The Last Devil Child

Chapter 1

Welcome to Caligo. The little Village sitting on a lump of rock two miles North West of nowhere in the middle of the sea, with an average population of 25-30 people. Not many people know we’re even here. When you live on Caligo, you’re born here, you live here and work here, and then you die here and are buried in the graveyard. That graveyard is home to every person that has ever been here. If by chance you happen to stumble upon our little island, you won’t ever go back. Caligo is wrapped in fog every day and every night. There is no fog on the island or away from it, but the cost line separating land from sea is blocked by dark mists, trapping us here. Local legend says Caligo wasn’t always this way. It tells of a thriving fishing village that was happy and full of light and laughter but that was before the Diabolus Children came. We call them the Devil Children. They came in the night, a full moon some say, on a rowing boat. Two little girls and a boy. No adults with them and not a penny to their name. The fishermen that found them bought them to the church to discuss the next move. The debate went on for hours about what to do with them, then, Mrs O’Harrison spoke out. Now, it pays to remember that Mrs O’Harrison was not what many consider a normal lady. In fact, some went so far as to call her a witch. She said she saw the future, had visions, made predictions. She said the children were a curse, sent here by Satan himself to doom little Caligo. The people laughed and called her crazy. Mrs O’Harrison grew outraged and stormed from the church, cursing the children as she went. The people ignored her warning and took the children in, that’s when the torment for little Caligo began.

At first, life went on in the village as usual, but soon things began to change for the worst. Neighbours and good friends were feuding, fishermen’s nets would come up laden with holes and  there would be no catch for days, cops and livestock all suddenly died, storms splintered boats but the worst was yet to come. Then came The Spots. The Spots, this evil disease where your body broke out into raging red rashes and black spots appeared on your face and neck. Soon you would get a fever and if that didn’t go down within 24 hours, you expected the worst. Every man, woman and child in Caligo got it and the doctor could find no cure. Every man woman and child except the Diabolus Children. The three children were free from illness though they ate the same food, drank the same water and breathed the same air. Then, the first victim died. Soon people were beginning to recall Mrs O’Harrisons words in the Church of the children’s curse and some believed her. The Diabolus Children were bringing bad omens and dark spirits to Caligo and many thought they needed to be rid of.

With the death of the second, third and fourth victims came anger and rage turned towards the children. When you live somewhere as small as Caligo, everyone is like family to you and four members of that family had died within a month. One by one the children met their ends. The first girl and the oldest was burnt for accused witchcraft, the boy was trapped in the basement of the church where he died of starvation, and the smallest and youngest of the Diabolus Children was cast away in a little wooden rowing boat with enough food and water to last her three days. The Diabolus Children were gone and soon enough the illness vanished, crops thrived as did the fishing community as was suspected. That was when the dark mist fell around Caligo and it has remained there ever since. Never letting up, not for one day. The tale says that when she heard of the children’s ends, Mrs O’Harrison went into the grave yard and paid her respects to the three lost children. There is a grave stone in the church yard today, it is blank with no names, only a little wooden rowing boat engraved into the otherwise smooth rock. People say it is the grave of the Devil Children.

This is where I live, encased in fog in a little village called Caligo.