Untitled Chapter One

It seemed like any other summer day. The sounds of kids laughing and playing could be heard down the street. A car stopped in front of a yellow house with a large covered porch. Voices could be heard through the screen door. In the driveway, playing a lonesome game of hopscotch with bright pink chalk was a young girl, around the age of eight. She was tall and thin. The car caught the girls’ attention and she peered up with a smile. The door opened and out stepped a man in a black suit with a bright green tie.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed as she dropped her chalk and ran to him. The man knelt down as he scooped the child into his arms. He was clean cut, with wire-rimmed glasses that frame his face nicely.

“Adara, you are a sight for sore eyes, but you are a mess! What in the world have you been doing?”

Adara looked down at her clothes; she was covered in a light film of dirt and pink chalk. “Nothing…” she said with a sheepish grin.

“I think we need to go inside and get you cleaned up” said her father. Adara nodded her head, turned and ran into the house. Her father headed towards the house but then stopped as if he heard something.

He turned back towards the car and peered off into the distance as if trying to hear what couldn’t be heard. After a moment of silence he resumed his walk up the stairs and through the door into the house, the screen door slammed with a bounce behind him and the heavy wooden door closed quietly.

A man in a dark suit and a red tie appeared across the street. He was focused intently on the yellow house and the people who lived there. The man looked around to see if anyone was watching and then vanished into thin air, leaving the inhabitants of the street without any knowledge he was ever there.