You don't really need to read all of it. Just get some context and then read the last paragraph all the way through.
Yup. That just happened.The game
You know that one event you look forward to every year? Most people have one; my family and I share one which is fairly common: the Superbowl. Every year we crowd around our big screen TV with snacks, gazing intently from start to finish, not leaving our sits through even the commercials.
Just one year did we happen to miss it. And let me tell you, it was for a damn good reason...
"Lost children on milk cartons always depress me," my uncle said between the crunch-crunch-crunch of a mouthful of cornflakes. My mother - his older sister - scolded him for talking with his mouth full. He was in town for the game, of course; it was a huge event for us, and not just the immediate family. We invited our friends, distant family, even a few people we barely knew around the neighborhood. This year, a new family had moved in next door, and it wasn't long until my father went boasting about our game day celebration, and eventually invited them over.
The family seemed like a fine group of people... All but their teenage daughter. There was something haunting about her. And not her appearance; she wasn't a dark and brooding goth-style girl, she was a fairly plain looking blonde-haired blue-eyed teenager. At a glance, she didn't seem out of the ordinary at all. But after you looked long enough, it just... It didn't seem right. She was TOO plain, TOO ordinary, it didn't seem right to look at her, and eventually it got painful to the point where I just had to turn away. And I can tell you right now, it wasn't just me. I noticed it in everyone, even her own family. It made me uneasy, to say the least.
Game day finally came... And it was unlike any game day we'd had before. Everyone arrived early, which was typical. The whole family was there; aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, from both sides of the family, most of whom we only saw this day. Some close friends were here, some neighbors, and of course the new family... and the girl. Just before kickoff, the lights flickered. We thought nothing of it, until it happened again. My dad got up and left the room, declaring he was going to make sure everything was alright with the fuse box. Nobody wanted our tradition ruined, least of all him. The girl followed him a few moments after he'd left the room. Nobody seemed to notice but me, and, I can't really put my finger on it, but something about the look in her eyes made me worry. I was frightened. Too frightened to follow them, so I stayed put. That is, until the lights went out entirely, along with the rest of the power. Everyone began murmuring impatiently, my mother joking "This is what we get for trusting my husband to a blown fuse." After the power hadn't come back on for a few moments, coupled with my father still not returning, people started to get worried. "Maybe he electrocuted himself?" I heard someone say. My uncle decided to go and see if everything was alright, and I went with him, though I wasn't sure why... I hadn't seen or heard from the strange girl since she left after my father, and I felt sure she had something to do with this. We took a flashlight and made our way down to the basement... And the sight that greeted us made my heart stop momentarily. The stairs were slick with blood. At first I thought my father had fallen and bashed his head, but at the foot of the stairs there was nothing but a trail of blood leading to a corner cluttered with old broken furniture. My uncle started lifting things out of the way, and I'm sure he was as confused as I was, but I followed his lead. Beneath an old, torn up couch, I found my father's body, his chest torn open. Not just sliced through; the flesh was ripped off, as if some beast had torn into him with sickly sharp talons, leaving his rib cage bare. The sickest thing was his heart was still beating. I noticed my uncle had stopped lifting, and I guessed he'd looked over and was as speechless as me. Turning around, at first I saw nothing; then, leading the flashlight across the room, I saw a hunched over figure... a figure with long blonde hair flowing down her back. I nearly threw up; she didn't seem so plain now, tearing into my uncle with inhuman strength. She turned to me, grinning wickedly. "W..why?" I managed to gasp, weakly, as she approached. She seemed confused by the question, tilting her head as if considering it for a moment. "You need a reason?" she asked, her voice like nails on a chalkboard. Her next utterance has never left my mind, and probably won't until the day I die. "Read the first word of every paragraph."
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