Newcrest, Washington
October 6, 2023
The late-afternoon sun loomed close the horizon, shining its light on the neighborhood of Newcrest. Within the confines of the neighborhood itself, the busybody population moved about on their evening routines. The school busses had dropped off most of the children The mail man walked around putting various items in the residents' respective mailboxes. The town crazy was putting fliers on various streetlight poles while talking out-loud about scientists trying to grow a plant monster in the desert. A morning jogger was making her run down down the sidewalk stopping at the end of the street only to turn around and run in the opposite direction when she realized she had stepped a bit too close to a dwelling with a "not-so-good" reputation.
There were stories about the house in Newcrest, the one on the end of the street. Some say they heard strange things as they walked past it; possible voices of aliens and other creatures at all hours. Others would swear they heard the howling sounds of werewolves late at night. Of course there is always a logical explanation: children watching horror movies in honor of October beginning. Still, gossiping neighbors will gossip, and there were quite a few things to gossip about the house full of strange children each with their own interesting personalities. As the old saying goes, "kids will be kids", and the kids at this particular house were as rambunctious as they come.
The interior of the house itself was typical of a standard dwelling in the area, with perhaps an air of creativity. To anyone looking around inside, it was rather unremarkable especially when compared to the wild and perhaps unsubstantiated rumors about it. Inside the living room, watching television, was an average person, the adult of the household, named Maria Kethrin. Maria was the legal guardian of the children living in the house. Her own two children, Annabelle and John, lived alongside three young cousins: Tom Jameson, Scarlett Keene, and Kelly Coen.
As the sun drifted lower towards the horizon with Maria standing within the foyer of her house, a yellow school bus dropped four of said children off at the edge of the street. She watched as two of them ran off towards the side yard while the other two stepped closer to the door.
"Where's Scarlett?" Maria asked Kelly and John as they walked through the door, the former dropping her book bag on the rug next to it. "I could have sworn I sent her to school with you two."
John stopped himself from walking towards the kitchen to start his homework. "Detention. She mouthed off to the teacher again. Called her a few choice words she must have learned from those horror movies she watches."
Maria shook her head in disbelief. She knew Scarlett was as hot-headed as her hair was red, anger issues stemming from losing her parents in a car accident when she was younger. "Uh, okay... I'll pick her up at 4:30. Oh and by the way, Kelly?"
Kelly stopped in her tracks, turning around while simultaneously putting on the most innocent grin she could muster. "Yes, Maria?"
"Your teacher called, she said you caused trouble in your own class."
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Kelly scratched her head, again as innocently as she could have at the time. "Hey look, all I said was that since we are Generation Z, and nothing comes after 'Z', we might very well be the last generation on Earth!"
Maria loved Kelly like a daughter, but also knew she had an above-average intelligence and wisdom beyond her years. "Kelly, any average class of third graders do not understand nihilism like you do. Look, just go do your homework and... maybe don't read too much into those philosophy books you like so much? I don't want to have to take them away."
Kelly gave Maria a slightly overexaggerated look of anger before shouting "That's not fair!"
"Hey don't make me take away your telescope privileges." Maria responded back.
"Well that's just cruel."
Maria let out a small laugh loud enough to be heard across the foyer, Kelly's voice bellowed as she said "I heard that so it means I'm not in trouble. Yay laughing!"
"Your parents might want to give you an earful though!"
"Well then, it's a good thing they don't live here!"
Maria wasn't sure if Kelly sounded disappointed when she mentioned her parents or not. It had only been a few months since they moved away for her mom's work, which at the time Kelly seemed to understand. The eight year old thought of Maria as a mother as well, as she had been around since before Kelly was even born.
As Maria wandered around in her thoughts, she realized she hadn't seen the other two kids since they got home as well. "Wait, where are Tom and Annabelle??"
