Hell-Coming

(Be warned it is long)

Tuesday October 20
Sorry I haven’t been able to write much. My parents wanted me to document everything that happens during my senior year of high school so that I can remember the good times. Personally, I enjoy being able to do this, but I will have enough memories as it is. I have been busy with school work and setting up for massive parties and events for Homecoming here next week so I cannot write as much as I want, and when I do, I usually play games and focus on other future projects.
Nothing has changed in Little Root, Virginia from the time I got here eight years ago. The grass is still green. The trees are still tall and the forest around us still makes this little town feel like a bowl. Homeless people still litter the streets asking for money or a place to live. Only difference is that this is my last year of high school and I can finally get out of this town and see the world outside of the forest. Nothing exciting happens here. There is the occasional fight in school but everything else seems to run as if by clockwork. The same people come into McDonalds at the same time, same day, every week and order the same exact food. The Goth kid, Jake Parsons I believe is his name, always leaves school to smoke pot by the dumpster outside of McDonalds while a hobo condoms him and then comes in and orders two bacon-cheese burgers, two servings of large fries, and a large drink which he constantly fills with Diet Mountain Dew. The hookers from the bar across the street usually come in around noon to order a few Big Macs and a salad so that they can stay thin and have their “dates” feed them. Even the Vegans come through here to only order salads every Wednesday at seven-o’clock p.m.
A freeway goes through town and usually the people who get on it are tourists that want a scenic view of the Virginia forest. No one purposefully comes to Little Root and those that do are gone the next day. Everyone has almost all their family members here. The major tries his best to have people come in, but after the highway was built in the 1970s Little Root was never the same.
I still have this feeling though. The same feeling I had when I moved here. As if there is more to Little Root than meets the eye.

Saturday October 24
Homecoming starts in two days. The cute boy that sits in my Spanish class, the one I have been having a huge crush on ever since I saw him, Steven, even asked me to the dance on Friday. I am so excited. The teachers are even going easy on the few of us that have to help set up and allowed us to turn in our work later. Nothing could possibly ruin this week!
However, that is not to say that the rest of what happened these past few days haven’t been affecting me. The old hobo that lives right outside McDonalds has started proclaiming the end of the world. He says that in seven days everyone would be taken away and flung straight to Hell. He yelled at everyone to leave this town. Of course no one paid any attention to him. Everyone knows his story on why he is a hobo. He was caught cheating on his wife with his secretary inside the Catholic Church down on Mary Street. After all of divorce papers were issued, he went on drinking and gambling and lost all of his money. He was thrown out of the Church and his secretary left him because he had no money. No he sits outside McDonalds in his self-loathing and lives on the food that the manager sends out to him. Now the old hobo’s loathing is gone. He seems full of vigor and determines to have people leave before it is too late. I hate to agree with the majority of people in this town, but he has to leave as well.
On the topic of people preaching, Jake Parsons has started preaching the new ways of his master. That all other religions fail in comparison to his master’s great and powerful will. That he can answer all of life’s great questions and that no one will feel obligated to follow him as they have with other religions. His master would be walking among them and would build a relationship with all of his children. Everyone thought he must have been trying a new drug and that he was imagining all of the meetings he has had with the new god as some sort of hallucination. Let’s face it. He may have been high while he was preaching anyway.
However, I have also found the word “Croatoan” carved on the telephone pole that is next to where the main road crosses another road that leads into the suburbs on one side, and the lake on the other. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I also swear that it sparked a bit whenever I touched it. I remember in history class that the word was written on the fence in the Roanoke Colony when they disappeared, but I doubt that the same thing will happen to us.

