Sam's father was the first to die... and it was our fault.

My mother took Sam home on the night of the aborted séance and rang the Kleinburg doorbell until a disheveled and sleepy Kathy Kleinburg answered holding a baseball bat.

Mom explained what had happened and the two women commiserated with each other over what rotten children they were raising. After my mother left, Sam got a thorough dressing down to go along with the one she had received at my house. Unfortunately, Sam felt this was entirely unfair and that's she got angry.

"I can't believe you would do this to me Samantha... embarrassing me in front of Mrs. Brown!" Kathy yelled slamming her hand down on the dining room table. The pepper shaker went over spraying black dots over the white table cloth.

Sam rounded on her. "Oh yes, it's all about you isn't it mother! You're embarrassed... but you haven't even asked my side of the story, have you?"

"I don't need to hear your side of it, you snuck out what more do I need to know. The Brown's will never trust me again. Don't you even think before you –,"

"There it is again, 'me, me, me' that's all you ever think of! You're so selfish!" Sam was crying now but she armed the tears away angrily and turned towards the stairs and her bedroom.

"And just where to do you think you're going, young lady? We're not done talking about this, so get your butt back here!" Kathy started after her, her slippers flapping loudly on the hardwood floor.

"We're not talking! You're yelling and I'm leaving!" Sam shot back, storming up the stairs and missing a step in her haste. Her knee slammed the edge of the fourth step and she cried out in pain.

"Sam, get back –," Kathy started just as Sam fell.

"Oh, shit... are you all right?" She asked hastily, reaching out to help Sam up.

Sam batted away her hands. "What the fuck do you care!" she said through clenched teeth trying to ignore the pain.

"I do care! I just –,"

A huge lump was growing on Sam's knee and she rubbed at it furiously.

"You 'just' don't trust me!"

"How the Hell am I supposed to trust you if you go off sneaking around behind my back!"

"Well you are the expert on sneaking around, aren't you Kathy? Maybe I should leave. Then you can have the house to yourself and fuck some more of the neighbours!"

Kathy slapped Sam's face. She didn't mean to do it. Didn't even think of doing it... in fact, her brain was still trying to make sense of what Sam had said when she felt her palm strike her daughter's cheek with a resounding 'whack' that echoed up the stairs and through the house.

Sam's eyes flew open in shock. She was so surprised she didn't even register the pain of the slap. Slowly her hand rose to her cheek and pressed against the place where a red handprint was beginning to bloom.

"You hit me," she said in a calm quiet voice as if simply stating the fact.

Kathy's own hands came up to cover her mouth in anguish, they were shaking.

"Sam... I'm... I'm sorry... I just –,"

"You... bitch..." Sam whispered with pure hatred.

"Sam –."

"I'm calling Dad." Sam pushed past her mother, went to the kitchen and picked up the telephone.

Kathy watched, too stunned to speak and slowly sat down on the stairs. Tears began to trickle down her face and she put her head in her hands.

The affair had been short and Kathy had believed that Sam knew nothing about it. The man in question was not really a neighbour per se. He lived four blocks over and they had met at, of all places, the grocery store. It had started with innocent chitchat every Thursday as they did their shopping, then a quick coffee at a place called BeanTown, and eventually ended in Bill Gagner's bedroom.

Sam's father had found out through the grapevine. Tongue's wagged and rumours began their rounds of mutual acquaintances and then close friends. Sam was away on a school trip when Ian Kleinburg confronted his wife with the charges and Kathy, to her credit, came clean immediately. After the yelling and crying were done they decided to see if the marriage could be salvaged.

They told Sam only that they were having trouble and seeking counseling, so how she had found out the truth, Kathy had no idea.

The divorce came eight months later with little fanfare. Ian moved out leaving the Kathy with the house and keeping his pension and half of the money in their joint chequing account. Sam was sad, but at least they had stopped arguing and she happily spent every other weekend with him in his bachelor apartment which was cramped but acceptable.

In the kitchen Sam got her father on the phone and, feeling like a complete shit, Kathy tried to hear what they were saying. She missed most of it but it was apparent Ian was coming right over and that made her cry even harder.

Sam waited by the door, refusing the speak to Kathy and when Ian's car pulled into the driveway she ran out and got into the passenger seat before her mother could stop her.

Ian came in and they spoke for a while and then with a shrug, he came back to the car and sat down to talk to his daughter. He and Kathy had agreed that it would not be right for her to go back to his apartment with things the way they were between Sam and her mother. Kathy had charged him with 'talking some sense into Sam' and he was willing to try.

"Sam..."

"Can we just go, Dad? Please." She said sounding on the verge of tears.

"We need to talk, Sam. You can't just leave like this, it's not right."

"She hit me! I never want to see her again! Please, I just want to live with you!"

"I know what happened and your mother is very sorry, but you haven't exactly been an angel in all this either. I mean what were you thinking sneaking out and going into the woods in the middle of the night?"

