The news of Ashley Roses disappearance traveled fast through the small area that Candlest took up. It was less like a wildfire and more like a powerful wind. It swept over rooftops and made an eerie silence of the whole town. It was a warning for parents to wield against unruly children, it was an excuse for the schools to get more funding, and it was an opportunity for a curfew to be placed. Francis, who was nine at the time, was hardly aware of  these changes. In her eyes the only thing that Ashley’s disappearance really affected was her twin brother Brigham. Sure,  Francis could no longer go to parks with her friends, or run around the neighborhood, or set up the sprinkler in their front yard. But that all had to do more with her being forced into becoming Brigham’s caretaker.  She was allowed to go into the woods only to make sure that he wouldn’t get lost, or she’d follow him around their parent’s' plant nursery watching him pick up lizards that zipped around in the underbrush. 

He liked to spend hours up in the tree outside of the nursery just holding these lizards while they squirmed in his hands. But after Ashley's disappearance this fascination of his quickly escalated to dissecting the lizards.  Francis would gag as she watched him emotionlessly take them apart. Whenever she tried to sneak away her mom would catch her and make her go back to Brigham’s side. It was only much later that Francis realized their mom had just wanted to help Brigham compensate for the loss. Francis hadn’t known  that Ashley and her brother had been best friends. So, Francis was forced to continue this routine, watching her brother fall deeper and deeper into a pit of lizard innards  and the strange world inside his own head. He started to read books that their mom would pry out of his hands. Books about things like the occult, crystals, and pagan traditions. Francis took vague interest in them but seeing how her mom reacted she decided to stay away. 

This is a story about Ashley and how the world can be a ghastly place. This is also a story about Francis, and how she watched her brother spiral until she could barely look his way anymore. There are characters who will reveal themselves soon. There are characters who will die, who will live, who will fight, and characters that you might regret knowing so well. 

Welcome to the apocalypse, the bourgeoisie, the group of teenagers who snicker, and, most of all, the boy with visions.