The sun rises from the east, casting it’s glow across the tiny speck of a town far below. The small coastal town of Ashenport and it’s residents just waking from it’s slumber. Neither have have no idea of the horrors that await them. But what is to come, will come later. For now, people wake up, getting ready to begin their day. A cool chill fills the air, as a light breeze blows across the sea. The salty smell of the ocean drifts across the port, and a few white dots on the horizon call out, revealing themselves to be one of the worlds most annoying birds: seagulls.

The town is peaceful. The town is at rest. But soon, very soon, Ashenport will become an endless nightmare. This peaceful day will be the last memories for some, and the last good memories for others. Some will cling to this day just to keep their sanity in check, to remind themselves that once upon a time they were happy, they didn’t have to live in fear, that their world didn’t revolve around death and destruction. Some will cling to the memory of one day when blood didn’t fill the streets and darkness wasn’t seemingly eternal.

Hope. That’s what it boils down to. Those who survive to see the hellish transformation of Ashenport, will cling to an ever dying hope that things will return to normal. And who knows if they will; perhaps darkness will consume first this tiny insignificant port town in the middle of nowhere, and spread beyond? Or, perhaps the shadows will lift, and Ashenport will return to the peaceful serene place it is now. Only time will tell--and the decisions those who find themselves facing the darkness, make.

Mellory hated waking up. Sun filtered through the window above her bedroom; the sun covered the walls of the room with silhouettes of trees and birds that hopped along the tree branches. Her bedroom walls were wooden planks, the floor was also wooden but had a large blue rug in the middle of the room. It was stained with various colours of paint and varnish. The room was an organised mess of paints, canvases and sketchbooks.

Mellory pulled her blankets from her face and glared at the intruding light. Pulling herself from the bed was hard, as it always was. She stood in the bedroom and began to get dressed; some black shorts and a patterned shirt. Her favourite dark brown combat boots were the last thing she put on before leaving the house. She grabbed her glasses and keys as she left. Her car sat in the driveway. The car was her baby, she loved nothing near as much as she loved this junk heap. Blue paint clung to the ever rusting metal of the car and small flakes came off as she climbed in and slammed the door shut.

Ten minutes later, she pulled up to her store and made her way inside. The 'open' sign swung around and faced outwards through the window. Mellory was ready for customers and was already bored.

Rory shifted a few times in his sleep before one eye begrudgingly opened, He wondered why he didn't just sleep at the gas station sometimes. As he fluttered his eyes open and closed, he shifted his weight and slowly sat up. Lucky for him it was a small town and everyone knew him so he didn't have to wear that tired old attendant uniform that always seemed dirty. He rustled around for something clean and then started his morning rituals of breakfast, shower and and some sort of reading. At this point news was scarce so he he had been trying to read a book, but these mornings seemed to disagree with this particular ritual.

After making it to the store, he unlocked and was glad there wasn't anyone already waiting for him. He open the register and made sure the store was open and ready to receive customers. *Today, I'm going to speak up.* be thought decidedly. He knew he needed to open up soon,and seeing as he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, he wanted to stop alienating himself. He grabbed the stool behind the counter, sat and put his feet up and tried to imagine who might be his first customer, It was the only game that cured his boredom, besides what snack will they buy inside. As he sat there day dreaming about his stupid game, he felt himself nodding off..

BEEP BEEP BEEP BE*click*
Flint flicked the alarm clock off at his side as he slowly sat up, stretching outwards and yawning loudly before sighing and getting out of the bed. He looked to his cupboard and removed some jeans, suspenders and a red flannel shirt. Quickly slipping them on with some clean underwear. He walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, and from there into the kitchen, the small house meant they where practically the same room except with a small wooden divider. Flint began to make some toast as he flicked open a map of a patch of the forest, small red x's where next to some of the trees and Flint began planning his route for the day. He had marked the trees the day before with tape so today he planned to cut at least a few if not all of them down before sun down.

