Halloween - Carving a Pumpkin

I decided to try my hand a free drawing a picture and then do my best to transfer it over to pumpkin.

Cut the paper and used a normal Carving kit to poke holes around my lines.

The two biggest pieces were cut out.

Cut up and cleaned. I put the candle in but you cant really tell.

Scary Witch!!! I was pretty happy with it and it looks just like my drawing.

32 - The Vander House - 3

The group of kids around me. All of them are nervous and even though they agreed to speak with me, no one wanted to talk. So I picked one of them and started asking questions.

“OK.” I said “so you think that Kevin is either in the house or somehow in the well. Then what?” One of them looks at me, he seems to be the leader of the group. He starts “ We were all on Skype just talking about it. We knew he had to be there. We felt responsible, you know? “ I nod my head and agree. Kevins parents had scolded all the kids and blamed them for Kevin disappearing.

He then started the story. The other boys all jumped in during this recounting And they proceeded to tell me the story as a group as they each told me individually. They had decided to meet up at the house early in the morning. This would give them as much daylight time to search around. One of the group had done some rock climbing at the gym with his parents and understood knots and hooks. He would bring his gear so, if it were necessary to head down the well and look there. Another kid brought some basic camping equipment including lanterns, canteens, and a small tool box.

The all went through the front door and past the police tape. They decided to split up into groups of 3 and 2. Kevin went in alone and it seems that none of them wanted to be alone. Three of the boys went to the second floor while a pair decided to check the first floor. The house had a deep film of neglect and dust. There were broken beer bottles in some of the rooms and most of the furniture that was there was destroyed to one degree or another. In the master bedroom across the wall was spray painted “Whores must be killed” followed by three swastikas. The upstairs master bath was in complete disrepair, and contained nothing of interest. The young boy's room however was different.

In here there was also a film of dust over everything, however that was the only noticeable change. The room was left alone. The rest of the house had creaky doors, floors, broken windows, and the sound of the wind. This room was quiet. Stepping into the room made all other noise fall away. You could hear your heart beating. You could hear the heart of the person next to you. Each of the kids that went upstairs described this separately and mentioned that they had never before felt so isolated from the rest of the world. They were all glad that they went up together. One of them said that being alone together is what let them leave the room. They suggested that if one of them had come in alone, they silence and unease of this place would have driven them crazy, and they also suggested that no one had been in that room since the boy was killed years ago.

I mentioned to them that when I looked through the police report, there were no pictures of the room, that I could find. It is also not mentioned at all even in passing. Viewing blueprints of the house, the child's bed was directly above the well shaft in the basement. Perhaps whatever is down there pools in this room?

The kids upstairs continue to look around the children's room. When when of them went to pick up an object, a force knocked it out of their hand. The object fell onto the floor with a loud bang, startling the rest of the kids. They then described what happened next “After the toy hit the floor, we all jumped. It broke the horrible tension in the room and then we three looked at each other and laughed. A voice from downstairs called up and said “Are you guys alright?” “Yeah” we yelled back. Then we stopped laughing. After we had all taken our eyes off the toy it started to move. No roll, like on a hill but move. Like it was being dragged. It was dragged slowly across the wooden floor. Achingly slow it traveled, then the screeching started. Screeech. The quiet and tension of the room came flooding back. The door started to close. One of the kids jammed his foot in between the door and the frame to stop it. Everyone had looked away to see the door and when they had looked back. The toy and the sound were gone.

The kids started to panic, toys just do not disappear. Then the laughing. Quiet, quiet laughter slithered into their ears. “Hello?” One of the kids said. “Is someone there?” But there was no answer, only the laughter. A small childs giggle, like he was playing a game and hoping to be caught. One of the kids lowered himself down to the floor level and using his flash light looked under the dresser. No toy, now the sound of someone swallowing their laugh. The flashlight then moved to the shelving that originally held the toy. Nothing was there either. The quiet moved in on all of them again. The kid then turned the light to under the bed. There was an old blanket still hanging down and covering the side and part of the floor. Near that blanket was clean marks like something had been pushed under it.

They kid moved over to the bed, when suddenly “What are you doing man? Dont look under the bed.” The kid stopped. “That thing went somewhere, maybe there's something wrong with the floor and its point at a trap door or something.” The kid said. “Well that's fine, but you know you don't look under the bed, right?”