Sunday October 25
The preaching pot head keeps going at it. He even claims that his master has given him the power over everything living and dead. Others are starting to flock to him, but I believe it is mostly out of confusion and feeling like they need to belong to something. Jake has even been having sermons in the streets proclaiming his master is the new savior and that those who willingly follow him will be eternally grateful and blessed beyond their wildest dreams.
On the other side of this new spiritual warfare, the hobo has disappeared. After three days of constantly preaching about how God is the only truth and light and that the town was dead after seven days, no one has seen him. He was also having sermons in the streets, but no one believed him and even the church has disregarded him as a rational man. “The world is not going to end this soon everyone,” the pastor said reassuringly at service today. “Nothing will go on in this town and everything will remain the same.”
I can’t help but be skeptical. The feeling I had a few days ago is back. There is something else happening in this town.
Homecoming starts tomorrow though. I am so excited. All the hard work and the perfect guy will be accompying me to the dance on Friday. I have the perfect dress and nothing could go wrong. Though my best friend Kelsey has also considered joining the new religious group and urges me to come join them for the festivity on Wednesday. I don’t plan to go because all of the rest of the Homecoming people who prepared it will be at the fancy restaurant in town for a massive good job feast. I want to eat.

Monday October 26
Jake approached me today and asked if I could join in his communion on Wednesday night and be adopted into his church of my own free will. That was a deal breaker. After all the times I have called his new cult stupid, he dares ask me to it. No. I declined his invitation and went on my way. Though I thought I could feel him giving me a creepy smile and murmuring, “You will soon princess. You will soon.” I used to date Jake back in middle school but he turned massively creepy so I broke up with him. He has yet to prove to me that he has changed, but he still calls me “Princess” even though I have asked him to stop hundreds of times. Anyway, his little organization has been gaining followers even more the past few days. He even has people coming in that don’t even go to high school anymore. Retired army vets and lumberjacks are seen with the hookers-to-be and the pot heads from my school. I may have even seen a member of the church in the group once.
My friend Kelsey even states that she has seen Jake raise an animal from the dead. She claims that his power over life and death is only surpassed by the one who gave him the powers. I doubt the reliability of such an event occurring. No one has ever been able to do such a thing. Only one who has was written in the Bible. All I know is that more people have been itching to go and I am one of the only few that do not wish to partake in the cult. I have even seen Steven act as if he is interested.
I don’t know what this town is coming to. It is only the second day of Homecoming and most of the town’s people are too focused on the cult to worry about the big game. I should have left with the hobo when I had the chance.

Tuesday October 27
Jake approached me again today to ask me to come. He says that everyone at school will be there. That he even has turned water to wine and has made all the signs that prove he is a prophet of the gods. Nothing seems to get through to him that I am not interested in what his cult can offer me. Nothing will make him seem interesting and nothing will ever make him become a person of interest for me again.
Kelsey doesn’t think the same way I do. She has seen his work and proclaims that it is in fact real. I swear she would sleep with him whenever she could. She was addicted to whatever magic spell he had her under. I tried telling her that he is only doing this to get with me, but she didn’t believe. She was hung up on that he was the new savior that she ignored the fact that Jake has been stalking me the past two days.
I did manage to find some people, though, that were not interested in whatever Jake had to offer. They were against his new religion and everyone seemed to find that it was as cultish as everything else. We planned on hiding out in the hotel across the street if we needed to. I don’t think we need to though. It sounds like this cult is going to end soon.

Wednesday October 28
Today was the day that most people are going to the communion and those of us who are sane are climbing up the hotel and setting up a place that we can live while this is going on. We decided on making the penthouse our main office while all other rooms are being used by the three-hundred of us that are living there if anything happens. Class was canceled today due to the massive amount of people preparing themselves for the day that they will be part of their church.
I have also heard that most people, who were not part of that church, tried to leave and were blocked by members of that church with guns and a giant log pile blocking the path. Come to think of it, the deliveries for the multiple stores and chain restaurants never arrived when they were supposed to on Tuesday. There were even fewer people that came through town as well. Granted, we usually never have people, but tourists often come through here about this time to be on the lake or frolic through the forest. Now, no one was coming through.
My parents tried contacting my other family members that were not in town earlier this morning, hoping to have everyone gather to celebrate Halloween and see me get nominated to be a Homecoming attendant, but the line was dead. There was no cell phone service either. Kelsey was almost panicking whenever she found out but was quickly calmed by Jake. I swear he has her wrapped around his little finger but she has not realized that he keeps on stalking me.
Tony, the leader of the resistance to that church, even tried to send out more code signals, but it could not reach outside the bowl. We were isolated within the town. And the “Croatoan” word that was inscribed on the telephone pole at the center of town looked as if it was glowing brighter.

