Not everything has been positive, however. My view of the world is so much different now. Darker and filled with terrors I never knew existed before. When I go past an abandoned lot or ride through a dying town, I wonder. When I see someone on the street that looks lost or filled with some uncommon anger, I’m afraid. Because I know what seeds can be planted in such fertile soil.

So I watch for the signs, always asking myself what I’ll actually do if I see a sign of the Rot. Will I run or will I try to stop it? In the first few days, my response might be one or the other depending on when the question was asked. But lately…lately I find myself looking for it more. Taking routes I wouldn’t normally take, driving around late at night. I tell myself it’s just to clear my head, to decompress, but I’m not so sure.

I may never run across the Rot again, but if I do, I think I’ll try to stop it. Or not stop it, I correct myself, but at least thwart it for a time. It feels like a worthy thing to do. The right thing to do. And if I fight the Rot again?

I don’t think I’ll be fighting it alone.

The Halloween Room

“Samantha, you’re making a mistake.  Or repeating the same mistakes your father did.  I know I’ve talked bad about him at times, but he was a good man.  He just…got lost after your mom died.  Whatever strangeness that family of his had put in his head, it took over.  I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”

I rolled my eyes as I stared out the windshield at the front of the place.  God, it was huge.  There’s no telling how much money it took to build it, even a hundred years ago.  And way out here in the middle of nowhere?  Was it any wonder it went under?

“Sam, are you listening to me?”

I turned my attention back to the voice on the phone.  “I am, Becky.  I just don’t agree.  I’m not lost, and I don’t think I’m making a mistake.”

“But you’re running away.  Running away to another state to what?  Hide out from the boogeyman?  Honey, your father was mentally ill.  There’s no such…”

“I need you to stop this now, okay?  I need you to stop talking shit about him right now before I say something I can’t take back.”

“Samantha, I…”