Dead by Dawn

Chapter One.

Misty Way - July 1st - 1995.

A warm and gentle breeze drifted through the hardened trees, it was the 1st of July in the sleepy town of Misty Way. Summer had finally arrived and the kids of the town were excited, the local swimming pools were open and the carnival would come to town and stay there for the whole month of July. The adults were more relaxed too because unlike in the winter, the children actually had something to do and they would be hanging out with their friends almost everyday, spending hours outside and leaving their parents to get on with their day without being disturbed. 

The sun was starting to settle behind the trees and the air surrounding Barbara Michaels' home soon turned from being warm, to being bitterly cold. You would think that since it was summer, the air during nighttime would be warmer than the nights during winter and although they were warmer sometimes, most of the time it could get quite chilly. Barbara was stuffing one big bag full of clothing, makeup and hair products, she sighed gently to herself and turned around to sit next to her bag on her soft bedding. As she watched the sky darken outside and the trees swaying violently from the harsh wind, she looked back down at her now full bag and decided to take out some of her more summery outfits and opts for putting in jackets that would have only been worn during the colder durations of the year. 

While being indecisive about her choices, she hears a clatter against her bedroom window but ignores it, just thinking it was the wind. 

She hears the same sort of clattering noise again and decides to hesitantly walk nearer towards the window.

She peers down and sees nothing, in the now pitch black darkness. Her eyes skimmed over and sees her pool water glistening. She rolls her eyes and proceeds back to her bed to finish packing.

Barbara's parents were currently out of town on business for their jobs, which meant that she was here in her massive house all alone. Almost all of the lights in the house were off except for in Barbara's room. The town of Misty Way had low crime rates but the people of the town had noticed that over the past few years more and more children went missing and even teenagers too, they were never found and this started to make Barbara sort of anxious. She opened the drawer door next to her bed and picked up a worn out flashlight that just managed to turn on even though the light was dimmer than usual, she slid on her flip flops and started turning on the lights around her house before unlocking the doors that opened up onto the patio. 

She first shone the flashlight through the window glass and watched for any sort of movement outside. When she saw none, she decided to fully open the doors and step outside. She walked around the patio and shone the light down into the pool water, seeing nothing. She decided to stand there for a second in her baggy white t-shirt that had been gifted to her by her boyfriend on the Christmas from the year before.

A sharp gust of wind drifted through her which made her hairs stand up on end and goosebumps appeared on her skin. Her sleeves were rolled up and she hurriedly pushed them down and tightened her arms around herself, shivering. 

Barbara had had enough of standing out in the bitingly cold darkness and whipped around to head back inside when she bumped into what seemed to be, the shadow of a human figure. Before even taking a look up at the persons face, she let out a shrill scream and raised up her arm before pounding it down onto the strangers shoulder. 

A hand from the shadows body darted out from the darkness and into the dim light of the flashlight to wrap itself around Barbara's mouth, missing her nose so that she was still able to breathe and wasn't suffocating. She managed to find enough strength within the small body of hers to push the shadowy figure away from her, she took her flashlight and shone the light into the strangers face when she let out a frustrated sigh and started slapping the person over their head. 

"Are you fucking insane or something?!" The shout she let out seemed more like a low mewl coming from a small kitten and the stranger recognised this which caused him to erupt a choking laughter from the back of his throat. 

The stranger standing in front of Barbara was none other than her apparently very stupid boyfriend, Carl. He stood at almost six feet tall and wore a goofy grin plastered across his face. "Why would you come here so late at night? Why can't you just ring the front door bell like a normal person, is that really too much to ask for?" Carl rolled his eyes and wrapped his big arms around her tiny body, pulling her into his chest. "I wanted to surprise you, that's all. No need to get so uptight princess." He cooed gently into her ear, Barbara could practically hear the smirk prancing around in his voice and she smiled unknowingly against his chest before poking her head back up to look at him. 

She pushed herself away from his chest and took him by the hand, leading him inside, locking the doors behind them.