By: Ellie Zhang 1

October 13th, 2003

New Hampshire seemed quieter than usual.

Atop the gentle mountains where a cozy cottage lay, a 15-year-old girl, Olivia, sat on the cliff in front of her home. Gleaming towards the horizon in a far distance, a ship was slowly drifting. A cool breeze brushed past the girl, leaving a shiver of goosebumps on her skin.

It was a chilly month, but Olivia wore only a tank top with a thin scarf hanging around her neck. The sky was getting grayer and gloomier, as if a storm was coming. What had been bright orange and red leaves now looked like they were decaying.

The same ship bellowed from a distance, as if it were telling Olivia to stop daydreaming. She jerked up and looked around, only now realizing the sky’s appearance.

A slight, high-pitched cry echoed down in the city, followed by a tiny thud and people murmuring. Trees started whispering and rustling, and the cottage creaked a bit. Olivia hummed as she swung her scarf onto the unbalanced hanger and kicked off her shoes, making them fly in the air and land on her little Doberman, Burnie.

Another scream, this time louder and deeper, was heard. Burnie didn’t even have time to react from the shoe. He simply froze with his ears straight. The trees and cottage even stopped. A ghastly wind swooped by, murmuring something similar to “prepareeee…”

The two of them had no intention of finding out what happened down in the city–or did they?

Image Credit by Orest Sv