Safer With A Ghost | Simon "Ghost" Riley

Chapter 1

Ivy was walking her dog, a female golden retriever named Toast, through the Isabel National Forest. Ivy is surrounded by huge trees, shrubbery, and mountains. There's bright orange and yellow hues throughout the forest and spread all over the ground. Toast is carrying a stick in her mouth, wagging her tail and almost prancing along with Ivy. With the breeze, it feels chilly. Ivy wore a padded black and white flannel jacket with tight jeans that were tucked into her black boots. Her black long hair was braided to the side and hung down her body.

Ivy and Toast stopped off the side of the trail, looking for rocks for her collection. Ivy was kneeling down, examining the ground when she heard Toast let out a low, defensive growl. Ivy stood up quickly, pulling Toast towards her but she wouldn't move. She looked around, her breathing starting to get uneven. Ivy couldn't see anything, but Toast still growled, fur standing up. Ivy looked in the direction the dog was looking, but still nothing caught her eye. Being more forceful, Ivy tugged Toast back and began walking quickly back down the mountain, looking around, panicking. As they walked back, Ivy's breathing slowed but she was still on high alert.

After walking for a while, she didn't recognize where she was. Did I take a wrong turn? She asked herself. She pulled her phone out desperately hoping for a signal, but she had no bars. As she stood there, with her phone in her hand in the air, looking for service, Toast's ears perked up and let out another defensive growl. Ivy panicked and began to back away from where Toast was looking and tripped over a rock and hit the ground hard. Tears began filling her eyes as she yelled out, "Hello?! Is someone there?!" She looked around frantically as she stood up. To her right, she heard a twig snap and two quiet popping noises, followed by a whine from Toast and pain in her neck. Ivy brought her hand up to where the pain was coming from. There was something stuck in her neck. Ivy pulled it out and looked at it. She examine the small tube that had a tiny needle on one. Is this a dart? Her head began to slowly spin, her vision going hazy. She slowly fell to her knees and saw something to the right where the noise came from.

There was 3 men in all black, all of them held what looked like guns. Ivy began yelling at the men to leave her alone. Ivy searched for Toast and saw her lying on the ground, motionless. Is she dead?! She tried to kick and swing her arms as she began crying to keep them away, but her body felt heavy. Her vision began going black. She tried screaming but she felt too weak. The last thing she saw was the men kneeling next her as they spoke to each other.

Man 1: "is this her?"

Man 2: "Check the photo."

Man 3: "Radio we have positive ID, coming back..."

A black sack was put over her head and she lost consciousness.