Chapter One

New Arrival

Looking out through the calm looking woods and fields of Springwood Ohio, one would believe the town to be like any other. Oriented with families and get-togethers. Children laughing and playing video games and sports. Yes the peacefulness and quiet serenity of a beloved homestead.

But looks are deceiving. Somehow Chancy Dillenger felt that as he and his mother drove into the town. His mother beamed happily about a brand new start and how he'd love the new home. But all Chancy felt was a burden like any other might feel if they'd gone through what he had. Six months ago, Chancy's father had died. They had found him sitting at his desk, the gun, still smoking, resting in his lap. The remains of what sense Thomas Dillenger might have had were splattered against the wall directly behind him. The only clue to his tragic suicide was three sets of numbers scribbled on a note pad.

1968. 1528. 1428.

After police baffled over what the set of numbers could possibly mean, they came up empty handed. There was no apparent reason for Dillenger's suicide. The case was closed and a mother and son were left to grieve in vain for a man they thought they knew. Yet didn't.

Chancy bit back bitter tears that threatened to spill forth. He clinched his teeth together determined to remain strong. He had washed his hands of his father's death, buried the emptiness he had so desperately felt for so long.

He shivered. Why did it seem that the horrifying death of his father was only the beginning of tragedy in his life? He couldn't shake this concept. He had had it ever since he and his mother started preparing for the move from California. It had gotten stronger since there arrival.

"You're going to be happy now, sweetheart." Ellen Dillenger spoke to her son. "Getting you out of LA was the best thing that could happen for either one of us." Chancy remained silent. "Chance," his mother said, "a penny for your thoughts?"

"I don't really have anything to say." Chancy said.

"Your facial features tell a different story."

"Mom, I don't feel like going through this again."

"Can't you just give it a try, Chancy? That's all I'm asking. Just give Springwood a chance."

Do I have a choice? Chancy thought defiantly. He closed his eyes and exhaled. He felt so tired all of a sudden. But then again, sleep wasn't something he'd been getting a lot of lately. Neither was sex for that matter he half chuckled to himself.

Suddenly, his mother jerked the car sharply to the left. Chancy opened his eyes quickly and turned towards his mother.

"Jeez what's the big idea?" Chancy mumbled. He sighed and turned to look ahead. What he saw made him gasp. There in the road, was a man dressed in a dirty red and green sweater. An old brown hat sat atop his weirdly shaped head. His face was distorted into a maniacal grin with horrid burn scars that stretched across his face and his one exposed hand. He held in his left arm a man, strikingly familiar..his dad! Chancy opened his mouth in a frozen scream. The burned man held up his other hand, and on it gleamed something that resembled a razor fingered claw. A terrifying laughter seemed to echo in his ears. The car sped upon them and then.....

Chancy jerked upright in his seat. His breath came in rugged gasps from the apparent nightmare he had just had. He struggled to clear his mind of the terrifying image but it just wouldn't go away. Why after all these months would he dream about his dad. And such a horrible dream too.

"Chancy," his mother called, "are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He said in a hoarse whisper.

"You've been dozing for about ten minutes, kiddo. Are you sure you're alright? You look kind of shaky.

"It was just a bad dream."

"About your dad, honey?"

"Yeah."

Ellen shook her head. "Try to put it out of your mind, Chance. This is our new beginning. Our opportunity to say goodbye to past afflictions and start anew. I know you miss your father but torturing yourself like you do will not bring him back."

"You know," Chancy said heatedly, "I wish I could be like you mother. Just avoid everything happening to my by blocking it out of my mind. The truth is I don't want to forget what happened to dad. I want to know why. I will never stop searching for the truth. I'll find it one day."

Ellen and Chancy were silent after that. They drove on admiring the scenery of the well kept town of Springwood. As they came nearer to their final destination, Chancy looked out towards a big cemetery. Hundreds of tombstones lined up in rows stretched as far as the eye could see. He strained to make out some names on the stones but that was nearly impossible. Then as they drove on past the cemetery, one did catch his attention. He could just barely make out the name written across.

NANCY THOMPSON.

But the name was all he could make out. He turned back in his seat and repeated her name to himself. It was pretty and rhymed perfectly with his own. Nancy and Chancy. How interesting. Then another chill raced up his spine and he knew, yet he didn't know how he knew, that something tragic had happened to that girl buried in the cold ground. In a way he wondered what took her life. In another way, he hoped he never found out.