The kid ignored his friend and moved closer to the bed. He got down as low as he could and slowly lifted the cover. There the toy stood, it was some kind of wooden bear with one of his jeweled eyes missing. Then from the shadows a hand reached out and grabbed it, “got cha!” a voice screamed, and a pair of blue eyes and old small teeth appeared out of the black. “Nooooo!” the kid screamed and ran for the door. The others ran right behind him and out of the room. The door then silently closed and locked itself.

The kids raced downstairs to find their friends who were examining items in the kitchen. The boy who looked under the bed was babbling about some kind of creature that tried to grab him. He then said “I can’t do this” and he left the house. They grabbed him and said they needed him to find Kevin. “I don’t think we are going to find Kevin.” He told them. This intervention seems to have been enough to calm his nerves because he stayed. The other boys who had gone upstairs tried to explain what had happened. The others did not believe them. “There has to be some kind of explanation. Let's go check it out”

31 - The Vander House - Part 2

Kevin Raymen was a 15 year old boy who lived near the old hill neighborhood. Old Hill was the name it was given after the last people there died and everyone moved away. He was dared by his friends to enter the house , head down the stairs, and take a selfie with the well spot. A known spot on the basement concrete where there is major discoloration from the well below or from the woman who died there. Kevin went into the house at approximately 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon. The quest should have been easy, in through a broken first floor window, down the stairs, snap the selfie, then back out. After 15 minutes his friend who were outside heard a scream and a door slam. Two of his friend went into the window after. They told police later that they have figured he fell down or scared himself and ran into a door. They were not able to find him and the door to the basement was locked and would not open. They also reported a strange small noise, that they described as kind of a whine. The boys assumed that it was Kevin stuck at the bottom of the stairs in the basement.

The two boys went back to the window and had their friends call the police. When police arrived the broke down the front door and with great effort broke down the basement door. There was no Kevin. They did find his phone with a picture of him in front of an open well shaft. The strange thing was, the well shaft was closed when the police arrived. They questioned the other kids, thinking they had been there before. The kids swear they hadn't and later investigation of the phone would show that the pictures were taken that day.

The police even went as far as breaking the top cap of the well and sending men down to see if Kevin had fallen down the shaft and perhaps the cap had closed on its own. But to no avail, there was no body found at the bottom of the well shaft and no body was found at the house. Currently police believe that this was a prank gone wrong and that perhaps the kids were playing a well planned prank.

The kids of course, denied this. Even if it was a prank why would Kevin have disappeared for so long? If they had recorded it to put on the internet, where is the footage? The kids claim and continue to claim that it was just a dumb idea they had one day. Kevin went in the house, screamed, disappeared, they called the police and then Kevin was gone. Kevins parents did everything they could to locate the boy. Search parties were sent to the area no less than four times. 13 days later late at night, there was a scream heard from the area of the house. A local boy claimed that it was screaming for help and said “They have me down here, but I got away, please someone help me...please help me!”. Police searched the house again and came up empty. They once again claimed that they were pranked and rounded up the orginal kids. They all had solid alibis either reliable business owners or their parents.

On the 17th day since Kevin went missing. He friends, the kids from the original dare decided that they needed to go look for Kevin. They knew the stories, they know what they were told by the police, but they did not believe it. Kevin was somewhere in that house, either in the house proper or deep in the well shaft. They were going to go in there and find him.

Five boys gathered infront of the Vander house on a Saturday morning loaded with backpacks of flashlights, rope, first aid kits, walkie-talkies, and radios. Five kids went into the Vander house to find their friend. The story they came back with was the most fantastical thing I had ever heard and I will do my best to put it down on paper. Even now I think of their fantastic story and my mind goes dark. According to the boys the places they went were not to be described, even though I will try. I first interviewed them separately to get each of their stories, then i interviewed them as a group. I still cannot believe the things they told me.

30 - The Vander House

Every town and city has an Elm Street - Freddy Krueger

Every place has its own superstitions. Every place has its own myths. Every place has its own haunted lands. In my hometown Hanlon, that place is a house. We always called it, “The House” but someone who was into town history might call it the Vander mansion. Hanlon is a town that could never quite be a city.

The town was founded 150 years ago. Tradition talk about how a wagon train heading to California got stuck in the mud and the settlers decided that stopping here was as good a place as any. We tend to believe that they should have just kept going, cause as then, I would call this place a mud pit. As many small towns it grew up around travel and trade from the populated east coast, and the settlers, prospectors, and trappers in the west. The city is build on a mostly flat plain that turns to swamp after a good rain. Those who were able to get ahead built their homes on the only hill in the area. This hill area is also known as “ The gold mine”. This was based on a rumor that the only reason anyone in this town was able to get wealthy was by finding a gold mine under their homes.

