Chapter 1: Welcome Home

As Emily walked through the front door of their new house, the smell of fall washed over her. The windows were open to let the wind from outside in, as they carried in the last of the boxes containing their belongings. Emily sat the box she was carrying on top of a stack of others, and wiped the sweat off her forehead. The moving process had been terrible, but at least the worst of it was over. Now it was just time to unpack. She shut the front door and carried two of the boxes labeled "kitchen" into their large dining room, setting them on top of the brand new mahogany family table. The chandelier above her twinkled in the sunlight, and she smiled as she opened the boxes. She grabbed some dishes and walked into the kitchen, setting them in the cabinet they belonged in.

"I see you're already unpacking." Josh walked around the corner, leaning against the doorframe.

She grinned at her boyfriend, and shut the cabinet. "Well we have to get it done at some point. Might as well start now while I have the energy."

He nodded and smiled, glancing around the kitchen. "I still can't get over how beautiful this house is."

"I know! I can't wait to put all of our stuff in it and make it home." Emily walked over to Josh and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning into him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming here with me. I know it was hard to leave your family behind for me, but I appreciate it more than you know."

He sighed and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You're my family. You're all I need. As long as I have you, my life is perfect. You don't need to thank me."

She smiled and laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Well, still."

He chuckled and pulled her away gently. "I'll finish unpacking. Why don't you go put that ad up for the basement apartment?"

Emily nodded and grabbed her laptop out of one of the boxes nearby, and carried it upstairs to their room, sitting on the bed that wasn't made yet. She flipped the screen open and the computer came to life.

She pulled up the website where people were posting looking for roommates or apartments, and began to type.

Large ranch house! There are two other tenants, my boyfriend and I, but we will have the upstairs. Whole furnished basement apartment for you! Basement apartment is one bedroom, one bath, but has own kitchen and patio. $300 a month! Call tel:7732148965 for more information!

She attached a few photos of the basement apartment, and smiled at her work.

Shortly after hitting post, her phone rang. She answered it quickly.

"Hello! This is Emily Miller."

There was a crackling on the other line, before a voice came through.

"Hello Emily. My name is Stanley Higgins. I'm interested in your apartment you have listed."

The man's voice was very deep and assertive, making Emily immediately feel uneasy.

"O-Oh! Well that was very fast!" She stumbled over her words a bit. "One second I'll get my boyfriend he can give you a little more info." She placed him on hold quickly and ran down the stairs, almost running right into Josh.

"Woah there! Steady." He caught her and saw the excited but anxious look on her face.

"Someone is calling about the apartment!" She handed the phone over to Josh, who raised an eyebrow, but took Stanley off hold.

"Hello this is Joshua." He nodded as he listened to what Stanley was saying. He held up a finger and walked into the other room, continuing the convo more in private.

Emily watched from around the corner, curious about if this new man would be their tenant.

After a few painfully long minutes, Josh walked back into the room smiling. "He sounds like a perfect fit. No pets, and he has a stable job so we know his income will be good. I told him to come over tomorrow morning to meet with us and see the place."

Emily bit her lip. "He didn't seem a little off to you?"

"I mean he had a bit of an accent that I couldn't quite place, but overall he sounded like a pretty decent guy. If you still feel weird about it after we meet him, I'll tell him it isn't gonna work out." He placed a gentle kiss on Emily's head and walked back into the kitchen to finish unpacking.

Emily couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she had, no matter how much she tried to distract herself. She began unpacking some of the boxes in the living room, setting up the bookshelves, and hanging the photos on the walls. She couldn't figure out why she was so uncomfortable with the idea of Stanley living with them, and she felt bad for judging someone so hard off of a thirty second conversation. She sighed and finished unpacking the boxes in the living room, before sitting on the couch.

"Hey babe you want pizza for dinner? I'm tired and don't feel like cooking tonight." She asked Josh as he walked in the room.