"You wouldn't understand..." she sobbed.

Her father gave her a small smile place a finger under her chin to lift her face up to look at him.

"Try me..."

Like a dam bursting the story of Luca, Joey, the séance and finally the bright strobing lights in the forest came flooding out of Sam. She said it all in one long breathless, sobbing run-on sentence and then practically collapsed in her seat.

Ian was shocked by all of it and curious too.

"Well, Sam –," he started, trying to think of what to say.

She turned her back on him and stared out of the passenger side window, her small back ramrod straight and her shoulders stiffening.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me." She muttered.

Ian reached out and then pulled his hand back sensing she would pull away if he touched her.

"I didn't say that, honey."

"It happened just the way I said it did! If you don't believe me then let's go back there right now, I'll show you!"

"Sam... your mother—,"

"How can you be on her side after what she did to you!"

"I'm not taking sides." He said, and now he did reach out and put his hand on her shoulder. She stiffened.

"Then let me prove it to you—,"

Ian shook his head resignedly.

"Okay, Sam, but I don't see what difference it's going to make."

Sam pulled open her door and jumped out immediately and began to drag him towards the Browns house and up then up the path towards the back yard. Ian considered knocking on the door but all the lights in the house where out and he didn't plan to stay back there long. Just enough time to let Sam get it out of her system and then he would bring her back and they would all sit down and talk it out.

Sam sprinted across the backyard to Luca's grave and looked at it in horror. Ian saw the look on her face and raced to catch up to her.

"What is it, honey."

Sam pointed at the ground and he looked down. There was a flagstone stuck in the dirt sitting at a forty-five-degree angle and in front of it was a muddy hole about three feet deep.

"L – L – L – Lucaaaahhhhh," she moaned her voice sounding like it was being squeezed through a very long, tight innertube.

There was the crack of a branch breaking somewhere in the forest beyond and Ian jumped a little. Then he kneeled down in front of Sam, noticing with concern that she was shaking and her skin seemed to have lost all of its colour.

"Sam? Are you alright, sweety?"

There was another cracking this one much closer and then a long low growl that made the hairs on the back of Ian's neck stand on end. He rose and shoved Sam behind him. Wordlessly he began to back away from the woods shielding his daughter.

"Come on Sam, let's get back home." He whispered, trying unsuccessfully to hide his concern.

Ian Kleinburg was all too aware of the fact that these woods were home to a few wild dogs and, even worse, a small pack of coyotes. Last year, after Mrs. Fields Chihuahua had been attacked and torn apart as she watched, he had been part of the neighbourhood meetings deciding what to do about this place. In fact, just last month the final vote to bulldoze the area and build tract houses had passed five to one. His friend Ed Walthers, the same man who had informed him that his wife was stepping out, had called him just the other day with the news.

The animal growled again, loud and deep in its throat and Ian took another step back. He couldn't see it yet but it sounded big and he wanted very much to turn and run. If Sam hadn't been with him he would have done exactly that. Behind him, she was sniffling and sobbing as he pushed her back keeping his body between Sam and whatever was coming out of the woods.

"Oh my God..." Sam said suddenly. "It's Luca... Luca's not dead... he dug himself out. It's Luca, Dad!"

She was pushing against him now trying to go back towards the forest. Ian held her back. He knew Luca and there was no way that growl, like the sound of a sick Harley-Davidson revving, was coming from Joe Brown's little dog.

"No, Sam... don't"

She pushed by him and stepped forward just as the thing leapt out of the tree line, its huge teeth gnashing and saliva flying as it roared.

Ian threw himself at it flinging Sam out of its' path and colliding with the huge animal in midair. There was a bone-crunching collision and the two of them hit the ground to Sam's left in an insane twisting tangle of man and beast. Ian's screams mixed with the creatures deep growls and screeches as they fought. Finger-long teeth sunk deep into Ian's neck and then tore away a huge chunk of flesh and muscle. Blood sprayed across the lawn and spattered Sam's bare feet as she watched in horror to stunned to move. The light suddenly came on at the back of the Browns house and John Brown was running out into the yard in his pajamas with a rifle in his hands.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" John Brown screamed at the sight of Ian and the huge animal flailing in the grass. He raised the gun but realized he couldn't fire without the very real possibility of hitting Ian.

Sam found her voice then and screamed at the terrible site of her limp father in the jaws of... whatever had come out of the forest. It most certainly wasn't sweet little Luca as she had believed a moment before. She watched in horror as it clamped its incredible teeth around Ian's head and bit down with enough force to squeeze his left eyeball from the socket with a sickening pop. She heard his skull crack with the pressure. This couldn't be happening, it was all too much.

Sam turned and ran blindly out of Joe's backyard just wanting only to get away from the sight and sound of it. She sprinted up the side of the house and as she crossed the front lawn heading away from her own home she heard a single gunshot. At the same moment, her feet tangled and she sprawled, banging her head on the sidewalk and losing consciousness.