Every town's story starts with an abrupt event, which becomes a cause of havoc in the lives of its residents. The story of the Blueball town, however, is much more bizarre than mere impromptu episodes. And to no one's wonder, the residents, too timid to face reality, were sustaining a fiend, a dastardly person, or God knows if it was even a person.
Meanwhile, children from the town of Blueball had engrossed themselves in preparation for their end sems. Summer was just 'round the corner as people from town anticipated the blissful sun after the intensely chilling winters.
Like most other students equipping for their end sems while concurrently planning for their summer vacations, so were Emma and her mates.
"I actually truly relish scuba diving though!" said Rossie, desperately wanting to explain to her friend, Jess, as to why scuba diving was a better idea for the vacation.
Rosalind Dickinson, familiarly called Rossie, was the daughter of the local sheriff.
"Stop being so air-headed Ross. The only point that fascinates me right now is our school project," Jess grumbled. "We have to complete our end sem project in any state by next week. Any opinions, Em !?" Jess exclaimed, turning his attention towards Emma, who was busy reading a journal.
Jessica Roberts, Emma Style, and Rosalind Dickenson were three next-door-neighbors and best pals since diapers.
Emma raised her head with a deep sense of thought on her face. "Definitely! I was looking for the project in this journal, but..." Emma paused giving a puzzled expression. "I told you Em would love the scuba diving idea, don't you Em.!?" said Rossie. "God! Can you not be serious for even a moment, Ross?" Jess quietened Rossie and asked, "What is it Em? What did you find in the journal?"
"It's this strange thing happening in the neighborhood of our town, The western parks. You might remember, we used to visit for our clandestine camping ventures," explained Emma until Rossie interrupted her and said.
"Definitely, until that good old Mr. Mudson told us not to visit that site because of some imbecilic, unheavenly reason."
"The grounds have been empty for a long time now." Emma continued. "But since last year, at every month's end when the janitors visited the site for cleanup, they found a strange note threatening them to leave the site or the town might get hurt.!!" Emma took a pause only to look at her friends' perplexed faces, then continued. "Nothing severe happened according to the threats, and everyone assumed these threat notes as just a prank. But if it was, it was a long one. It has been lasting for a year now. Same threats, warnings, writing patterns with just one difference - the end phrase. In the first threat, it was 'I am just one instance away from you' - and then it proceeded to one foot, to one day, to one spot, to one eye, and so on. Until finally to a stone's throw away, which was in the last threat found last month. However, all these threats are vaguely different and don't even make any sense!"
"Geez, that's creepy!!!" exclaimed Rossie, having goosebumps.
When these three young minds were still reflecting upon this strange jeopardy occurring not so far from them, they heard a knock on the door, it was Emma's Mom - Stephanie.
"Hey, girls! Rossie, you have your father waiting for you downstairs. You may come down quickly.", instructed Stephanie.
Dusk was falling rapidly when Jess and Rossie took leave off Emma's house. Nevertheless, Emma still had tons of homework to complete if she wanted her summer vacation to be free of work. So she headed back to her room where she found her mother standing beside her bed. Noticing her daughter enter, she directed Emma to sit next to her and placed the magazine between the two of them.
"I overheard you reading the article about the Western Park from this magazine when I was on my way towards your room. So, my question is, why in the hell have you been reading about that place, and since when have you been doing this pointless investigation!?"
By Stephanie's looks, it was pretty sure that she was pissed off to hear the name of that place from her daughter, but why? This was the very question that flashed in Emma's mind. However, she started to explain herself to her mother.
"It was really today. I was searching for some news handles to put up in my school project when I found this article. But what's making YOU so furious about this particular article? I haven't ever seen you reacting like so. Is something wrong with this place? Do you acknowledge something about the strange incidents?" inquired Emma politely.
"Certainly, No! But what I do acknowledge is you should not be seen anywhere near investigating this place. And get your project theme changed or, I wouldn't hesitate to talk to your headmaster and get your project group changed. I think I made myself clear, didn't I?" grumbled Stephanie, before slamming the door behind herself.
Little did Emma know what storm was this that her mother could see, and she could not.
Emma Styles came from one of the highly reputed families of Blueball. Her mother was a social worker, and father a businessman. Emma's dad - Charles Styles, was usually out of town for his trade purposes. As a consequence, Stephanie has grown quite protective of her children. And you can say quite overprotective! She was a brunette woman and had a blonde husband.
