▬▬▬▬▬▬     🔪🩸🧟‍♂️ ｡𖦹 ⋆｡
⋆˚✿˖° 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋     𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 !
೯⠀⁺ ⠀   𖥻 𝗢𝗢𝗢 ⠀ᰋ prologue  ────
୨ 🧠 ୧ #     ❝      hide and seek      ❞

♱

     ୧ ‧₊˚ 🧟‍♀️ ⋅ ☆ 𝓢𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆, horns honking, and babies crying, could be heard. Sounds of chaos and death burned the ears of Skylar Oakley as she curled up in a ball, hugging her knees to her chest as she locked herself in her closet in the hallway. Silent tears streamed down her face as she felt her body shake uncontrollably. Throughout the other sounds polluting the air, Skylar could hear her parents pounding on the closet door she hid herself in. Even being eleven years old, Skylar knew that the things outside the door weren't her parents, at least not anymore.

As they growled and continued to fight against the door, Skylar tightly shut her eyes, her heart pounding and body shaking as she pinched her wrist, until her skin turned red and her eyes began to sting with fresh tears. But when Skylar opened her eyes, she was cursed with the harsh reality.

Suddenly, her parents pounding and growling stopped abruptly. Skylar could feel the fear in her chest as she heard footsteps outside in the hallway. But once the door creaked open slowly, and Skylar got a glimpse of a familiar freckled face, relief rushed through her body, at least for a moment. Skylar leapt into her sister, arms and Gracie held her tightly. Gracie gave Skylar one more squeeze before setting her down on the ground. Skylar didn't look, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the bodies of her parents in a heap pushed to the side. She could see the blood on Skylar's hands as she wiped them off on her shirt. Skylar could feel as her heart beat loudly in her chest, the adrenaline pumping through her body as she followed her sister to their parent's bedroom.

The Oakley parents' room was crystal clean, no trace of what was happening outside the walls of the small bedroom, looking around Skylar could feel tears begin to sting her eyes. But as she watched Gracie make her way over to their Dad's safe, she quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. Gracie quickly entered a six number code and the safe quickly popped open. Reaching into it, Gracie pulled out two guns, both fully loaded.

Skylar watched her sister in awe and  Gracie quickly shot her a small guilty smile, but it quickly faded as the two heard footsteps in the hallway behind them. Gracie quickly moved, and before Skylar knew it she was huddled behind her sister, as Gracie held a gun up, pointing towards the hallway they had just came from.

"What the fuck ?!"

August slowly entered the room with his hands above his head, his eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth in a frown.

" Jesus August! You scared me . . . where the fuck were you? " Gracie laughed as she grabbed August by his shirt collar before engulfing him in a huge hug. Skylar watched from behind them, aware of how August was shaking. As the two pulled away from the hug, his face was damp with fresh
tears.

August glanced around the room quickly before turning to Gracie. "Where is Juniper?" He practically yelled, his eyes darting around the room, and landing on Skylar.

The feeling of relief quickly drained from the room as terror took its place in the three siblings.

Shame washed over Skylar as she realized she hadn't even noticed that her younger sister was missing. Juniper usually blended into the background, her soft spoken voice, and her introverted personality made her easy to forget.

Gracie ran a hand through her hair, a sigh leaving her lips and her brows furrowed in concern.

" Where would she be? She couldn't have gone very far," Gracie spoke, a slight shake to her voice as she looked desperately at August.

August didn't speak, his brown eyes deep with concern and Skylar could tell he was deep in thought, thinking of where their younger sister could have gone.

" I know where she is. " Skylar finally spoke up, her two older siblings turned to her, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of  pride.

     ୧ ‧₊˚ 🧟‍♀️ ⋅ ☆ 𝓣𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐎𝐀𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 stood at the back door, looking through the clear glass at the backyard.

Their father was always promising to build a fence around their yard, but he had never gotten around to it. But as the three watched the dead infest their yard, they knew that he had made a big mistake.

" She's up there?" August questioned Skylar an uncertain tone to his voice as they all looked up at the large tree in their backyard.

"Whenever we play hide and seek, she always loves to hide in that tree." Skylar shrugged, she didn't mention that hide and seek became boring after she figured out Juniper always hid in that one tree.

" You really think she's in there?" August asked again. The three didn't want to think of the alternative if she wasn't in that tree.

" I'll go get her." Gracie spoke up, a determined look in her eyes as she looked at the tree.

Skylar shook her head, "You can't. I will, you two can distract and get the people . . ." Skylar hesitated, not knowing what else to call them, " . . . out of my way so I can get up to the tree."

August and Gracie looked at Skylar in surprise, not even trying to hide the looks on their faces. Gracie nodded at August before they shared a look. " Whatever you do, don't turn around." Gracie walked over to Skylar before kneeling down in front of her. " No matter what happens you need to bring Juniper down and bring her to safety."

Skylar nodded, knowing exactly what her sister meant, even at her young age.

Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, Skylar pulled open the sliding glass door, before taking one last look at her siblings before running as fast as her legs could take her to the treehouse where her sister hid.

ᡣ𐭩 •｡ꪆৎ ˚⋅ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ! 🧟🥀🔪

🪽₊˚⊹ Thanks so much for reading the prologue ! Sorry this took forever to put out, I was stuck on what to write for a while but here it is! Sorry if there are any mistakes, I don't feel like going back and checking. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

୨୧ 𝓛𝐎𝐕𝐄, 𝓶𝖾𝗋𝖼𝖾𝖽𝖾𝗌 📚☕️🎧