The Ninth

Part 1. So it begins...

Based on fictional events. Late October, 2021.

Dana never thought about death before. But there was no joy in her life as well. All days were similar to each other; it seemed as if she were living the same day over and over again. Nothing much was going on.

Dana Jones, short for Daniela, wasn't that notable: a dark-haired, hazel-green-eyed girl, short, always looked classy but never really stood out among the inhabitants of Endhill (let's name it so), which was situated between Portland and Seattle. Her social circle has never been numerous, therefore she often had no one to talk to and to share her thoughts with. Yes, even though she had a good friend who she worked together with, she sometimes never really understood her and conversations, like many thoughts, remained unfinished. However, it suited her: during her life in a new town - for a whole year - Dana learned to appreciate the silence and even found comfort in being alone, and the place she lived in, favored this. It was a very noiseless spot for the town. Dana rented a small, but quite comfortable apartment in the western part of the town - West-end. Gray houses, people always hurrying somewhere, a bustle of cars, but yet the town didn't seem like a big metropolis - it pleased. And right behind Dana's house, (which was an apartment building), there was a huge park with a small river flowing through it, with dense deciduous trees, many bright white lanterns, and of course, adventure - a park, where the inhabitants of the area just like the girl herself loved spending their time. But not now...

For the past couple of weeks the real horror began to occur in the West-end. Once every three days people started to disappear in the evenings. Initially, the park of West-end was the place of action, but a week later people started disappearing near their houses. Without a trace. Not even being able to get home. And everyone was somehow connected with each other. No matter how hard the local police tried to look for them, the search was just fruitless. Even harder was the fact that no one really saw the kidnapper, there was no evidence left, there was just nothing. No clues. Nothing. A couple of weeks later, an unknown person scrawled a message on the door of a house number 18 on Hilton Street, which stood right next to the park. "They are all dead, don't look for them or for me. Start looking... I'll drag more of you to death." After that, people were afraid to go out in the evening and the park was almost empty.

"...There are already six people on the account, and last night, probably another victim of the kidnapper disappeared. She did not come back home and - ..."
"A weird creepy message found on the door of the house number 18 instills even more fear - ..."

Dana turned the TV off at that moment, went out to the balcony of her apartment located on the 4th floor and lit a cigarette, peering into the dense trees of the park.
"Damn... Scrawled right on the door of my house. Who even needs this?" she said. "And why so cruel..."
She puffed smoke into the air and watched the sun set through the linden leaves. It was twilight outside already. It was still warm; usually at this time, the park was full of people, as were the courtyards of the houses around. But now there were no people at all...

Suddenly she saw a guy in dark clothes, wearing a hood - he was sitting on the bench, which was the first at the park's entrance. Apparently, he was looking right at her. Dana squinted trying to see him better, but her eyesight seemed to resist.

"Who even is that..." she said to herself.

Yes, right. The guy looked at her continuously.

"This is kinda creepy. What the... Who is that?"

The more Dana contradicted herself, the more she wanted to look at him. There was something in it. Just as if their eyes were magnetized. Strange feeling. Hypnosis?