This story is an amalgamation of several prompts!
@Tanager Haemmerle - Finding something buried in your yard/on your walk! It's been partially dug up by animals. It appears to be some sort of box!
@PotataHed - Where's that music coming from?
@m_allicia - Did you hear that?
@Tonja Burger - When you see someone walk pass you and you know you're the only one home

If your prompt is not listed above but you gave me one when I asked for spooky prompts, keep an eye out! This month will be full of stories!

I grew up poor. Growing up poor can shape things about your personality that many people don't consider. Though I was a voracious reader from an earlier age, my house was not filled with books because they were about as practical as that overpriced toy all the kids were crying for. Food, electricity, water and basic necessities were hard to come by so books were not something in the budget.

Libraries were an absolute saving grace for a child who loved to read. School libraries and our public one. I'm a big believer in supporting ANY organization or cause that will help get a book into the hands of a child. My absolute FAVORITE presents of all time were two boxes of those condensed classics for kids. They were little square paperbacks with a few black and white illustrations inside. I nearly wept when I got them because they were MINE. I OWNED THOSE BOOKS.

Now, of course, I have 3 overflowing bookshelves and a massive Kindle log. Why am I rambling about this? Because when I read on some list site about a child who received a dollar to buy books, I felt a little hiccup in my heart. I had to write a story about such a scenario.

I will be the first to admit that the ending wasn't planned. I can't predict how my brain will work when I'm writing a story. Hope you still enjoy it!

I haven't given you a story in some time and I need to recitify that. While I'm typing away on the next piece, I decided to share my ancient foray into telling a children's story. I always wanted some poor soul to illustrate this but never had the nerve to ask!

While the story is suitable for children, let's just say I am weird. I do not apologize for this.

To mix things up a little, I'm going to share chapter one of a novel I wrote ages ago. After polling a few friends, it was decided that, of my seven completed novels, this would be the first to go into an editing round (mostly bc it's a shorter novel and it's fun!) If all goes well, I hope to self-publish this story in mid-2019

Please note that this chapter is still unedited so I cannot 100% guarantee it will stay the same once we clean it up! Also, it's a fairly short chapter!

Told you I would eventually get out of the fairy tale type stories. Below is proof of my claim.

Big thank you to Missa for helping me decide between my two endings and to Jason for helping me decide on a proper title. (Also, I sent this story off for consideration. They declined. *shrugs* Your good luck then bc I can post it!)

I promised a new story and I delivered. Why have the last few stories been in the fairy tale and/or fantasy realm? *shrugs* No clue. 

My writing tends to happen in themed waves. Wait a while and you'll probably get murders and monsters. Want a different kind of story? Send me a prompt!