Elijah, a youth starved for the love and affection his parents had abandoned for their new families, found solace only in the meager financial support they sent and the companionship of his friend, Emily.  He wasn't truly sad, not yet.  He had Emily.
 
Then came Christmas Eve.  The sky fractured, a monstrous eclipse bleeding crimson across the heavens, staining the world in a horrifying, unnatural light.  It was the moment everything changed.
 
Emily remained, outwardly the same.  But she wasn't Emily anymore.  Something… else… inhabited her shell.
 
The world twisted.  Faces shifted, bodies contorted, morphing into grotesque parodies of their former selves.  People weren't changing; they were being replaced.  One moment they were there, vibrant and familiar; the next, gone—erased from existence, their memories swallowed by the encroaching crimson tide.  A blink, and they were gone.  Vanished.
 
What were these things? These… replacements?  These monsters that wore the faces of loved ones, mimicking their mannerisms, their voices, their smiles—a chilling imitation of life itself.  The question clawed at Elijah's sanity, a terrifying riddle with no answer, only the ever-present dread of the next disappearance, the next horrifying transformation, the next empty space where a cherished face once resided.  The blood-red sky was a constant, suffocating reminder of the monstrous truth:  nothing was as it seemed, and no one was safe.

On a swing set, a girl with brown hair and a boy with black hair sat and swayed gently.


"Eli," the girl asked with a bright smile, "What are you doing for Christmas?"


Eli replied quietly, a hint of sorrow in his voice, "...Nothing."


The girl, sensing his sadness, smiled and took his hand. "How about coming to my house on Christmas Eve? My parents would love to have you!"


Reluctant at first, Eli hesitated.  But seeing the sparkle in her eyes, he agreed.


"Alright!" she exclaimed. "That's a promise! I'll wait for you!"


Eli hummed in response, feeling a surprising warmth despite the cold weather.  For the first time, I'm actually excited for Christmas, he thought with a faint smile.


Christmas Eve arrived.  At the girl's house, a middle-aged woman opened the door.  "The previous owners moved out," she said.


"...Huh?" Eli was bewildered.  They… left?


He tried contacting the girl, but her social media accounts were gone.  He searched for her full name, but found nothing.  Initially, he assumed she was avoiding him.


Then, the strange occurrences began.  A massive eclipse plunged the sky into crimson.  People he knew, even those he barely recognized, started disappearing as if they never existed.


He consulted a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with delusional disorder, attributing his symptoms to loneliness stemming from his parents' frequent absences due to work and their new family.


He started taking medication, but the crimson eclipse persisted, and the disappearances continued.  Life seemed to settle into a new, unsettling normal—until…


He gasped, whirling around.  There stood the girl, Emily, exactly as he remembered her.  


The same appearance, voice, and smile.  


A year had passed.  Why hadn't she changed?


Prologue