Chapter 1: The Encounter

Hunter Ellis, his sister Angel "Angie" Ellis, and their friend Sherry Anston go to school like any other normal start of the year, but something odd catches their attention across from their school.

August 25th, 2017

I'm Hunter Ellis. I am 14 years old. I live in Pineville, Massachusetts with my stepmother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine and stepsister Brianna, who likes being called "Breezy". Breezy is very smart and is a take charge kind of person, she makes straight A's in school and is very strict and organized, though she stresses out when there is too much to handle on her own. My stepparents are bakers and they are more known for their famous Special Delight Cakes that they make every now and then. 

They are really nice to me and everyone else that they meet during their work times. I live in a three story house in the middle of Pineville, which is surrounded by woods. The population of Pineville is 358 people and for some unknown reason the animal population of the town is increasing.

Animals never really liked this town and all animal population declined to zero about 5 years ago. For reasons unknown, the animals re-appeared at the town as if nothing had happened. 

Everything was very normal like every other day in town. Then something happened that would change my life from that moment on. 

I was walking to school with my twin sister Angie Ellis, whom I have been separated from when we were 7 years of age, and her very shy friend Sherry Anston. We were all friends and we also had made some new friends on the way to school. 

Sherry was abused as a younger child by her father, but she was cared for by her mother. Her mother always took a hit for her when she was at home, but stays at work almost all day. Then at the age of 10, her mother passed away and was abused even more by her father than before. 

Sherry always acted extremely shy around me and would murmur when trying to talk to me. It never really bothered me before because I actually found it to be cute, but I never really told anyone. Last Valentine's Day, my stepparents had got very excited that I had gotten a letter from an admirer. I actually thought that it would just be a prank from my friends, but to my surprise it was from Sherry. The only way I could tell was by the heart that was drawn; she always drew some small hearts that would form her name when you squint your eyes. I still don't know how she does it. 

When we had arrived at Brooklyn High, Sherry had tugged my arm and waited for me to look. As I turned my head, I followed her hand as she started to point at something in the distance. I looked very carefully and over at Brooklyn Elementary there was a very tall man in a suit standing with the children. The odd thing was that he was staring at us while hiding behind the shade of the school's Pine Tree. I asked Angie if she knew the teacher by the tree and she replied with a "No". Since Angie's stepfather was the Principle of Brooklyn Elementary, and each teacher visited her family every time they were free on the weekends, I thought that she would know him, but as it turned out to be, he was not a teacher.  

I had rushed us into the school telling Angie and Sherry not to look at the man, I told them that there is something very suspicious about him. 

Class went on as usual and we had our weekly Friday pop quiz. Though Mr. Mobley said that today's quiz was going to be cut short due to a planned fire drill later in the day. What puzzled me was that we were in 1st Block, and drills never happened until 4th block. So I finished my quiz surprisingly early and told Mr. Mobley that I had rushed into it, but put some actual thought into my answers. Mr. Mobley looked at my quiz and noticed that at the very bottom written was the words "That Man..." written in pen. He asked me who exactly I was talking about and so I told him about the person at the Elementary School. Mr. Mobley told me to stay away from the man as long as possible and to make sure that Angie and Sherry do as well, as most of the animal and children disappearances from recent years occurred after being followed by a strange man in a suit.

As I had walked Angie and Sherry home, being the caring person that I am, we started to agree that one of us should look up the disappearances on the internet. I told them that I would do it since my computer actually worked, and besides my computer was a brand new laptop. So I had really wanted to test it out on something, so why not this? 

I walked the rest of the way home all by myself. The woods behind the houses made me feel strange, I felt like something was watching me. I then ran the rest of the way home and locked the door behind me, there was nothing there and yet it felt like someone was watching me from a distance. Watching my every move. Waiting for something to take place. I went to my room and pulled out my laptop and did the research.

Author's Note

Some things may not make sense, but some of it will be cleared up later on. Please leave some positive feedback.