Darkness Isn't Real

Prologue

The mom padded down the creaky wooden stairs of her deck, cradling her eight month old baby boy in her arms. Detaching one arm from her child's back, she placed it onto the tattered railing leading to the concrete patio below.

"Waah!" the baby squealed, waving his arms around and slapping them against his mother.

"Shhh," Mom comforted, taking her hand from the railing and patting her son on the back.

After two more steps, she reached the ground and began to walk into her lush green backyard. Despite the condition of her deck, the yard looked beautiful; all of the trees were bursting with color, the sun shone down at the ideal angles, and a small stream of water flowed along the border of the property. It was another spectacular Florida day.

A deer stood at the bank of the water, tentatively lapping up his midday drink.

"Look sweetie!" Mom exclaimed, pointing at the deer with her hand and adjusting her child's head so that he could see the wild animal.

The child immediately stopped crying, his face twisting into a happy grin. He said something in baby gibberish and lifted a minuscule finger to the deer.

"Yeah," mom agreed, placing her arm back underneath her baby so that she could bounce him.

All of a sudden, a strong wind blew through the yard, rustling the leaves and blowing Mom's brunette hair around in her face. Dark clouds covered up the sun, shrouding the earth in a blanket of shadow.

The deer perked its head to the vanished sun, staring at where it once had been before scampering back off into the woods as if it had been spooked.

"Well, I think we should go back inside," Mom whispered, turning around quickly and scampering up the four stairs to the main area of the deck.

It had only been a few seconds, but all of the color had already disappeared from the yard, turning it into a dark, dreary, horrifying place. The tree leaves looked black, and the stream reflected the darkness of the clouds, looking like a portal to Hell.

A bolt of lightning pierced down from the sky, slamming into the stream and shattering the icy surface tension of the water. The stream began to swirl around violently, seemingly alive.

Mom screamed, nearly collapsing to the wooden deck in fright at the sudden slash of light and explosion of thunder. Giant rain drops cascaded from the sky, and Mom recovered from her initial shock, rushing to the door leading into the house.

Another bolt struck down onto the deck right in front of her, blocking her from reaching the entrance to safety. The blast sent her flying backward off of the deck, her baby soaring out of her arms and landing hard on the concrete.

Mom slammed into the ground on her back, skidding several feet as wood shrapnel rained down on her. She groaned, struggling to move. Turning her head, she caught a glimpse of her son laying unconscious on the patio about a yard away from her, blood slowly seeping out from a gash on his head.

"Jackson..." Mom murmured, in her eyes the reflection of a fire beginning to rise up from where the lightning hit.

She blinked slowly, moving her head back so that she was staring up at the dark sky. The rain pelted her face and clothes, turning them sodden.

"Help us God," she mouthed, no sound coming out.

Later on, she would swear to the police that as soon as she'd finished praying that, a voice whispered into her ear.

"God can't save you now."