Hello all! This is my first time posting an original story. I have another account on that I update sometimes under the name of popcorngoo. So, this is very exciting! Something original is just so much more...personal, ya know? xD Anyways, I hope you all like this first chapter. It's a shorty for me to just kind of find my footing, so to speak. If anyone happens to know me from my other account they know sometimes i don't update a story because I lose interest, and if I do actually take the time to write another chapter its sporadic and usually followed by lengthy periods of time in between. xD Yes, I am indeed aware of my shortcomings as a writer. But I'm sure you guys don't care about all this pish posh, so without further ado...

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Chapter 1

There was a knocking at the window. She whipped her head towards the direction of the sound. No one was there. She stood up and walked over to the window, cautiously peering into the inky blackness of the night. Nothing. She couldn't see anything but the eerie swaying of the bare winter trees, their spindly limbs gnarled and reminiscent of a beckoning claw. Outside the wind howled and moaned all the sorrows and pains of the world. The girl shivered. It was a night most foul. The only thing missing was the creepy strike of lightning. She walked back to her chair and sat down. She set herself back to her task.

Ever since she was a little girl she had been good at sowing. Through the years while other girls her age became interested in boys, cellphones, and clothes she always preferred the quiet tranquility of a needle and thread. Some might call her strange, but she didn't concern herself with such things. She was simply who she was. Nothing could change that. Humming to herself a melodic tune, she resumed her calling and went back to work. Knitting, weaving, sewing, crocheting, it didn't matter the method. She knew only that she liked the simplicity of the repetitive motion of her hands, the way in which they could transform an interlocking mechanism of unity through thread. She felt as if she had control over each individual strand, and all the other pieces it came into contact with. They were her friends, her family, communicating through a complex system of tapestry that she, herself, had formed.

Another tap, tap, tap sounded through the house, only this time it hadn't come from the window. It sounded like it came from the garage. In her home the garage connected to the house. In fact, it was directly adjacent to the room in which she was sitting in at that very moment. The girl looked up from her needles and thread. She sat in silence, awaiting another sound. A few moments passed by in which she dared not even to breath when suddenly a clang rang out through the garage again. She slipped her needles into her pocket and cautiously walked over to the door leading to the garage. She grabbed the doorknob, drawing back with a hiss at the freezing temperature. Drawing in a breath she grabbed it once more and twisted.

The door opened with a ccrreaak. It was pitch black. The temperature was cold enough for her to see her own breath. She tried the light switch to her right. Nothing happened. It must be broken, judging from the dust covering the button it's been broken for some time. She was too afraid to go in all the way, so she just stood there in the doorway, breathing heavily and staring wide eyed. Several moments passed by where nothing happened. It was dead quiet. Her heartbeat was steadily increasing, and her toes were losing feeling. She didn't know why, but her body was reacting to something. Fear and adrenaline coursed through her veins. All of a sudden, something in the blackness shifted. An empty beer can of her dad's rolled out and stopped directly at her toe. Her heart caught in her throat, but her lungs were not. She sucked in a breath to do the only thing she could do, SCREAM. But just then a hand shot out of the darkness, covering her mouth and muffling her would-have-been ear shattering scream. The hand pulled her through the doorway, and into the darkness. Slowly, the door let out a ccreeeak and shut on its own, closing in the girl and the darkness within.

She didn't know what was going on. The only thing she could comprehend was fear. Undiluted, and all consuming. There was a large body restricting her movement. The hand that had dragged her into the darkness was still clamped onto her mouth. She tried biting it, but to no avail. She struggled against the dark figure, pulling, jerking, and trying to pry herself free. Whoever, or whatever they were had a strong grip and would not let her go. She feared that if they did not release her soon she would hyperventilate and pass out. Her eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness and she noticed a golf club to her left. She doubled her efforts and her foot eventually struck gold. Kicking out and temporarily catching them off guard she kicked the figure in the shin. They cried out a garbled noise, and she took advantage. Quick as a blink of an eye she spun away from the person, she was pretty sure it must have been a person, and grabbed the golf club. The shadow figure was quick too, and she could feel hands swing through the air just barely brushing her neck. Whirling around with the club, she leveled it at her opponent. She knew she was just a girl, and was much smaller than whoever this person was. But damned if she wasn't going to at least try and get away.

There was a tense moment when they both just looked at each other. Her eyes could make out patches, stitches, and mismatched places of cloth all over their body. It was as if they got in a fight and tried to piece together their ripped clothes in the dark with staples, and crooked pins one handed. She tried focusing on the face, but it was guarded well with a striped scarf covering the nose downward, and a large fiddler hat shadowed the eyes. She looked at their hands, noticing that they were male. They were large, dirty, and callused. She glanced back up to his face again, also noticing that she had to crane her neck quite a ways. He must have been at least six feet! Probably taller. The two both continued to stare at one another. The silence was tense, and suffocating. Why didn't he say anything? She opened her mouth to demand that he leave her alone, when he reached out a finger and placed it over where his lips must have been under the scarf. What? He wanted her to be quiet?

