Introduction

I have always perceived of myself a man of considerable ambition, though my ambitions have always been in my estimation simple; I conduct myself as an intelligent, but fairly simple, man in a rather complex world, and this has always served me well. Though the events which I am about to recount to you occurred in the small town of Yardley, in Pennsylvania, I could never and would never escape my foundings as a boy in New England, a singular place with a colorful and otherworldly history. This fact will be important to you as you read, to understand what has happened, to myself, and my friend, and that town which is now no more. There are things you will read which are beyond your understanding; I ask only that you suspend such lack of knowledge into a sort of faith in me so that parts of your mind which are more capable of gleaning valuable warnings from my text are allowed access to it. This faith you have will be all that I possess, for I am not long for this place and I do not know how my lucidity will maintain long enough for me to press the facts here, and transform this blank “paper” into a stark warning.
Though it is the ending which is most startling I find great difficulty in finding a temporal location from which to start. As of late my perception of linear time has been handicapped and cause and effect seem to have been reversed, so as I observe the effect, I necessarily will navigate its course to its cause, and begin my tale to you with what I consider to be as proper a place as I can imagine, which is how I came into possession of a certain knife, though no ordinary one, which will play a small but not insignificant role in the unfolding of this tale.

To be continued ….