Starved Rewrite Part 1
There's a specter that haunts us, and I worry that it's coming for my family.
I don't know how long it's been since it started but for the past while now every moment has felt like an eternity. Constantly having to check behind my back at every turn, having to take needlessly more complex and time-consuming routes just to get basic necessities, I don't remember how it feels to be safe in my own home. My daughters are the only reason I still have my sanity left but I don't know how much longer I can physically handle it.
It initially started with a couple of missing persons cases showing up once in a blue-moon. As unfortunate as the events were they were chalked up to being a symptom of general increases of crime. Didn't last long though. People quickly grew wise to the reality at hand when it went from someone four towns over going missing to your town's carpenter or your neighbor disappearing. For me, it was the love of my life.
A fog quickly loomed over, distrust in others began to rise as fingers started being pointed to every Tom, Dick, and Jones that wasn't constantly around others. That was until someone caught sight of him.
Slumped over with shriveled, dangling legs, his ribs showing through his skin in spite of his round physique being maintained. He now sported a black jacket with yellow coat-tails and stripes over his jumpsuit with these absolutely hideous red moles now engulfing his face, even partially covering his newly whitened moustache. It was him alright, caught flying God knows where in a renovated mobile. When news of his new appearance went public, everyone intuitively knew that he was the reason why their friends were going missing.
Still, that didn't change the current state of things. Sure, people grew real close to each other, the culprit being found removed the need for incessant finger-pointing and it's harder to be targeted when you're in a group, but the amount of people disappearing every week kept increasing. Morale has dropped to an all time low and couple that with colder weathers and people substituting time to produce goods with time dedicated to making sure that they aren't the next victim, the future is bleak.
Some people have tried to soften the mood by calling him "Deviled" in light of his new appearance but that doesn't change reality. We're still being picked off one by one and nobody has any idea how to stop it - hell nobody even knows where he is! That sighting of him has been the one and only time he's been spotted since around the start of all this.
I can't give up else my daughters will pay for it, but I feel that all I'm doing is delaying the inevitable.