Thursday October 29
It has finally happened. It happened earlier than expected. We thought it would at least take a week to do it. We were wrong.
It started after midnight last night. The communion had happened and the cult drank blood that smelled like sulfur. Even the ones that were situated on the roads that were trying to stop people from leaving managed to participate by filling up water bottles with the substance. At midnight, everyone drank the blood and became one with the church. How Jake instigated this entire process, I do not know. But he even managed to get my date for the dance on Friday to participate. They went crazy.
Jake proclaimed over the radio that everyone would be brought before the Church of Croatoan and everyone would be a part of the biggest event in history. Then the other member of his congregation broke into everyone’s houses and then proceeded to bleed on them. After they did that, the victims that were bleeding on got up and continued to do the same thing to those that were not already a part of the church. Mine was possible one of the first houses attacked.
Kelsey and Steven showed up at my house about twelve-thirtyish and were covered in the sulfur smell. I couldn’t even look at them without catching a big whiff of it and tearing up. My parents came to greet them, and as soon as they did, the guests brought out knifes and pushed them against the wall. They slight their wrists and the arms of my parents and rubbed their bloody wrist all over the open wounds. My parents struggled just a bit and then were stiff as the poison took its course. My “friends” let them go whenever my parents woke up and then all of them tried to chase me and bleed into any wounds they can make. I only heard them moaning, “Come join us Linda. Jake wants you to be his bride.” Even Kelsey, who I swore had the biggest crush on the pot head, wanted to make me his bride.
That wasn’t the worst part of it. The entire town seemed to have been under control of the cult. They seemed to join by the blood even if they hated the entire Church of Croatoan. They handful of us that did manage to escape made it to the hotel and barricade the place. That was difficult for most that were father away from the main center of town. They had to run past multiple waves of the cult. I was one of the few that managed to live. Only thing I do have now is this journal hoping to keep calm and hopefully tell the world about this event if no one manages to escape.
I am looking out of the window and I see multitudes of people gathering around the center of town with Jake being carried by the people. He seemed to know I am up here and he smiled and waved at me. He is now proclaiming that we will be a part of his church no matter how much we wanted not to. That I, Linda Reed, would be his queen. That he cast a wish on his god to be with me and make me his queen in exchange for him becoming a prophet of his. The Catholic Church leaders that were now part of his church are now praising Croatoan’s name and continuing to bless different people around the crowd.
And the telephone pole that had his name inscribed was looking like it was going to light on fire. Croatoan is brightly glowing and I think I see a face with horns of pure black fire.

Friday October 30
I think we have found the hobo preacher. Tony went downstairs to get dry food from the basement and asked me to go with him. We picked up the potatoes and bread and found a body bag that was almost animating its smell. We pulled it out of the corner and unzipped it and I about screamed. The skin was decomposing but you could still tell by the sleek determination and fuzzy chin that this was him. His skin was almost glued to his bones and there were holes all over his clothes and skin. Bugs were crawling out of the creases made by his skin and clothes. He smelled worse than the sulfur smelling people. We decided to be quiet and zipped him up and pushed him back into the corner. We couldn’t tell the others.
The few of us that were up there were almost hopeless. We wished to be with our friends, families and loved ones. Tony tried to keep everyone’s spirits up but we could even tell he was missing them. I wished to be in the arms of Steven or at least go to the movies with Kelsey.
I almost opened up the barricade to let them in. Become part of the group. Luckily, Tony pulled me aside and stopped the group from progressing. And Jake continued to preach to us telling us to join. To be a part of the family. To feel loved.