Of all the houses on the hill the most extravagant was the Vander Mansion. Horace Vander, made his money through trade and setting up the Vander General Store in town. He , like many of his generation, saw building a big fancy house as the ultimate sign of prosperity and wealth. Legend also speaks of an old man who told Vander that building his house at the top of the hill was a bad idea and that the hill was haunted. Vander of course did not heed this warning and set about building his home anyway.

The first death, was recorded on day four. One of the construction workers hit a well shaft that went down into the ground and fell in. According to the notes there should have been no shaft there, as no one would construct a well at the top of a hill. The body was never recovered as the men could not get down deep enough to get it. Estimates show that the shaft goes approximately 75 feet down and was purpose built. After seeing the well shaft Vander decided to integrate it into the house and it became part of the deep cellar of the house.

The second death was a young child named Randy Quinn. His parents and the Vanders were friends and they were having a picnic outside when little Randy went running around the house. Reports differ as to why, Randy’s mother said he was chasing after the family dog Rex Mrs. Vander says that Rex was laying on the blanket the whole time and Randy ran off on his own. After a few minutes and not hearing the child the mother and Mrs. Vander went looking for him. He was never found. Officially it is still considered a missing person's case, but everyone knows that he died.

After the second death Mrs. Vander decided that this was not a house she wanted to live in anymore. She and Vander were divorced sometime shortly after the Quinn boy was lost. After she left Mr. Vander started talking about voices and ghosts from walls. Before he hung himself, and became the third death, he told a customer at the general store “The boy lives in the basement with me now, but I make sure never to go down there and disturb him.” After the Suicide of Mr. Vander, the police did a top to bottom search of the house. They found nothing. They even sent a group down the well shaft all the way to the bottom. They found nothing but an underground river and a circle of rocks.

A couple Steve and Linda Watson, purchase the house approximately 20 years later. They did their best to do a complete renovation including plugging up the well shaft. They knew about the rumors that the house was cursed but they chose not to believe it. After all, everything has a logical explanation. Things were quiet for awhile. Then Steve killed Linda. No one knows how he did it, but she was laying in the basement, in the place where the well would have been. According to the official documentation she had a heart attack, I like many others believe that she was in fact scared to death. Steve Watson was found in his bedroom, hung by the neck up to the ceiling. Under him, was a note that contained the following message. “ The creature took my Linda and ate her soul. The child has told me how to save her, but to have her I must her kill. Please understand that this was the only way.

After the death of Steve and Linda Watson, the Vander house was never occupied again. In Fact it became so infamous for being cursed that the entire neighborhood around it fell into neglect. A once beautiful place filled with the rich and elite, simply rotted away. The “Upper Crust” eventually moved to Green Valley area and the hill was allowed to just rot.

Since this time many attempts have been made to take the hill back over and build new homes on it. Now the town will never say “No you can't build there it's haunted and we don't want anyone to die and cause more issues and news”, but they stop every attempt. They even stopped a group of college students who wanted to head down the well shaft a few years ago to date the site and figure out why it’s there. The house has been quiet for a long time. That is, till Kevin Raymen went missing.

29 - People in cars at lunch

People today are alone. We live in the most connected society ever. Most people in the first world can pull a metal and silicon tablet out of their pocket and after pressing it a few times can contact just about any place in the world. Human beings are social creatures and having this technology seems like a great thing, I can speak to my wife pretty much whenever I even think of it, I can use a program to see where she is at all times, heck I can even use a program that helps me find the best route to drive my car that is updated by hundreds of other people every minute. So why is it that when I take my lunchtime walk I see people in their cars alone?

The man in the white convertible. He is parked facing north under some shade, but not a lot. He is using his phone to watch some kind of field sport, probably football or soccer. He eats a small sandwich and drinks a soda. It's a hot day and this man would rather be alone watching something on his phone then eating outside or with people or inside a breakroom. Is his work so draining and demanding that the only way he can get away for a few minutes is to actually leave the building? I see him quite often and he's always in his car watching his phone.

In the South Western corner of the lot there is a White Luxury car. In it sleeps a an asian woman. I see her sleeping in her car so often, including the morning and afternoons when I walk, I think she may be living in her car. Of all the times I have seen this woman, I believe she has only seen me twice. Once when I actually caught (saw) her walking to her car. The other time she was using her makeup mirror to adjust herself after a nap. There is no shade in this corner and in the summer it's incredibly hot, but she sleeps the day away.