Stephanie and her husband, Dylan, met each other during their high school and married soon after their graduation. The children of these high school charms were, therefore, pretty charming themselves.
Emma was immensely talented in her academics. A straight-A student. You could call her The Beauty with Brains. Whilst her smartness, she was also a curious observer. And the way her mother reacted today gave her curiosity a boost.
As the moon made its way into the dark sky, and the night was at its peak, the residents of Blueball slept in their comfy beds, unaware of what was coming for them tomorrow.
The next morning started with its routine. It was a usual Monday. Emma was packing her bag, with her mom calling out for her to have breakfast. It was the year-end time, and Emma's dad was out of town as usual. Nevertheless, the breakfast table had Emma, her mother, and her younger sister Chelsea. Stephanie packed everyone's lunch boxes and drove Emma and Chelsea to their school.
"Goodbye, mom!" said Chelsea, getting down from Stephanie's car.
"Have a great day, sweetie," replied Stephanie while waving her daughter goodbye.
"Em, I want you to know that I sincerely worry for you and your studies. You know that, right? I want you to concentrate on your academics. It's your last few days as a junior. You are about to get into senior year, and I don't want any predicaments lingering nearby you or your success. You do understand me, don't you, my child?"
The strength of Stephanie's words, a mother's anxiety for her daughter, all of this was very sudden for Emma. So, she couldn't help but nod her head in approval. Emma cared for her mother as much as her mother did for her, but it was just impossible for her to stop thinking about that place. Meanwhile, after leaving Emma and Chelsea to school, Stephanie, as a routine, used to visit the coffee shop before heading towards her office. But today was no routine day. As soon as she dropped her children, she made her way towards the sheriff's station. You could see it on her face. It was a feeling of threat, distress, fret taking all over her body.
Back at school, Emma reunited with her friends. Anyone who would see Emma's face would recognize her anxiety. Following the case, Emma's friends saw her worry. Rossie couldn't wait, and she burst out.
"Whoa, Em! You look like someone took your light off your face."
"I never do agree with Ross, but I think she's right. What is it that's worrying you, Em? You haven't spoken a word since you entered school," added Jess.
Emma sighed as there was too much going on in her mind. She was barely able to compose herself until now. But now that Jess and Rossie were standing before her, questioning her, as an ordinary person would do, Emma opened up everything to them. Word by word, she spilled the tea.
Ross, hearing everything, said, "Well, I always had a fantasy to do the brave some act. You know, like heroic something. It seems the whole world is against you. But in our case, I guess our world abstains from Mrs. Styles."
"I guess your heroic senses cannot even hold on to Mrs. Styles," replied Jess with a mischievous grin.
And thus, all the three began to laugh. It was pretty sure, friends always helped you out through thick and thin. Nevertheless, Emma was unable to recognize the severity of this situation. Hopefully, she would realize, once she examines more.
All across the town, far from the good lands, near the bank of river Honeyrich, which passed from the outskirts of Blueball town, you could see two men standing and talking to a woman. Much like arguing with her. The surrounding area was mostly forest. From where I stood, I could only recognize the faces but was unable to hear anything. They were Mr. and Mrs. Styles, along with Mr. Dickinson, the sheriff.
It was lunch break at Easthill High, one could see groups of students standing all over the hallway in the form of circles, buzzing around, gossiping. But not everyone had a careless gossip. Emma and her two musketeers, Jess and Ross, were now discussing their project.
"Now that your mom has restricted your research to that place, would it be alright to keep going?" ,asked Jess as she was worried for her friend.
"I really don't know. I do understand my mom's concern for me, I don't wanna create trouble for her either. But you know…."
"You cannot stay without feeding your curiosity." Jess completed Emma's sentence.
Emma nodded looking at her friend proudly. They knew each other inside out. She was grateful to have such honest and caring friends. And she would not want to risk losing them for anything in life. She was in a constant dilemma, her mother's threat of changing her project group has frightened her in and out. Nevertheless, she couldn't hide a thing from them, it was much clear. So, she decided to lead the way with her friends in the investigation.
"Listen up, guys!" exclaimed Emma. "Tomorrow, we'll gather 'round metal junkyard to move ahead towards Western Parks. Let's get our investigation started!" Emma stretched her hand forward towards her friends
"Alright, let's do it!" Both Jess and Rossie said at once and placed their hands on Emma's.
They were making themselves ready for something they had no knowledge of. And that something was preparing for its first prey.