Chapter 1: Premonitions

A traveler was so bold as to wander the dank forest on this dark night with nothing but a flashlight to both guide and protect her. She looked rather young, no older than 16, her air of confidence and matching smile would slowly wean away as she comes into contact with the subtle dangers that lurk in the shadows. Zipping her red hoodie up a bit, she trudged forward. You could easily tell that she was anxious by the fact that she neared the rusted chain-link fence with trepidation. Hearing the crunching sound of the leaves slowly fade behind her, she climbed up the five foot fence. Looking down, she knew she couldn't turn back, what would her friends say at school tomorrow? Would they commend her attempt? Or would they just laugh at her? She shook her head as if to clear it and jumped down, receiving a smooth landing. She stood up slowly and flicked the switch on her flashlight. The pungent smell of rotting bark was clearly evident, and the fact that tonight marked a new moon meant that she would be shrouded in darkness. She wafted her hand from left to right, sending the smell elsewhere. She moved the flashlight in unison with her head and found a bare, morphed tree in the distance and felt an urge to move towards it. Letting her feet carry her towards the tree she noticed something on the left side. Getting closer she could faintly make out a sheet of paper taped to the tree. The yellowed note stood out from the blackish-brown rotting bark on the tree. At this point she was close enough to reach out and grab it, she committed to this action, but as she placed her hand out, she paused for a minute, almost hesitant to pick the note away from the tree. Contemplating this decision, she went against her better judgment and plucked the note off of the tree. She had it close enough to her face to just barely make out the chicken scratch attempt at writing.

"Don't look or it…takes you?" She looked a bit nervous, but snorted in defiance as she trudged backwards towards the fence to hop over it. She jumped nervously and looked to her right as she saw a silhouette of a man that looked inhumanly tall.

The faint sound of a sharp gasp followed by the soft creaking of a bed were heard in the dead of night, the loud boom of thunder could be heard from outside her window. A girl was sitting up drenched in a cold sweat she looked around her room in complete tension before relaxing and breathing a swift sigh of relief, Lightening outlined her features to make them look harsh, almost making her look older than she really was. She looked to the clock on her nightstand, it read three thirty exactly.

"Huh, it's the thirtieth minute of the third hour. Ok, surroundings check, bed, door, dresser, nightstand and window. This is my room; I guess it's going to be perfectly ok." After she had spoken in whispers, the faint sound of two sets of footsteps walking on thick carpet, the door was swiftly opened. The shapes of her parents could be made out as they moved in towards her bed. She opened her arms out to her mother

"Honey, are you all right?" Her mother asked, fear making her voice waver.

"Mom, I'm…I'm ok, I just had a bad dream." The girl looked over her mother's shoulder towards her father's tired face. The girl gave a big yawn and slipped out of her mom's arms towards the faint warmth of her bed. Her parents took the silent hint and stealthily snuck out of her room and back to their respective room. The girl rolled over to go to sleep. She closed her eyes, her breathing beginning to ebb and fade to deep and even breathing, signaling that she was unconscious and drifting into a fitful night of nightmares that she was useless to try to escape. The three of them were completely unaware of the silhouette of the faceless person staring in the girl's window as a blinding flash of lightening struck the ground and the deafening boom of thunder followed. There was one simple flaw to this; the girl's room was on the second floor.

"Eleanor! Wake up or else you're going to be late!" Eleanor rose up from her bed looking rather depraved of any form of sleep for what looked to be about three to four weeks, well, that's what High school does to you? She walked into the bathroom to take her shower. Turning to her right just before the doorway of the bathroom she opened the door to snag a towel and caught a glimpse of herself in one of the mirrors. Eleanor considered herself to look like one of the undead, which was terribly fitting considering Halloween, which was about a month away. She went in to the second portion of the bathroom and fumbled around for the light switch, grasping what felt like the switch, she flicked upward. Successfully turning on the lights, she smiled and shut the door behind her. She looked around before taking her shirt off and tossing it to the corner behind her. The then proceeded to do the same with the rest of her clothes and walked towards the tub and pushed the white curtain back a bit and bent over to turn the faucet knob to make the water comfortable. Stepping up and in to the tub she walked forward, letting the water cascade down her and taking in deep breaths of steam

