As moonlight cast haunting shadows upon the frayed edges of the journal, I could almost envision the young author, their sanity slowly unraveling, as they chronicled the sinister events that unfolded, blurring the lines between reality and nightmare in a dance of malevolent intrigue. The very act of transcribing their experiences onto paper appeared to invoke an ancient evil, one that lingered between the lines, eager to claw its way into our realm once more…
THE RUNAWAY
A Stray Souls Story
Journal Entry #1 - ``The Lost Soul``
June 06, 2000
You know, nobody ever tells you how tough it is to uproot your whole life and start over. It’s even worse when you feel like you’ve got no support system to fall back on. But hey, I’m here now, and I guess writing everything down is gonna be my makeshift therapy. I saw this change coming, sort of prepared for it, but now that it’s done and I’m standing in this place I gotta call “home,” I’m just completely wiped out.
About a month ago, something went down that I can’t wrap my head around yet. I don’t even know where to begin with how to process it. All I know is, when it happened, I knew something had to change. See, I never really questioned the beliefs my parents raised me with until that moment, but seeing the whole thing blow up in front of me made me doubt everything. It’s like I had a full-on existential crisis. And the worst part? The upcoming Ascension. Yeah, that’s what they call it when you hit so-called “adulthood.”
But honestly, even at 18 years old I still feel like a kid, and everyone in my community decided that hitting this age milestone somehow makes you ready to handle a truckload of new responsibilities. I just don’t see it that way. My mom always said I had an issue with authority, and if I didn’t get it together, I’d end up on a dark path. But you know what? She’s the kind of person who’s cool with being told how to live and never questions anything. That’s just not me. I always want to know the truth, and if things don’t add up, I’m gonna ask questions. Sure, they call me a “rebel,” but who wants to live life like a sheep being led to the slaughter?
So, the night before the Ascension ceremony, I packed a few changes of clothes and split. Had some cash saved up for this. Not much, but enough to get me the hell out of Michigan.
And that’s how I landed in this small apartment in the middle of nowhere. It’s an old building, not much in the way of furniture, but at least I’m free. Free from the religious stuff my parents have shoved down my throat since forever. Free from a community that’s so set in their ways, they’d do messed up things to please their so-called “god” no questions asked.
That’s all behind me now. Now I can start fresh… try to fit into the society around me, and just hope I’ve covered my tracks well enough…
That’s all for today! Thanks for joining us for an inside peek at Stray Souls!
As always, if you have any content to share or questions for the team, please feel free to reach out. You can stay in touch with me and the rest of the Versus Evil team by joining our Discord and following us on our various social media channels.
~ VS | Renee
Stray Souls Community Manager