Finishing his toast Flint brushed his teeth then put on his large coat and grabbed his wallet, phone and keys from the side. Strolling outside and to his white truck, he opened the door and got in and with a quick turn of the keys, the beast was brought to life. He seemed to be running out of Gas though and so turning out of his small gravel driveway , he began the small journey to the gas station, luckily it was close to the logging mill and so he would be able to quickly fill his tank before he grabbed his gear.
It wasn't long until Flint was at the gas station parking up and filling his large tank of petrol. When finished he walked into the store, grabbing a newspaper and a can of coke before walking to the young male Cashier, he had seen many times. Flint knew his name but nothing else really, but that's just the way Flint was. "Number 2 and these" Flint said to Rory saying aloud the pump number and handing over the coke and newspaper that he got nearly everyday, as he removed his wallet from his pocket and handed over the bills.

Rory awoke almost too suddenly that he fell off the stool. After a moment, and the dizziness withdrew, He saw Flint standing their with a coke in hand and newspaper and cash on the counter. "Number 2 and these" The phrase had come back to him as what had woken him up in the first place. He managed to throw an embarrassed smile. "Sorry about that Flint." He said taking the money and pulling out the change. "Still can't get used to mornings it seems." He said back to Flint, though it was a more of a commentary to himself. He finished handing the change to flint and yawned as if it was trying to escape from his body.

He knew this town wasn't the most exciting anymore, or maybe he just didn't know where to look, but He needed a change of pace soon, because lately even he noticed his life was becoming too routine. After seeing Flint come in a few times wrapped in a lumberjacks outfit and smelling of pine and other earthly smells, sometimes he couldn't help but wonder what that felt like, cutting down a tree, being away from buildings and people for a time. //he never dwelled on that thought very much but it seemed to be harder to push out these days, as did most exciting things in other people's lives. That's when it hit him. He didn't really have any friends, or anyone he really cared about.

"I'm going on an adventure!"

---

Mornings can go screw themselves.

As her alarm incessantly went off, Audrey simply rolled over and pulled the covers snugly over her head, blocking out the annoying sound. Curling up into a tight little ball, she remained like that until the alarm finally annoyed her enough to peek out from her cocoon. She groggily reached over to turn off the alarm of her phone, blearily staring at the time it displayed. 7 AM..... That's enough time for her to fall back asleep for...

Wait, 7 AM?!

Audrey bolted upright in her bed, going through a mental panic attack. She's going to be late to school! How could she not wake up? With her heart pounding, she glanced again at the time on her phone, hoping that it was just her reading the time wrong. She wasn't, and it was indeed 7 AM. Audrey was about to leap out of bed in a flurry, wildly grasping for any random clothes that lay around, when she suddenly stopped, and took a moment to think. Today, today, today... There was something important about today that she couldn't quite put her finger on....

Oh yeah, she didn't have school today.

Falling back into the bed, Audrey promptly fell back asleep. She had already wasted about 10 minutes of potential sleeping time, and she wasn't wasting anymore! She had stayed up the night before watching movies on her phone--shhhhh don't tell dad. Audrey needed that extra time to sleep and recuperate from her little movie marathon.

Mellory eventually made her way to the front of the shop and sat down on a wooden seat, with cigarette in hand. It was already lit and the smell of the tobacco made Mellory feel far less miserable. Long drags of the cigarette filled the minutes that she spent outside the store. She watched cars go by, some likely going to the gas station to refuel or to buy a coffee from the small machine they had. She hated coffee, tea was even worse. Iced tea was her favourite drink though, especially super fruity ones.

The morning had dwindled past with no customers so far and Mellory was considering closing up and going home, she had painting to do and work to do on the car. She didn't know much about cars, so anything she did was taught by internet videos. She didn't have the money spare to have it properly looked at.

"Sorry about that Flint."
The sleeping assistant replied as he woke from his daze. Flint just smiled
"Still can't get used to mornings it seems." The cashier said yawning
"Try and cut down trees for 8 hours" Flint said jokingly as he picked up his purchases, his job was tiring but he loved it all the same. "Better then working at a gas station", he thought as he left the shop and walked over to his truck, dumping his things on the passenger seat as he drove the short distance to the logging mill.
Taking out his keys. he entered and clicked a switch, a few raw bulbs hung from the ceiling and flickered to life as Flint walked over to the small room at the back passing the large cutting machine's that where housed within the mill, unlocking this second door and walking inside. He began picking out the tools he would need for the job and soon loaded them into the back of the truck, tying them down with the chords he had back there.