The most unused part of the parking lot is in the South East, no one parks there or if someone is parked their, its probably because they are a workman doing work on the lot. But from time to time, a man drives his White SUV there and he gets high. I know because the aroma spews forth like the car is coughing. What it must be to feel like you have to take your medicine during lunch and hiding in the back of the lot. Oddly, I have encountered this multiple times with people who were not in cars and just hiding in the back of the lot.

The north west lot generally has the least amount of activity. But if there are people there, they are in their cars talking on their phones, which is something I have done before.

Our complex has a great commissary and beautiful eating area outside with fountains and a coffee tent . I wonder what makes these people feel like being in their car is better. I will continue to walk and wonder at these types of people.

28 - Prank Demon

“Ree tee tee im the shitty demon from Talamagee, do not worry you will not be harmed if I hide in the shadows and pull alarms!” The demon sung his song his little song and danced his little dance. Of course if it was nearby you would not see it, that’s the whole point. This particular demon was what you might call a “Prank” demon. Its job is to do bad deeds and make sure someone else is blamed for them. Since you cannot see the demon the only way for you to get it to go away is by the saying the following phrase “Ree tee tee, go away, stay away he he he”.

You might be saying to yourself, “I have never heard anyone say it.” Well you are right. Because it’s a stupid phrase that you have to say when a demon you cannot see is around causing mischief, which is the whole point. According to the Demonalexicon when the holy men were studying this creature, one of them actually told them exactly how to do stop it. For a long time they simply assumed it was lying, because that would be the kind of thing it would do. Two years into their study a young scribe actually used the phrase that had been written two years prior. To their astonishment, it worked and the demon blinked out of our existence. They then rightly surmised that giving the phrase for banishment was a negative to us because no one wants to say it out loud, to banish a demon no one can see or know that is there, and look like a crazy person.

In our current age, the mischief demons are just as bad and have many more places to hide, they especially like living in business building with multiple floors. Their they can set off alarms, wipe shit all over the walls, and press all the button in the elevator so that it goes to every floor and inconvenience multiple people at one time, which is a whatever the demon equivalent of a dream is.

If you ever got an email who’s topic is something like “Please treat the bathrooms with respect,” that’s probably a mischief demon. If that happens to you head to the bathroom and say the phrase “Ree tee tee, go away, stay away he he he”, yeah you will sound stupid but it will banish the demons back to their realm behind the veil.

You may be asking if there are ways to view the mischief demon. There are. The ancient holy men knew how to do it and according to the text, once visible you are able to keep it locked up in a cage. This might be another factor in why the demon gave up it’s banish phrase, it did not like being seen. In the book there is a detailed drawing, though the drawing does have a tail ;). A mischief demon is approximately two feet tall, an ugly gray color, with big eyes one brown and one red. They have a craggy sort of mouth and a crooked smile. They are patchily covered in brown fur and hair all the way down their stumpy tails.

Unfortunately for us, the pages containing the chants and phrases that might make the Mischief demon appears were torn out of the only 3 remaining copies. My theory, and to be honest the popular theory, is that these pages were removed by the Mischief demons so we could sit here and try to figure out how to do it. It would give them glee knowing that we had the power to banish them away but not the power to see and find them.

Of course we have teams that are always looking for new holy sites of the ancient technologies, hopefully we will come across a complete version of the texts and actually put an end to this particular demonic menace. They are able to use the power they take from their victims to continually power new larger rifts that the more dangerous demons use to cross the veil.

Our latest proposal will give you the details and budget for an expedition into the southern part of the great desert. We will explain in detail our intent to bring a full team and equipment to the site of what we believe is one of the early five (Major Holy Site). It will also explain why we believe the site is here and give extended details on the evidence that backs these claims up. We ask that the major council review this proposal and sign your names granting it. Please know that due to changing weather and local conflicts we have a limited window in which to head down.

---Cover letter for “Holy Technologies Expedition request 2137” (Holy site excavation)

27 - A Day in the life

Her (My Wife) alarm goes off at 5:45am. Well that might not be true, she has multiple alarms and I can’t keep them straight. A frequent , non-argument we have is me asking “why don’t you just set the alarm for the time you want to get up, then get up at that time?” She does not care for this rational argument and simply says “It’s the way I want to wake up.” But I can give you a guess on who has more issues with morning routine and a hint, it’s not me.

