while now. Kol was beginning to get worried Friend was mad.

Silence.

No reply. Kol's eyes landed on the vines crawling up the streetlight, clawing its way up to the top. The light was dead. Killer! Kol thought of the vines with a small, fake laugh.

This part of the city was barely ever visited. No one visited the cemetery because citizens believed only bad people were buried in the South Hill Memorial. The good people were buried in the underground chamber of the St. Peter Church in the town.

Kol had been around here numerous times, but the only people she saw visiting was a beggar who would lie down and sleep on graves (she fondly called him Mr Sleep-a-Ton), and Mrs Chapman.

She knew Mrs Chapman. She was really nice to Kol. She would even come over sometimes to their house with pie. Mrs Chapman was the mother of Theo Chapman, a crazy guy who had brought a shotgun to school and put the bullet to use fifteen times in 1990.

Her friend Millie had warned her about the Chapmans. Everyone in South Hill avoided them like the plague. Mr Chapman had died a few years ago from alcohol poisoning, Mrs Chapman was a cheater, Theo Chapman was a killer and then there was Daisy. No one had ever seen Daisy yet, because the Chapmans refused to let the judgmental citizens put their claws on pure baby Daisy. But rumor had it her father was not Mr Chapman, but instead a man Mrs Chapman met in work.

Kol had overheard Mommy's friend Auntie Lana say Mrs Chapman's cheating was the reason why Mr Chapman started drinking.

People at school would talk about Daisy for being a "whore's daughter" and Kol didn't know what "whore" meant but her dad certainly didn't like it when she brought the word up. Kol thought it was sick how they could talk shit about a baby.

Kol's dad said the police put Theo on a chair which transported him into The Bad Place. Kol didn't quite understand how a chair could do that, but Daddy didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Clearing her throat, she called for Friend again.

"Friend, please come out. I'm sorry I was gone for so long... I went to visit Auntie in Los Angeles."

Kol never knew her mother. Daddy never talked about her and he would always change the subject whenever Kol would bring it up.

"Auntie had a baby boy and I had to meet him because he's my cousin. His name is AJ."

Still no reply.

"Kol? Kol, sweetheart, where are you?"

Kol could hear her dad yelling out her name in the distance. "Friend, I don't have a lot of time." She gulped, "Daddy told me last night we were moving to LA with Auntie today."

She felt the wind blow all of a sudden. "Was that you? Are you mad?"

"Kol, sweetheart! It's time to go!"

Friend still wasn't showing up. Kol felt salty tears prick at her eyes. "Please, say anything, Friend. I don't want to leave with you mad at me..."

She heard footsteps behind her and Kol immediately turned.

"Kol! There you are! I've been calling for you! Didn't you hear? Come on, kiddo. Your Auntie Martha waiting for you." Her dad had come up behind her and put his arms around her shoulders, leading her away from the graveyard and into the road.

Kol looked back one more time, one lone tear dropping down her cheek. "Bye, friend..."

As she got in the car, the wind blew one more time.

Unbeknownst to her, the wind whispered one last parting message;

Bye, friend.

But it wasn't goodbye. Not yet. Kol would come back for Friend. Friend would make her come back.

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE

hello! if you finished reading this prologue that's already more than I could ask for. thank you for reading!

the beautiful YARA SHAHIDI plays Kol Strijd.

I hope you enjoy reading Hello, Friend. and in case some of you didn't notice, this will be a horror/thriller kinda novel.

that's it, see ya!

- sammy