"Yeah pizza sounds fine."

She went onto her phone and placed a quick pizza order, and she turned on the tv and leaned back against the couch. Josh came and sat next to her and put his arm around her.

"The more we unpack, the more I love this house even more." He glanced around at the nice homey living room, and smiled to himself.

Emily admired him for a few moments before he realized she was watching him.

"What?" He laughed and placed a kiss on her cheek.

She smiled and shrugged. "I just really love you. I'm so happy that we decided to do this."

"Me too, bug." He pulled her closer to him, and flicked on the tv.

The news channel popped up with a breaking news story. Emily leaned forward, listening to the reporter.

"A shocking discovery today at a local high school in Butler County, a young teenager has been found dead in the parking lot. Officials say they have not identified the student yet, or cause of death, but there are some similarities to a few other murders we've had in the past few years. We will be updating every hour as we hear more information."

Emily covered her mouth in shock as she saw the scene on the television. "Oh my god. Who would do such a thing?"

Josh grimaced and flipped the channel to something more positive. "I have no idea. But thankfully that's a few hours away from here. We're safe."

Emily gulped and tried to watch the show Josh had put on, but couldn't shake the feeling of danger. This city was starting to seem a little more sinister than she had originally thought.

"I think I'm just going to head to bed for the night, honey. I'm really tired from unpacking." Emily stood, and sat some cash on the table for Josh to pay for the pizza with, and she placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "I'll see you upstairs when you're ready for bed."

She left the living room before he could say anything, and walked upstairs, shutting the bedroom door behind her. She flipped open her laptop and did a quick google search on their city. After just a few minutes of searching, she found dozens of articles with similar deaths in teenagers aged thirteen to nineteen.

For the past couple years, there had been a serial killer on the loose in Butler County, and the cops had not found any information on him, except that he was a male, and around six feet tall. Emily shuddered as she read some of the articles, shocked to her core at how horrifyingly brutal these murders had been. The teens had all been drained of their blood, and then their bodies were dumped in public areas, where the body would be easily found. But there was never any cuts or bruises on them, which baffled the cops even more.

One report said they thought that it might be connected to a local satanic cult, and could possibly be part of a human sacrifice ritual.

She felt her stomach churn as she continued researching the murders, and she almost jumped out of her skin as Joshua opened the door to their bedroom.

"I thought you were heading to bed." He shut the door behind him, and took his shirt off, setting it on the chair next to their dresser.

"Well I didn't feel good about that news report so I came up here to research it a little." She spun the laptop around, showing him what she had found. 

He sat on the end of the bed and picked up the laptop, scrolling through the mountains of articles she had discovered. "Honey these are all from years ago. I'm sure it's just a coincidence."

She gaped at him, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "A coincidence? Seriously Josh. You can't be that naïve." 

He rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have moved here if I thought we were in any danger."

"I realize that but-"

"No buts. They even said they hadn't determined anything regarding the students death. I would just wait a few days before jumping to any conclusions." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, annoyed. "This is the whole reason we moved away from California. You hear one crime story and you get hooked on it thinking you're in danger until we have to leave. Em, I can't keep doing this." 

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry. You're probably right."

He pulled her into a hug and she breathed in his familiar scent, letting him calm her down. 

"I know it's a scary thing to think about. But I would never let anyone hurt you, and I would never put you in a situation where you would be in danger." He rubbed her back calmingly, and matched his breathing to hers to help relax her.

"I know. It's just.. after everything that happened with Ricky, I don't think I'll ever not be nervous about things like that." She sniffled and hugged Josh a little tighter. 

"I know honey. Let's just try to get some sleep okay? Maybe they'll have an update in the morning." He stood up and put her laptop on the dresser, flicked the light off, and climbed into bed, pulling Emily against him. 

She closed her eyes and tried to think of anything other than the news report and articles. But her mind continued to race.

Finally after a long moment, she drifted off to sleep.