She gets up and showers and does bathroom and daily maintenance stuff. My alarm goes off at 5:59am and im usually already awake just waiting my turn to hop in the bathroom. Neither of us are super long shower takers so I never have to wait long. Well...unless she missed her alarm or decided to nap for an extra five minutes.

While I am showering and doing my maintenance, she is finishing up getting dressed, making herself coffee from the Keurig machine and then heading upstairs to the land of children. Those children need to be woken and wrangled downstairs. Our routine is pretty good so they know what is expected of them. For a two and a six year old, they normally do a pretty good job. They come down dressed and without shoes on, i am not sure why they never seem to have shoes on, but in general I have to remind them to put on or get their shoes shortly after I have had my tea.

After showering and getting dressed I tell the dogs to go outside so they can do their business, i am not sure of the specifics but their business must take a lot of time because during most mornings I do not see them again till I return home in the afternoon. Perhaps they converse with the dog next door through the giant hole in the fence, or maybe they just admire the sky, some things will never be known.

After entering the kitchen I start my tea in the microwave, feed and water the dogs, then I proceed to clean the kitchen. Generally by this time my Wife has come into the kitchen also and either she or I start waffles for the kids. The two year old gets one waffle and the six year old gets two. We make a bottle of Milk, in the Minnie Mouse cup, if it's not Minnie we have to hear a long dissertation about how it has to be Minni. If we are feeling saucy or the cup is not clean, we just work through it and wear the two year old down till they accept the milk in a non-Minnie cup. Sometime after I have started cleaning the kitchen, I get my tea out and add a bit of honey, todays honey was brought to us by the Bee Ladies of the Irvine Great Parks Farmers Market, only 12 dollars for a small container!

About this time, ~6:30am the wife says she has to leave and kisses everyone goodbye. After she leaves I generally have to check the following items: Do the children have shoes, Did she make the six year old a lunch, and did she close the doors to the kids rooms. After that's all checked, I might read an article on my phone or play a match-3 game, taking a few minutes for myself while my children eat. Then it’s time to check on them and make sure that they are actually eating. Most of the time at least one of them is not eating and they have to be disciplined, usually accomplished by my saying “Eat your food, if I have to tell you again the TV goes off.” Today they are both being pretty good and I did not have to escalate my way up the discipline tree. Perhaps it is because they are watching “My Little Pony” and they both agree that is a fabulous show and there should be more shows like it. I happened to comment to my six year old “You two really like this show hmmm?” . The six year old looks up briefly and says “Yeah” followed by the two year old yelling “And Me!”, “And you.” I repeat.

At 7:00am the kids get a 10 minute warning that we have to leave soon. Generally this is just a prep announcement so when we actually leave I don’t get too much sass. This is also my time to do baggage and door check. All the doors to the bedroom and office need to be closed so the dogs, well the puppy dog, don’t get things they aren’t supposed to like Shoes, underwear, toys, Ariel Dolls, and comfort animals that my kids insist on hiding all over the house and only the dogs and I seem to be able to find. After door check it’s bag check time. My bag is normally sitting on the dining room table, which we rarely use for dining. My six year olds bag is usually next to it with his lunch box already loaded up.

At 7:10am the call goes out “Alright kid, turn off the show, turn off the playstation, plug in the controller and turn off the TV its time to go.” Both kids then go into their routine, the two year old grabbing her baba, a Wuvy Rabbit that is just a small fluffy cloth that has a rabbit head in the middle of it then lets me know that she wants to go to. “Don’t worry” I say “You get to go to.” Both kids then run for the front door, which I have to tell them for the 900th time that we go through the garage to get to the car in the morning. Both turn to the garage door and go through it. They don’t bother to turn on the lights because they know that I will hit the button, but my two year old tells me that it's dark, just so I know. I hit the garage button and it goes up, both kids are pretending to lift it. Time to get in the car, the older one goes around to their side and gets in with no problem. I have to chase after the little one who then yells at me because they want to do it, this argument from them comes out as “And Me!” which of course means “No father, I understand that our time is short , but I insist that I be allowed to get into this seat by myself and get buckled in without your help.” I allow her a few moments to try to get into the seat, but the little one would rather sit with the older one and I have to reach in and seat them properly. The little one then lets me know that they are not OK with me buckling them in.

