The House on the Bay

Prolouge

The moon's bright glow pierced through the night sky, reflecting its light upon the city streets. It was a foggy night, but clear skies made it possible for the stars to shine and the moon to guide travelers through the night.

The city was alive, even at the late hour. Men and women crowded the streets. Model T's and other ancient cars whizzed passed each other while a lone policeman directed traffic. From the east, one could see the untouched plains, wild and free. To the west, smoke billowed out of the factory chimneys, still alive and active during the darkness of night.

The city itself, Drum Blossom City, was hexagonal shaped when viewed from above. The city, as a whole, was pretty peaceful and clean. It wasn't a perfect utopia, no major city is perfect after all. It had its crime; it's gangs, drugs, prostitutes, etc., but all of this did not define the city.

In the center of this sprawling urban center was an enormous 30 meter tall fountain that reflected the lights of the surrounding city to cast a brilliantly beautiful array of lights. The beauty and magnificence of the fountain helped to imbed the surrounding park with a sense of calm and kindness. Not many truly witnessed its beauty with only small numbers of visitors, yet there was one person not far off from it that night.

Walking by herself in a relatively quiet area near that fountain, was a woman with long blonde hair and dazzling emerald eyes. She was in her early 30's and wore a long, blood red trench coat with a little black dress underneath. Her name was Lisa. Lisa was relatively ordinary. She had a small group of close friends and was considered rather quiet. She had just left the club after a celebration with her friends in honor of Lisa's new promotion to the executive manager position at E-Ronx, a billion dollar advertising company. It was 12:30 am, and she was heading home to get ready for her parents, who were dropping in for a visit the next day. She turned left down Dalto Street, a right on 3rd, a left on 2nd, and then had to stop at the intersection of 1st and Zorren Road to wait for traffic.

Despite the clear, normal night, a shadowed figure lurked in the alleyways adjacent to the intersection. Unnoticed by Lisa, who was standing patiently by the crosswalk, the figure walked stealthily out of the shadowed alleyway towards her. The shadowy figure came up behind her, leaned in close to her ear, and questioned in a whispery laugh, "Can I help you with anything ma'am?"

Lisa jumped at the sudden voice, eyes widening in shock, as she started to whirl around. But before she was completely facing the shadow, she was clubbed over the head and darkness took her.

Lisa groggily shifted and stretched out her body before opening her eyes slightly. As she viewed the unfamiliar darkness before her, her eyes opened wide in panic as she began to remember what had happened. 'Where am I? What the hell is going on?! Who the hell just kidnapped me? What the fuck is going on?' she thought in a flurry of questions. She kept herself still and proceeded to look around the room. Lisa waited for her eyes to adjust, blinking hard, and became even more terrified, as she took in the sight before her. She was in a cell, not a modern day jail cell, but one that was more akin to a medieval dungeon.

The room was fairly large with no windows and two large iron doors separating her from the light of the sun. Near the middle of the room was a puddle, which must've been created due to a leak in the roof. She looked up and witnessed the water dripping at a slow, yet constant rate.

Lisa tried to sit up, bracing her hands against the floor. She pushed herself into a sitting position and started to stand before the room around her started to spin. Her hand settled on her head as she slipped back onto the ground, still too groggy to stand. She groaned thinking, 'These high heels definitely don't help the situation,' before she shucked them off and pulled her coat tighter around her to keep out the chill. She sat in the back corner of the room and scanned the cell. The room was empty, not a soul in sight. Lisa's eyes were soon drawn to her right in a darker corner of the cell. Something was visible just barely peeking from the shadows. She maneuvered herself to get a better view, slowly sliding on the cold stone. Her hand suddenly flew to her mouth as a rotting corpse came into view. The gruesome sight and smell immediately woke up her groggy mind. Lisa barely choked back a scream. Losing all semblance of composure, she turned away and pushed herself to her feet, dashing unsteadily for the doors.  she had nearly made it to the iron gates, when they suddenly swung open with tremendous force, barely grazing her head.