Achama
Synopsis
Trevor a disgruntled journalist lived his days unsatisfied by the toils of his regular small town life. Now... he regrets having wished those days away, when the news of a sudden ghost town forming and people disappearing have sent him to investigate.
From a Nightmarish game of Chess, where the Kings are sacrificed on an alter for the sake of attaining some kind of incredible "Prize".
To a Child's drowning snow glob city.
To a Hell bunker ruled by a Queen with an iron fist and a guillotine.
The only clues Trevor has to this mess he's been thrown in is an Elusive Jester who instigates all nightmares, and a girl named Alice who haunts his dreams demanding that he finds her. What will happen when he does? By the flash of pointed teeth in her smile he's not sure he wants to know.
Excerpt
The snow drifted softly to the ground, there was no one sight. Perhaps there would never be anyone in this desolate town again. Few travelled the distances required to reach the town and it had long since been emptied of it’s inhabitants; dust was settling inside the still fully furnished houses. The signs of disuse growing with the years as nature started to encroach on the town, slowly taking it over, wild plants growing in pavement cracks wild animals entering houses through cracks in the roof or doors left open by their owners when the town was deserted.
It was no longer a human town. And perhaps it was best that way. At least those few that remained alive that knew of the town would say so. What had happened all those years ago… no one clearly understood but everyone agreed it was best to leave it alone, where it would wither and die and finally sink into oblivion.
On some nights those who have vague memories of the events would have the unexplained urge to go back to the town, as though trying to return to the place they naturally belong to. But, with the growing daylight they would return to their daily things and forget the notion, it was silly. Madness. What had happened there was surely not something to desire going back to. At least not for someone with a conscious. And, they wanted to think they were good people, so like good people they continued on with their routinely lives and forgot the brilliance of the nightmare they had lived in the now empty town. It was better this way they would all agree.
As for those who cold not resist the call of the town they had left? They went to the town and vanished. As though someone or something had spirited them away. No one heard or saw them again. A few had called the police to search for the loved ones, but all searches were in vain as though they were no longer on this earth, though the veracity of that was unknown.
And perhaps for the good of those involved it was best left unknown.
