Steven opens his eyes and it is 6:50. He slept through his alarm by 15 minutes. Groggy and still half asleep he hears his mom rush up the stairs and barge in his room "Steven at this point you're going to be late. Get out of bed, get dressed and go!" Steven rushes to get ready. He throws on clothes and throws the candle in his bag (he knew if he wanted to know more about it he would have to have it with him). Out the door and speeding to school he is already late. He got to school one minute after the bell rang and ran inside straight to his desk. As soon as he sits down Mr. Stiff walks in "Sorry I'm late, class, my car took a minute to start." Steven opens his bag to look at the candle and sure enough a bead of wax is dripping down. He reaches out to try and touch the hot wax but as soon as he did it cooled instantly. Where did this candle actually come from?

At lunch, Steven sits next to Marcus, "Marcus, I would like to ask you something" Steven opens his bag, "What do I have in my bag?"

Marcus stared confused at what he was being asked "Um is this a trick question? Well, there's a couple notebooks, the book we are reading for English, a couple pens scattered throughout, and what looks to be part of a newspaper. Why are you asking?"

Steven sat and just shook his head why can't he see it he thought as he just responds, “Have you been to the gazebo by the woods?”

Marcus could see something was bothering Steven and just shook his head saying “No, why?”

"No reason, after school want to come check out that gazebo with me?" Steven and Marcus planned to meet up at the end of the day.

At the end of the day, Steven and Marcus start walking towards the woods by the school. After a couple hours of trying to find the gazebo Steven finally finds where the gazebo was. It was right here he thought as he was showing his frustration. "Is this a joke, man? Why bring me all the way out here when I could be home right now watching TV?" Marcus said attackingly. Staring at the empty site, Marcus walks back on his own as Steven seemed to be unfazed by anything he was saying. Right here, I sat on a bench inside of it right here. Is the lockbox still around? What is going on...? Walking back to his car Steven decides he need to head to the Bronco Gazette before it closed in an hour.

Arriving at the old worn down building that has always housed the towns paper sat a sign outside Halloween dance Saturday October 30th. Come to the high school at 9pm for fun no matter the age. If you plan on entering the costume contest be there before 9:30 to sign in. Walking in the building he sees a man typing away on a typewriter. Steven rang a bell at the desk to get his attention. "Howdy there young man, are you here with the next big story? Perhaps you want to try your hand at writing a few articles?" Steven awkwardly shook his head no and asked if they had archived papers he could see. "A young man interested in history is a beautiful sight. Follow me." Steven and the man walked to a back room that was filled with boxes and a staircase. "Every paper now back to 1930 is up here and before that, all the way back to when we opened in 1890, will be down the stairs. Now I hope I can trust to leave you here alone? I'm the only one in and need to stay by the desk. Come get me if you have any questions or need help."

Steven walked down the stairs to a cold dark room filled with spiderwebs and dusty boxes. Looking around he found a box labeled 1890-1900 [opening it came with a cloud of dust that has been building up for decades.] Thumbing through, he finally came to October 31st, 1898. There, on the front page was the same picture he had in his bag. He takes out the paper and a notebook to write down the full article for class.

His luck ran out Mr. Jefferson’s incredible luck has seemed to run out while on chase from the police. Found dead in a building just outside of town only days after the robbery. On the run for two days Mr. Jefferson was found dead in a shack in the cemetery. As of now it is not clear how he died but more importantly the fortune he stole has yet to be found.

That’s it? Steven thought to himself. Putting the article back in the old box. He pulls out November 1st, 1898 to see if he could find anything. Flipping to the obituaries he sees

October 31st, 1898 Willis Jefferson died from causes unknown at this time. Before his death Willis was known by the town as the 'luckiest man in the world.' From every drawing to every coin flip has always seemed to be in his favor. Willis is survived by his wife Cynthia and his daughter Sally.

From up top he hears the man yell "Okay kid, we close in 5 minutes time to wrap it up." Steven quickly puts the papers away and starts walking up as he bumps into another box that falls to the ground. An article slides out to his feet. On the page are a list of wedding announcements and he sees:

Charles Dune and Sally Jefferson are set to wed this Saturday.

thinking about that and the article about a Sally Dune seeing her husband off to war he suddenly put the two together.

At home his mother was on the phone with their neighbor "...oh we will talk about it later he just walked in..." Steven ignores what he just walked in on and asks if he could use the phone. Flipping the thin town phonebook, he finds the number for Geraldine retirement center (the local nursing home) he dials the number and after a couple rings someone picks up.

"Geraldine retirement center this is nurse April"

"Yes, is there someone there by the name of Sally Jeff...er...Dune... Sally Dune?"

"Mrs. Dune does not accept calls anymore, but visiting hours are 2 to 4 tomorrow, is there anything else I can do for you?"

Steven thanked her and hung up the phone.

Later at dinner Steven asked his mom what she was talking about on the phone earlier "Mrs. Smith called to say she's noticed some strange behavior from you. Like outside you stare at your hand for long period of time with nothing in it and at night she can see your shadow staring out of the curtains with a purple hew around it until three in the morning. What is this all about?" Steven felt his temperature drop and let out a shiver, "I was.. uh.. just getting fresh air, may I be excused?" Without an answer Steven ran upstairs to his room. "That boy better not be on drugs."

Up in his room Steven paced back and forth. He couldn't get the thought of a shadow in his window out of his head. Am I sleep walking? How can't I remember it.... was.... was it even me...? Siting down at his desk he takes the candle out of his bag. For the first time since finding it he felt this strange ominous presence. At first this candle was something he refused to believe in but now seeing all of these strange coincidences and reading about Mr. Jefferson he was convinced something was going on. At his desk Steven pulls out the rules to examine them one by one.

1. THIS CANDLE WILL BURN FOR ETERNITY UNLESS USED

It hasn't gone out so far.

2. THIS CANDLE WILL GRANT THE PERSON WHO LIGHTS IT WITH UNNATURAL LUCK

I have been having some luck but was any of it 'unnatural'?

3. IF THE ACT OF "LUCK" HAPPENS FOR A SITUATION THAT WOULD NOT BE HUMANLY POSSIBLE UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, THE CANDLE BURNS.

So far I've only seen beads drip.

4. IF THIS CANDLE BURNS OUT THE PERSON IN POSESSION OF THS CANDLE WILL DIE.

Does this mean if I keep getting lucky it will eventually kill me? It seems unlucky to have found in in the first place.

5. IF THE USER DIES BEFORE THE CANDLE BURNS OUT THEN THE CANDLE IS RESET AND FREE TO FIND A NEW SOUL TO LIGHT THE CANDLE

Does this candle even want me to get lucky?

Steven sat up thinking about everything he just read when he remembered the other message.

This candle does not want to burn out and will actively try to save itself from so. DO NOT LIGHT

It was too late as he had already lit the candle. But what does it mean by the candle does not want to burn out? …will try to save itself? What does that even mean? After pondering these rules over and over trying to figure out anything that will give him a clue Steven falls asleep at his desk from pure exhaustion.

That night waking up from the discomfort of being at his desk he takes off his pants and gets in bed. Laying there he couldn’t help but feel that someone (or something) was watching him. Ever since Mrs. Smith said that, I am probably just paranoid that she is watching. Closing his eyes one last time for the night he falls asleep.