No one knew why Old man Bastly gave hate to every child. The town was filled with hushed whispers of why he'd be so mean.

“I heard his children died because they wanted something and he kept saying 'no'.”

“That's the complete opposite!” They gossiped. “Bastly treats kids like royalty, then when their close, he takes them home and nibbles on them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

The rumors made every women in town to keep their children close. Children in the town went missing from time to time and everyone turned to look at Bastly. No one dared to confront the old man, but their thoughts filled with blank spaces. Old man Bastly was the only living soul that could tell his story. But, he often forgot things. Every night, while sitting in a wooden chair decorated with scratches and dust, he would quietly chuckle at memories. They say a chuckle so dark and gloomy, It had the ability to kill ghosts. 'That is impossible.' They wondered. 'You can't kill a thing that's already dead.' The wondering stopped when they heard loud shrieks of pain coming from Bastly's house one day. They said the ghost were in so much pain when he laughed, they had wished they never died. Or existed.

The story begins in 1918. Back when Bastly was just a 29-year-old man, with two children, never forgetting things, and always keeping sanity. His wife was a cruel women. She always had a smug look on her face and decided to blame Bastly for every mistake done.

“Samson!” She called down to the river. “Why are you fishing, being a child, when you're gonna be late for work?” Don't you want to support the family?” she snarled.

“Alright honey! Be right down!” he called back. He loved being around his children. They were royalty in his life life. Joseph, his oldest child, was just like him. Protecting his younger sister, Jackie, till the end of his days. “Come on kids. Time for school.” Bastly piled the nets of fish together.

Walking home Joseph kept a worried expression on his face.

“What's wrong buddy?” Bastly put a hand on his son's shoulder.

“I don't know dad.” He replied. “There's this bad feeling that if you leave, you may never see us again.”

Bastly laughed at this. “That's crazy talk because i'll see you guys forever and ever until the end of forever. And forever is infinite.”

“Until the end of forever?” Joseph questioned his father, gleaming.

Before Bastly could promise, he was interrupted by a loud giddily chant from Jackie. “Forever and ever until the end of forever.” She jumped and danced around.

When they got home, Bastly offered to take the kids to school.

“No that's alright, Samson. I'll handle them. Go on kids, Get your bags from the cellar.” She smiled sickly at him. Bastly should've known that something was wrong, from those words. Though her words came sweet, there was an evil vibe to them.

“Oh, Okay. Let me just say bye to them.” Bastly walked to the cellar's stairs. “alright kids, I'm going. See you in about six hours.” He heard no reply, so he walked down,seeing his children next to a wooden chair. He sighed when seeing their sad faces. “Forever and ever, Okay?”

Joseph and Jackie smiled at this. “Forever and ever until the end of forever,” they yelled.

When returning home, Bastly could not wait to tell his children the stories of fishing.

“Joseph, Jackie!” he called. He heard slight weeping from the cellar so he ran down. Lying there, next to a wooden chair, were two small skeletons. Something was different about the chair. It had developed scratches on the arms and legs and there was a small paper with red ink on it. It read:

Samson, Hell is not as angry as I am.
You have forgotten me.
So, I leave you with the remains of your children.
I have cursed you Samson.
You will forget every small thing in your life from time to time.
Children will weep when they see you.
They will wish they never existed.
You will be frightened of every scream in your house.
From this day, till your last breath,
you will hear the shrieks of the ones you loved most.
The cries of your own.

It was then Bastly realized it was no ink, but blood, on the paper. Bastly never left his house after that. His wife disappeared and he grew insane. This is why, when so many children went missing, The town blamed old man Bastly. But, they had every right. Bastly believed his children were still alive so he took the ones that lived in town for himself. He loved the children like he loved his own. But they did not believe him. Bastly kept forgetting that every child he took died of loneliness in the cellar. They died ,but they wanted to get away. When he chuckled the children got scared and shrieked and weeped.

Waking from the horrible memory, Bastly had instantly forgotten why he had woken in the first place. For a second he began to think of his past. His children. He chuckled at the great memories. Outside of the house, When he laughed, You could hear the ghosts screaming as if they were dropped into fire. This day was very different, though.

“Dad, can you tell me about the best sailors that ever lived?” When he heard his daughter's voice, he went down to the cellar. Just like before, He found bones everywhere. The voices weeped when he came into the room.

“Jackie, what is wrong? Where's your brother?” He asked.

Stay away!, The ghosts of children cried. Do not keep us anymore. I wished I had never died.
Bastly believed it was Joseph and Jackie crying, trying to get away from their mother. He fell to his knees with a small thud and crawled to the bones. He did not cower or run away because of the noise. This time, Old man Bastly cried with them.