CHAPTER 1

“Stranger Danger”

"Here we are." Said Ava Madison to her best friend Clair Dempsey as she pulled into Dockyard No. 11.

Ava drove up to where all the other cars were parked and pulled into a free spot.

"This is so exiting! We both get to be bridesmaids at the same wedding! But why did they pick the docks to have it at? It's so ugly here." Said Clair, stepping out of the passenger door and observing the flat concrete lot that served as a parking lot and storage for old shipping crates.

"I heard Lara's husband-to-be's family was a long line of sailors, and his grandfather was married here fifty years ago." Replied Ava.

The two spotted the wedding group getting ready and walked over.

"Ava, Clair!" Lara the bride, said as she noticed them. "Guests should be arriving in about twenty minutes. How are my favorite bridesmaids doing?"

"Great! How are you and Derek?" Asked Clair.

"Best day ever! So exited!" Replied Lara. "I love the idea of a swimsuit wedding."

"I do too, but aren’t the docks kind of a weird place for that?" Asked Clair.

"Oh, we are doing the wedding over there." Lara pointed to a large breakwater made of boulders.
It was still a weird place, but Clair didn’t say so.

"I think I'll get my shoes so I can get out there without breaking my high heels." Said Ava to Clair. "I'll grab yours too."

"Thanks."

Ava was about halfway to her car when she heard something.

"Psssst, Hey kiddo."

Ava looked around and saw someone peeking out from one of the parked busses. She knew it was stupid, but something about that strange person drew her in. She put her hand in her bag and felt around for her pepper spray as she approached the figure.

“what do you want?” Demanded Ava, firmly grasping the pepper spray in her bag as she walked between two busses.

The person came out from behind the bus and she could see it was an older Asian man.

“Here, take this.” Said the man, holding out a simple silver ring.

“What is this?” Asked Ava, studying the ring in her fingers.

“Oh it’s just a ring I found, I can’t very well use it, but a pretty young lady like yourself would look stunning in it.”

Ava wasn’t dumb, she knew all about stranger danger and that this man was a major creep, but something about the ring made the urge to put it on almost unbearable, almost.

“Why are you sitting here behind the busses like you were waiting for me?”

“Well, uhhhhhh… Hey, I have something to do. Maybe you should just put on your nice new ring and we can part ways.”

Ava slipped the ring on her finger and started slowly backing up out from between the busses, never taking her eyes off the stranger. He backed up into the darker shadows between the busses and the wall they were parked against, but just stood there watching her. Ava continued backing up until she was in the broad daylight, the stranger was still just standing there with a cheesy smile.

“I can still see you.” She said.

The man didn’t reply but just backed up a bit further into the shadows.

“I can see you plain as day. Do I need to call the police? And stop smiling like that, its creepy!”

“Hehehey now, No need to get angry. Don’t you have a wedding or something to go to?” Said the man.

“That’s it, I’m calling the police.” Ava started walking over to tell the rest of the party.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure they will be here soon enough.” Sounded the man from his shadow haven.

This sent Ava into a speed walk, well…a high heel speed walk, which isn’t very fast. As she walked she felt a tingling sensation on her finger, she looked down at the ring and didn’t notice anything funny. She kept walking but she started feeling light headed and her balance was being taken away. She crouched down and stopped herself from falling, everything felt like it was spinning. She opened her eyes and looked up, even in her swirling dizzy state she could tell that she was growing.