We drive to daycare which takes between 5 and 10 minutes depending on how long the light at Muirlands wants to take. Since I am now stuck in the car with the children they both feel that they have to let me know exactly what they are thinking. This morning the older one says “I really like my friend. He's not my best friend but I like him.” The younger one is yelling the words “Trash Truck” every time we see another car, she thinks that all trucks are “Trash Trucks” her current accuracy rating for Trash Trucks VS Trucks is about 1/100 but she keeps trying anyway. We did see an actual trash truck once, not today, but once and that was pretty exciting.

7:15am I park in the Driveway of the at home daycare that we use. They open at 7:15am and it is my responsibility as someone who wants to get rid of his children as fast as possible to be there at opening. Both the children are good about getting out and I only have to tell them twice that they need to get out of the car. I knock and after a few minutes the lady comes to the door and we go through drop off routine. Older child puts his bag near the front door, both children take their shoes off and put them in the basic, little one puts their bunny in the designated cubby, the last thing they do is give their dad a hug and kiss. The hug and kiss are also routine. I tell the daycare person that the kids ate all their food and that I will see her tomorrow.

The drive to work is fairly boring. There are three street lights in order and at the first one I have to stop at I get in the left turn lane. Arriving at work I park the care and go through three security doors. My work is very important and secretive. I stop in the kitchen to make myself a raw broccoli and cauliflower salad with a vinaigrette dressing and a hot cup of water with a straw. Over to my desk I go. When I get there it is time to dump that cup of water into my mad hatter coffee cup that also contains a tea bag. While the tea stews in the mad hatter cup, I eat my salad and go through emails. It is 7:30am and it is time to start the day.

My day to day work has me watching over agents who take care of our customers. Most of them are outsourced so email and skype are major communication tools. If they have questions when I am gone, the mornings is when I send my responses. Any issues I cannot answer get a new email sent over to the parties responsible for the creation of the product. I also view our ticket queues and look over the internet for issues or possible issues that may have popped up since the day before.

At 9am we have a call with one of our outsourcer groups. This is a basic call that simply goes over the major things happening this week and what is coming up next week, as per usual there are no questions and the call ends early.

9:30am and I take my first walk of the day. My goal in any given day is currently 12,000 steps. Which is approximately 100 minutes of walking. Some of this is done during work, going to the restrooms, getting lunch, going to meetings, walking over to talk to someone but most of the steps I get are from walking around the buildings or running on my breaks and lunches. We have an all hands at 10am so I get in about 3000 steps before its time to head back and prepare for the town hall meeting.

The 10am town hall goes over how the business is doing and some of the things that are coming up. Some of it is exciting! This townhall lasts an hour and i'm in a conference room that is dark and the speakers don't handle low waves well and it's hard to hear most of the presenters.

The townhall ends at 11am and my team and I meet up to discuss it and what we think of the announcements. The overall tone is good though we have some concerns but nothing too bad. Only 30 minutes till I take my lunch. In the time after the town hall additional emails have come in and must be dealt with . My coworkers and I discuss the proper way to say something nice to someone while blowing them off at the same time, the particulars are not worth mentioning but we laugh a lot about it.

Before I know it, it is 11:30 and time to run. I change into my running cloths, pop in my headphones and turn on my book, im currently listening to IT by Stephen King. I then make a good attempt at running. The path I take has some extreme hills and its three and a half miles in length. It takes me about 50 minutes and I gain ~8000 steps enough to get me really close to my goal and completely wipe me out. On my way back into the building I stop into the kitchen for lunch. I nuke the freezer meal which today is Spaghetti and it’s going to take 6 minutes to cook, man thats a long time. No worries though, I can go and change then head back into the kitchen with my cup. I make another broccoli and cauliflower salad and fill up my big cup with ice water. I take it all back to my desk to eat and rest for the next 15 minutes or so.

Throughout the day I talk to my wife via skype. She's having a fairly good day and we are chit chatting about a vacation we want to take next year. Nothing gets solved but we continue to hash out ideas. My brother texts me about the fires that are burning around my area. I had tagged him in a Facebook post about the park we were just at burning up. It has a zoo and I was worried about the animals. From what I understand they are fine.

At 1pm I head off to a meeting regarding one of our products. We talk about whats happening with it and if there are any major concerns. There are only a few but they are being looked into. The meeting lasts about 15 minutes and I walk away pretty happy with how it went.

Its pretty much busy work till about 3pm when I have another call with a different outsourcer group. It's a rehash of the earlier meeting so there is not much to cover. Everyone gets offline at 3:10 and it's time to get back outside and take another walk. This walk is all “Gravy” steps because I hit my 12,000 before I started walking. I think about what I will be doing for the rest of the day, which will only be about an hour.

