Small Town Evil

By Ken Berglund

A father and daughter are haunted by a girl they thought they had run over in their car while returning home from a weekend vacation. When the father realizes that his daughter's condition is getting worse, and that the girl he hit may or may not even exist, he returns to the small town where he had the accident, hoping to find answers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ken Berglund
• Release date: Feb 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491023136

Ken Berglund

Ken Berglund was born and raised in Southern California, spending most of his early years in Downey and Long Beach. He spent 4 1/2 years in Asia working as an English teacher in Taiwan. He met his wife Chien Yu (Christy) while working for Hess Language School in Hsinchu. His experiences in Taiwan were documented in his first book, "An American Teacher in Taiwan."Ken moved his family to Austin, Texas in 2008, and his struggles and successes were documented in his second book, "From Taiwan to Texas: Life in Mid-America." His third book, "The Reluctant Austinite," is the third and final book in a trilogy of memoirs & anecdotes about life in America and Taiwan.His first fiction book, "Interstate 10", was released in January of 2013 to very positive reviews. He followed up that book with another fiction book, "Small Town Evil", in February 2013. "Small Town Evil" became a massive hit and went on to become a best-seller in the Horror genre, selling thousands of copies and staying in the top 50 for over 3 years, and reaching as high as #1, at one point only being outsold by veteran horror writers Stephen King and Anne Rice."The Dead Ones" was released in April of 2013. Ken described it as "sort of a companion piece to 'Interstate 10.' If people liked that one, they will probably like this one too.""Four Bites", an anthology of 4 horror stories both new and old, was released in November, 2013."Small Town Evil 2", the highly anticipated sequel to Ken's biggest seller, was finally released in late February, 2014.In April of 2014, Ken released a compilation of all three of his non-fiction books. Together for the first time, "An American Teacher in Taiwan," "From Taiwan to Texas: Life in Mid-America," and "The Reluctant Austinite" are featured in "Taiwan to Texas: The Complete Trilogy" along with new material that Ken added for 2014.

Book preview

PART ONE - THE DEAD GIRL

CHAPTER 1

Daddy, I’m hungry, Jennifer Taylor told her father, Jack. They had just stopped an hour ago for breakfast, and he had no desire to stop again. As they traveled together along a narrow, two-lane road through dense fog, the only food option for the next 100 miles seemed to be either McDonald’s or Subway, or Wendy’s and Burger King, or Taco Bell and KFC.

I’m going to come back 10 pounds heavier with all the shit I’ve eaten on this road trip for the past four days.

Already? We just had breakfast, Jack said. Jennifer was only eight years old, and she ate like a bird, so he wasn’t exactly surprised that she was hungry again.

I know, but I’m hungry again.

We’ll stop again pretty soon, he reassured her. I don’t think there’s another town around here for about 30 miles. Check the back seat. There should be a pack of cookies back there.

Jennifer reached back, rummaging through the camping supplies they had brought with them for the trip. This was the first in what Jack hoped would be an annual Father/Daughter camping trip since the divorce, and he wanted to be prepared. He didn’t want Jennifer running back to her mother telling her how badly her father had fucked up. There were at least 24 bottles of water in the back seat, and lots of unhealthy snacks. She found a package of Chips Ahoy! and began to eat it as though it was the best thing she had ever tasted.

Better? he asked her.

Yes.

You know, I was hoping this was something we could do every year, but I get the feeling that you don’t like camping very much.

Not really. It was too scary. Too many weird and scary noises, Jennifer explained.

Well, that’s natural when you’re out in the forest. All kinds of animals live out there. Trust me, they’re more afraid of you than you are of them. Maybe the next time we can try camping on the beach instead of out in the forest. How does that sound?

That sounds good. Mommy takes me to the beach a lot, she replied.

Great, now we’re playing the game of Who Is the Better Parent? It must be a ritual for every divorced couple. Mommy takes her to the beach, so I’ll have to top that by taking her to meet Willy Wonka in his fucking Chocolate Factory.

Well, your mom knows all the fun things to do, he told her, hoping she wouldn’t make any more comparisons.

The fog on the road began to get thicker and thicker. Jack began to slow down. The last thing he wanted was to rear-end another car out in the middle of nowhere.

Daddy, can I ask you a question?

Sure honey.

When will you come home? she asked, and it was a question Jack wasn’t really prepared for. Previous questions from her daughter usually consisted of unicorns and princesses, so this particular question caught him off guard.

I’m not sure. To be honest with you, I don’t think I’ll ever come home, he answered.

Why? You don’t like us?

It’s not like that at all. Your mother and I just have very different ideas about what we want to do with our lives. We have a lot of disagreements about pretty much everything, Jack said.

What do you mean?

"Adult things, you know? It’s kind of hard to explain. Basically your mom has something that we call psychological problems."

What’s that? Jennifer asked him curiously.

Well, let me try to explain it in a way that you would understand. You know how you get report cards at school every few months? he asked her.

Yes.

And on the report card, you get graded on a bunch of stuff, like how well you get along with other kids. That you share with other kids. You’re helpful to others. You can express your feelings well. All that kind of stuff, right?

Right.

Ok, and what kind of grades do you normally get for all those things? he asked her.

I get all A’s on everything, she answered proudly.

Of course you do because you’re a great kid. Now...if mommy were to get graded on those exact same things, she probably wouldn’t do as well as you. As a matter of fact, I’m quite certain her grades would be very low.

You mean all F’s?

Exactly, he said and they both began to laugh, but he noticed Jennifer’s expression change quickly to that of sheer terror.

Daddy, look out! she shouted.

A figure of a young girl