"It's my first day of high school out in this new district. During my freshman and sophomore years, we'd played Bellhollow's football team, and they completely demolished us. I guess this year may be different, who knows? Either way, it may be alright, though I do have to say that living near the woods is a bit unnerving to me." The water began to get cold, so she turned the knob to the left to keep the water warm. She reached for the shampoo and lathered it before washing her hair, putting the foam to her hair; she began to hum an upbeat tune. As her tune came to an end she rinsed her hair and turned the knob to the middle and pushed the knob in, shutting the shower off. She pushed the curtain back and grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her like a dress before heading to her room to change. She heard the faint sound of the back door shutting and the sound of the garage door opening, followed by the sound of a car starting up. She sighed and entered her room to change into her usual uniform of bleached blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt. She went to her closet and grabbed her red hoodie and zipped it up to her chest before heading back into the bathroom. Looking at herself tiredly in the mirror she opened the top drawer under the counter to her left. She pulled the first brush that she grabbed out of the drawer and shut it. She looked in the mirror as she put her hair up in a ponytail. Looking contentedly in the mirror at her work, she set the brush down on the counter before heading down the stairs. Each stair had its own individual creak, as if each was giving its own 'good morning' to you as you walked down. She stopped on the landing and turned to the right, entering the TV room where she, her dad and stepmother frequented for sports, especially football. She went to the kitchen. The kitchen was rather small, but comfortable enough to accommodate one person, the kitchen was dull in color except for the red retro styled clock. She walked to the tallest cabinet which was dubbed the pantry. Eleanor opened it to get some cereal for breakfast, heading across from the pantry was the cabinet which held bowls, and the drawer underneath the counter directly below the cabinet with the bowls. She opened the drawer to retrieve a spoon. she went into the larger portion of the kitchen, which was converted into a dining room, and set the cereal box, bowl and spoon on the table which was dawning a god-awful floral print of vivid pink and neon blue hibiscus print. Eleanor headed across the kitchen to the stove and turned left to the fridge. She opened it to grab the milk, returning to the table she poured the cereal in first, then the milk and grabbed the paper to skim through it while she ate.

"Well, I'm home alone, I never eat breakfast with my parents, and I never eat dinner with them, I'm almost always alone, and I'm sick of it. It's almost like I can't do anything because of the fact that my parents have such crazy work schedules. My dad's a postal carrier and he's been on the overtime list for the past two years, making his work day from seven thirty a.m. to eight thirty p.m. My mom works as a consultant in a hospital as a nurse on call and sometimes I don't see her for days at a time." Eleanor sighed and continued to eat her cereal. She was now on the diversions page and she proceeded to to the daily Sudoku. After completing it with ease her cereal had gone soggy, she sighed and walked over towards the sink to dump what was left in the bowl before rinsing it out and putting it in the dish drainer. She put the cereal and the milk in their respective places and she walked towards the front door by the stairs. Going to the left corner of the wall by the front door, she grabbed her backpack and slung it on. She unlocked the front door and headed out, she turned around to lock the door, and she headed on the forty-five minute walk to her high school. She began to feel a bit uneasy as she passed the wooded area by her house. She gasped and pulled her camera out of her bag, she pushed the shutter as fast as she could, causing a bright flash. Sensing that nothing was around and she thought it was her imagination, she ran off. Reaching the gates of the school she slowed to a stop before pushing the doors open. She walked in as if nothing happened and headed towards her first class; math, oh how she loathed math with a burning passion. She didn't hate the teacher, Ms. Joensen was relatively nice and mild-tempered, but unfortunately she taught the subject least appreciated by Eleanor. She walked in and happened to notice her friend Lucy. Lucy recognized her and began to walk towards her as the bell rang. Lucy disappointingly took her seat as Ms. Joensen walked in to start class.