Someone from another department comes over to chit chat for while. We mostly talk about work and how things were going. No big deal.

4:30pm rolls around and it’s time to head home. I get in the car and head back to the house. I turn on Waze to see how my wife is progressing, she gets to work earlier than I do so she gets the kids and we generally get home about the same time. On this day she gets home with the kids just before me and is already changed out of her work clothes and pulling out chicken for dinner. “I thought the schedule for today was leftover Tacos?” I say as I grab a Coca Cola from the fridge. “I know, but I wanted to do something lighter since we ate heavy yesterday.” She said. I think to myself that I had that same reasoning when we talked about it the day before but there was no reason to bring it up. “Awesome. Love chicken.”

It’s 5pm now. The kids are running around and yelling at inanimate objects while crying for reasons I don't understand and not listening to their mother. I head out to the yard to pick up dog poop and clean up the area, this is what I had on my calendar so it had to be done.

5:30 I have filled up the green garbage can and come back into the house, san my shoes because they got soaking wet due to our terrible nozzle on the hose. But its OK because it’s time to eat. I eat my chicken and rice with a salad and some water. Nothing is better than chicken and rice covered in BBQ sauce.

It's time to write my page of the day, so I sit down and write a story about the Lords of Light. Inspired by watching some speedrunners do a speedrun of the original Final Fantasy. It comes out pretty good and I upload it to my blog and send it out on twitter.

6:15 My wife puts the kids in the shower. They get wet, get out, and get dressed. James and my wife then sit down in the kitchen to do his homework. When I got home I gave him the choice to either do the homework then or after dinner, he chose after dinner but was still giving my wife grief about it. We both gave him some loving yells about just getting it done.

It's almost 7pm and time for bed. I have been putting the kids more and more lately and that’s ok, they tend to listen to me pretty well especially when they can’t see their mother. First we brush our teeth. The little one tries to copy the older one and sits down their own shirt. No big deal. Then we read a book in the six year olds bed. They each get to pick a book, though because they are together they don't pay much attention to me reading the books. It's fine, it is nice to just be around them.

The little one and I put the bigger one to bed, kiss them goodnight and turn off the lights. The little one runs to grab another book and insist that we read it. That’s fine. Its some book about trucks that has parts that feel different. The little one makes sure to diligently touch all the touchy parts. I then hear a loud noise and open the door to the older ones room. Hes missing. He pops up like a startled jack-in-the-box (no one wants a Charlie in the box). I tell him to get into bed while he chants the children's chant “Im sorry, im sorry im sorry”. Heading back into the little ones room I put them in bed kiss them goodnight and tell them I love them. ~45 seconds after I told the older one to go to bed, I have to go back in to remind them that it is indeed sleepy bed time and they need to go to bed. They repeat their chant of I’m sorry’s, which has no affect as I am dad and dad is immune to earthly chants.

That whole thing took about 20 minutes. I come downstairs and we put on How I Met Your Mother. I play phone match-3 games while my wife does her side business stuff or chit chats with friends via text. She gets up and says “We should have chips and salsa” Which sounds good to me, so she gets chips and salsa out of the kitchen, its all local stuff from a restaurant that we really like.

Now its 9:30 and I have fallen asleep on the couch. She puts the dogs outside to continue their outside business then wakes me up to head to bed. We go through the night time routine and I fall asleep to do it all again tomorrow.

26 - Oath of the Lords of Light

Up the stone stairs, through the gate there is a courtyard. To the back of the courtyard is a wood and metal door of the finest quality. Through that door and up the winding stone staircase is a room. That room has eight windows that let light in throughout the whole day. The room has a roof that can be opened to let the sun shine in it.

The sun shines down or through on a stone made of  a luminous ore. Made by the the gods to bring light in dark places. It absorbs the light of the day and is a glowing beacon to the city at night. This stone is know as the Tablet of Light was handed down to the great King Esrad to be used as a tool against the darkness and its armies. It is the center of the five kingdoms and it’s holder is the king.

Below the Tablet of Light is another stone, made from the same granite as the tower the stone occupies. Carved into this tablet is The Oath, The Oath of the Lords of Light. These men (and through the years, two woman) take the Oath at high sun on the summer solstice and repeat the words.

I am a Lord of Light,

It is my duty to protect our world from the Darkness,

I am a Lord of Light,

It is my duty to use the light only for good,

I am a Lord of Light,

It is my duty to stand and fight,

I am a Lord of Light.

