Signed, Amy

They said to start at the beginning.

Colton found the book. He was doing odd jobs then, and one of them was cleaning out an old church basement full of junk. Most of the stuff got thrown away or sold at a flea market, but the book he squirreled away for himself. He liked the cover image: he said it looked like one of the demons he used to draw on his notebook covers in middle school, only it was good enough that whoever etched it in the leather should be working at Marvel or DC or something.

We did the summoning thinking it would be a fun party game and nothing would actually happen. That's when Colton got scratched. Gouged. Whatever… hurt.  After Colton shot the demon, we put it in the van and buried it out by Monthall. I can show you the exact spot on Google Maps if you want. I won't go out there again, though. You can drag me in handcuffs if you really want to but I'll fight you the whole way and I'll just lead you in the wrong direction when we get there. I'm not going anywhere near that thing.

We dug the pit, and pushed the demon in, and then Colton shot himself  before we could stop him. I understand that that this is when I should have called the authorities.

Instead we buried them both, the demon and Colton. We also buried the book and the gun. We were scared, we were half crazy from that thing being in our heads giving orders. We thought burying it all and keeping the secret would give us time before whatever came next.

Morris and Jen left town. They didn't tell me where they were going. I really don't know what happened between them. When they left, they were in love, they just wanted to start a new life.

People were looking for Colton, his parents had filed a missing persons report. The local police didn't give me much of a hard time. I'd packed a case with some of his clothes and his laptop and used his debit card to empty his bank account, then tossed all of it including the money into a dumpster, the one behind Morry's on Third, if that helps you find it.

I assume forensics will confirm that Colton shot himself. Powder burns or residue or whatever. I admit to burying Colton's body and then trying to make it look like he got freaked out that I was pregnant and ran off. I don't know what to tell you about Morris and Jen. I didn't track them down and stab them to death in some motel and try to make it look like a murder-suicide.

The baby is a separate question, but you know that by now. The fire was about the baby. I'm telling you, the baby is part of it. I don't know how, or why. I should have done something earlier. You still can.