Mellory decided to close the store for an early lunch; she flicked the open side to closed and left the store. It was sunny outside, a welcome change from the dreary weather the town had been having recently. She climbed into her car and made her way to the forest. She watched the lumber mill pass behind her at a speed far too dangerous for the dirt roads closer to the forest's border. She slowed down, barely, as she approached and pulled to an abrupt stop close to the first line of trees. She climbed up onto the roof of the car and laid back in the sun. Her legs dangled over the edge, resting against the windscreen. 'Should have brought some painting gear..' She thought to herself as she stared at the trees, and the clear sky.

She'd head back after lunch, that's when she had the most business. It had become harder lately to be in the store. It reminded her of her Mother; which is not something she wished to be reminded of. She couldn't remember properly what her mother looked like; just a twisted version of her. Mellory would have night terrors most nights and often tried not to sleep. Alone in her house, after it had long but been abandoned. Running through dark hallways from her Mother, as she chased Mellory and screeched. Mellory hated her Mother but most townsfolk seemed to feel differently. Her mother was outright nasty, no hiding it but no one seemed to care.

The weather was warm, and the sky was clear so Mellory laid back and closed her eyes. No sleep, just relaxing.

Morrison had woken up rather early as usual making sure to get his morning coffee before sitting down to a quiet house. He knew Audrey would probably wake up later, it was a day off, and there was no need to rush the girl on such a day. Though he would most likely make breakfast soon enough and he would make sure to keep some warm for when his daughter got up. Until then however, he would enjoy the solitude of the early morning watching outside as the town lit up with the other residents waking up to the sunlight filtering over the horizon.

After awhile the older man heard a commotion coming from his daughter's room, he figured the poor girl forgot about the day off and was attempting to get up in a rush, and soon after it went quiet again which signaled a small grin from Morrison. He got up to get himself another cup of his black coffee which he drank mostly for enjoyment than anything not needing the caffeine to wake up. He looked around the kitchen after a bit noticing there was a few things he would need to pick up later at the store once the afternoon hit, the owner tended to leave beforehand occasionally which had frustrated him the first couple times, but he was forgiving enough to let it go.

Morrison waited an hour, not feeling hungry earlier, then the house would likely be filled up with the smell of his cooking which was good enough in his opinion and a damn sight better than some of the other residents could manage from what he could tell. The stove was busy with eggs and sausage with a stack of pancakes being created that made the older man's stomach growl while he prepared them. He made more than enough for himself and Audrey, as is his way to save leftovers for later, keeping some warming on the stove while he tore into his own plate. There was little left in the wake of the appetite of a hardworking man which usually resulted in him inhaling the food with the satisfaction of quelling the beast that is his stomach.

Morrison took a walk around the property taking in the sea air for awhile and keeping clear of the town for as long as time would allow him. There was little about the town he thought about besides the tragedies that he linked it to which explained his solitary attitude towards most of the town, sure he needed to go there occasionally but he didn't have to like a second of it. He did however love the area around the town and even the old asylum which he kept going because they provided him meaning and largely an escape from the negativity the town itself had on his mind. It was almost immediately that he stopped thinking about it before heading back to his home to see if his daughter was up yet and if not he figured mentioning food would get her up, never did take much more to get his daughter up which reminded him that his sister would likely be coming over at one point or another.

An hour or so had passed since Mellory had gotten to the forest. She slid off the roof of the car and climbed back into the driver seat It was still sunny as she began the drive back to the store. She'd have to look at hiring someone else to help with the store, maybe she could pass the awful thing onto them. She had realised during the day that she had even working at that store since she was 15, and hated every moment of it. Her mother took great pride in the store and to see the state Mellory had thrown it into would have left her furious; this made Mellory laugh a little.

She got back to the store and climbed out of her car; no one was waiting at the store, as sometimes happens. She knew there was a Caretaker that came around every now and then for pancake ingredients. She had order some flavoured pancake mixes in for him, since she liked him well enough. Blueberry, Butterscotch and Choc-Chip pancakes. Her stomach growled at the thought of it. She hadn't had anything to eat yet, and the pancakes mixes were making her stomach angry at her. Maybe she could test one at the store, offer 'em out as free samples.

She returned to her place at the register, the sign back in 'Open' position and she began the wait for her next customer.