Introduction: The First Day
Royce and Kylie arrived at their new "home" midday on Monday. This was the first time they could see the extent of decay first-hand. The sun shone beautifully for five minutes, illuminating the gaping hole in the house roof, the weeds and broken fences everywhere, and the ruins of an old family chapel in the back yard. Then everything clouded over. They unlocked the front door, yanked the creaky thing open, and took a couple of tentative steps into the main room. "Well." Kylie breathed slowly. "Well. This is certainly... something." "Hey, there's a fireplace!" Royce tried to sound positive. But his heart was pounding. Did they make a mistake? Where was the second floor??? He knew it would be bad, but he'd been hoping there'd at least be a sturdy interior. Venturing further inside would have been foolish, so they went back out to the fresh country air. Nearby, a flock of birds landed and twittered happily in an old tree. Kylie's fa...