Saturday October 31
People have finally given up. It’s only me now. The rest of the group went ahead and opened the doors to allow the cult to run in and get have them become a part of it. Tony and I tried to fight them off, but it failed. The stormed the floors looking for us and Tony was pulled into the group after he managed to push me into the closet and had me lock the door. I am still currently here. The only survivor of the Little Root Tragedy. I want to just open up the door and allow the people to take me in. Bleed on me and make me a sister of the church. Jake is having my family yelling at me to join them. Kelsey has pleaded with me to make me join. Claiming that it is the best thing in the world. Even Steven is making me heartbroken and says that I would be best to live with Jake. He could save me and protect me. All Steven wanted to do was rape me and make me want to go back to Jake. I can’t listen to the people I love tell me it is over. That I was doomed to be with Jake and love it. I am almost reaching for the lock and letting the people come in. I almost want to join. I can be happy. I don’t know. They constantly pound on the door and I need to be with them. I only need the extra inch…

Name: Anthony “Tony” Night Date: November 2, 2015
Report:
We got a call on October 30 from the River Valley High School football coach at about ten o’clock p.m. to investigate what is happening inside Little Root, Virginia after they claimed that a giant tree was blocking the road into the little town and there were people with guns preventing the others from moving the tree out of the way. We figured it was just a busted up telephone line that the tree fell on, but we were concerned about the people who were guarding the tree, so we sent out a dispatch to investigate. After they got there, there was a commotion and gunshots were heard coming across the radio before it went silent. I was on the next dispatch ordered out there at about midnight, and I saw the dead bodies of the cops piled up in front of a pile of trees that looked as if a construction hook was used to put it up there. The people on guard were still standing there, but there was no reason to because of the ammine size of the trees. We tried negotiating with them, which took until about noonish even after they changed shifts, but they refused to budge. We even called in the tear gas, but they remained still and were immune to its effects. We blamed it on gas masks, but to me it looked they were just standing there with no mask at all.
The entire troop came and we tried to negotiate further, but the armed guards refused to cooperate. Tanks and helicopters were of no use to us due to the amount of leaves blocking the sky and the trees preventing any type of vehicular driver from driving on the road unless they were specifically ready for it. The guards destroyed most of the road anyway. They eventually left around ten p.m. on October 31, but their damage had been done. The roads were impassible and we had to get a big crane in order to move the logs out of the way. By the time that was over, there was a big flame coming from the town and sulfur was raining down around us. We tried to work faster, but there was nothing we could do. It was as if they tipped over a log carrying truck to build the barricade that was in front of us.
We eventually made it in, but dawn was coming up behind us on the morning of November 1. The entire town looked as if they just had a festival celebrating a homecoming win, but there was no one to be found. It looked like the town had just suffered from a massive terrorist attack. Windows and doors were broken into and the entire town looked as if a flaming vortex was plastered all over the walls. Ash was everywhere.
We approached the center of town and found that it was decorated to look as if it was a place to welcome someone home. There was a red carpet stretched down the middle of the road and a big chair on a pedestal was at the end of it, with two sets of other chairs next to it. Beside the chair on the farthest left was a journal with the name Linda Reed written on it, but that wasn’t the only disturbing thing. At the other end of the carpet was a pentagram that was drawn in blood and the fire looked as if it was centered on that spot. Beyond that was what was left of a telephone pole: A charred piece of wood with “Croatoan” inscribed in its texture.
I have no idea where the people went or what happened in the town. The people at the site sent samples of the ash to the forensic labs hoping to find remains of at least one human being, but none has been found. We searched the place up and down, but there was no one around. Though I swear I saw a black-cloaked man dip into the shadows in one of the alleyways, but when I went to check, he was gone.
I have no idea what has happened at Little Root, but I feel like some other presence has awakened and is hungry for more.