Once the oath was taken, the Lord was given an area to protect. It was their job to lay waste the creatures from the darkness and be a beacon for the people around them. It was their job, if necessary to call for help when necessary.

In written history there have only ever been five calls. The First call, when the Mountain Men of Churn descended down the red steps and attacked the city of Cauldlow. The Mountain call, happened after the men of Churns attack was defeated and everyone had returned home, the mountain men had been forced to attack after the creatures of darkness destroyed their homes. The third call was known as “The missed call.” After the call went out and help arrived, there was no Lord. There was also no people and sign that there had ever been. The fourth Call, “The call of the Tower” happened when a dark portal opened in the White City and King Esrad was killed. Those first calls were all done with in the first 150 years of the Order, that was over 1000 years ago.

Now the fifth call has been made. The White City has fallen. The Tablet of Light has been taken and we call you to assist us. Do your duty; Protect the World from Darkness, Use your Light for goodness, use it to Stand and Fight!

------Letter from Marcus Nodlion, Second Marshal of the Tower of Light

----------Translation from Hespeek to English / Archive (Lords of Light) 468/4732

25 - The Deadzone

Sam and Nathan set out for the spot in the fence they had agreed upon the day before. Each had packed their bag and wore their best clothes for the journey. Ernie was there waiting for them at the hole in the fence. It was chilly but not cold and it was still. The stillness of the dead zone was someone everyone talked about, but no one really knew why. Being near it, you felt stopped, almost like you were dead but then you blink, and as luck would have it, you are still alive.

Nathan looked over at Sam and said “We can quit now, go back home and get some sleep. We can tell everyone we agreed on it and that will be that.” Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “No, I think we should go on.” And without any other words or discussion, Sam breached the hole in the fence and took his first steps into the land known as the dead zone. The ancient city was only 10 miles away , due east. They just have the follow the sun and go one step at a time and they will be there. The deadzone may have other ideas but for now they are trying not to think about it.

No one knows when it was called “The Dead Zone”. As far as they boys understood it was always called that. According to Ernie, who had asked his father once, the dead zone used to be like any other place in the world. Then something happened, his dad wasn’t sure what it was, but something happened at the ancient city and the land for about 10 miles around it went bad. There is nothing you can really see except for the derelict structures and roads that used to be there. There is still talk about groups of men, heavily armed, braving the dead zone and getting to the ancient city. Looking for ancient treasures or archeotech they might be able to re-use in their lives now. The kids have never seen these types of men but they all knew that they existed. Treasure hunting was very exciting.

The reason that the boys were out here actually had to do with a rumor they had all heard. The rumor went something like this, The ancient scientist wizards were working on something, either the spirit or demon world. During this work the experiment or ritual went wrong and something from the other side came through and started destroying everything around. Nathan believed it. His father believed, and so he believed, that the ancients were messing with forces they should not have and were punished by god. Sam on the other hand was one of the smarter children in the town and a huge reader. He believe that there was something that happened that wiped out the people in the city and the land around it, but that it was not some kind of creature.

This difference, creature vs not, was the argument and it is what led to the dare that caused this journey. Each boy completely believes that the other will turn back first and they have no problem journey on to prove it. Not only did they not tell their parents about this little walk, but it's against their laws to journey out into the dead zone as an adult, let alone two children.

The going was not fast, but they were still making ok time. They knew that the most direct way to the Ancient City was by following the railroad tracks. They were not silly babies and so they stayed near the tracks but not on them, the tracks were too open and anything could easily see them.So it was better and safer to simply say down off the mound and keep the tracks on their right. Then they reached the bridge.

This was the bridge that had killed one of the french brothers. After seeing the collapsed wreck, both boys stopped in their tracks. They both knew that the French kids body would be down under that bridge, they had heard the story. The brothers were messing around too much on their journey and one of them had dared to take the other bridge, an old piece of wood broke away and he fell through, hitting the wash bottom rocks and if you believe the stories, his head exploded red all over the place. As the boys looked it over they noticed that you did not actually need to cross the bridge. One could simply go over to the tracks 15 feet away and cross there, which is what they then did. Both boys wondered to themselves if they would have wanted to cross the bridge and if they might have fallen.

After they got passed the bridge, Nathan noticed something coming along the tracks. “Sam, something is coming. We need to hide!”. Sam looked down the way and nodded to Nathan. The two boys hid under the track crossing.