"What are yo-", was all she could get out before a deafening screech rang out through the night, effectively cutting her off. Then, all of a sudden the walls shook. It must be an earthquake! The ground was unstable underneath her. It was hard to get her footing. She tried to brace herself against something, but the garage was too cluttered with odd things her family never used anymore. Sharp nails and construction tools of her dad's littered the floor and bench. A large drum set was behind her and one of the cymbals was poking her in the back. Papers, photos, old rackets and sports equipment were everywhere. There were broken, old tv's and radios that her dad had stowed away as a 'project for a rainy day' with the electrical cords all tangled up and waiting to snatch up her ankles lest she become careless. Boxes upon boxes of old Christmas and Halloween decorations were piled high on top of each other. In short, it was probably the worst place one could be when caught in an earthquake besides a house made of glass.

The man grabbed her arm and pulled. She didn't even have time to think before he was yanking her away and out the door that led to the outside. He fiddled with the lock before he gave up and just kicked the door down.

"Hey!" She said before he was out the door with her in tow. She couldn't argue because she was concentrating too hard on not falling. He was moving at a breakneck speed. Something was not right here, and it wasn't the fact that a complete stranger had been probably living in her garage for who knows how long and just grabbed her out of nowhere. He seemed….frightened? He didn't even look back once though. He ran determinedly if not haphazardly towards the forest in her backyard. Although she lived in a small town somewhat out in the country her house was part of a cul-de-sac. She lived close to the downtown, but she was removed enough that she had a small forest in her backyard.

Another shrill, piercing scream echoed through the air. What was that? There was no time to investigate however when the hand that was tightly gripping her arm clenched and gave a tug. She would have fallen over if not for the strong hand keeping her upright. They were in the forest now, and she had to keep a mindful eye on the roots and rocks underfoot. Trees whizzed past as they ran, and ran. Her blood was pounding in her ears. Her sides ached. The cold air bit at her cheeks, and she wasn't sure her legs could keep going. Whenever she thought this though the stranger seemed to unconsciously know her feelings and would clench her even tighter to make sure she didn't collapse. She hadn't had time to grab a jacket in the chaos of the last few moments. She was dressed in a simple cream, dress with thin sleeves that reached her elbow. Her legs were covered in wine red leggings. Her feet, at least, were covered with thick, black winter boots.

She didn't know where they were going. She knew every inch of that forest, but she had no idea where this guy was in such a hurry to get to. They were now entrenched in the woods. Her house was long gone. They were approaching a large pond that she had often played in during the summer. She could remember numerous times she skipped rocks and sunbathed along the edge of the scummy water. Why did he want to go here? It suddenly occurred to her now that she could try to fight him off. He had stopped at the mouth of the pond and was staring intently at its surface. However, she didn't want to fight him. She wanted to see what he would do next. The thought that she might not make it out of this situation alive never even occurred to her.

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And voila! I know it's not much...but hey, baby steps...baby steps. Please review and tell me how I did! Critique is welcome as long as y'all aren't mean about it. ^_~

I've updated! I wasn't sure I ever would update this again, but here I am! xD

I've got a vague idea where I want this story to go, but I really love the free-for-all plunge I've taken in writing this. It feels like quite the ride let me tell you. Anyway, if anyone ever reads this I hope they like it and review.

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Chapter 2

She saw his gloved hand disappear into his pocket and pull something out. It was an orb of sorts, clear and shimmering as if it was a bubble just waiting to be popped. It held firm in his hands though as he maneuvered it. The places his fingers touched lit up into different colors like a rainbow. He performed a series of taps and colorful strokes which didn't mean anything to her, but seemed quite complicated. Finally, when he was done, the orb started to emit a sort of song. It was in a language she had never heard before, yet the tones and sequence of notes called to her. The girl stepped closer until she was right along the stranger's side, her hand stretching out towards the orb. He glanced sharply at her in a warning to stay away. The girl barely noticed, eyes still transfixed, but halted her hand nonetheless. The melody carried on, and suddenly there was a bubbling coming from the pond's surface. It bubbled, bubbled until a beautiful creature emerged. It was small, child-like with incandescently large eyes. The creature appeared before them beckoning with a scaly, webbed hand. The fins alongside its face twitched and startled the girl into realizing it was a sea dweller, a mermaid.

She felt her legs turn to jelly, and the strange man grabbed her arms keeping her upright. The mermaid, or merman, it was hard to tell, tilted its head curiously at her, looking towards the patched up man in question. The sea dweller emitted a series of beautiful high pitched notes that resembled that of a dolphin's call. The man shook his head and pointed downward. The girl was very confused, and still in shock that this amazing creature was so casually swimming before her. She had played in that pond her whole life! And all of a sudden a mermaid shows up out of the blue like its coming for afternoon tea. Her heart was pounding sporadically in her chest and she felt the insane urge to laugh at the situation.

However, another piercing roar echoed around them, reminding her that there was still that something out there. And this time it sounded close. Really close. The pounding of the earthquake was getting louder and shaking the ground harder than ever. She had forgotten about that in the chaos of things, but now her heart was pounding for an entirely different matter.

The strange man looked panicked and desperate again. He seemed to be silently pleading with the sea dweller for something. The mermaid/man looked conflicted, glancing from her to the man and back again. It pointed at her and said something again in that alien tongue, which she didn't understand. The strange man cupped his hands; 'please!' he seemed to be saying. The earthquake was becoming so unbearable she could barely stand upright anymore, cupping her hands over her ears in order to act as a barrier to the glass-shattering screeching noises.

Finally the sea dweller rolled it's eyes and said something to the man before swimming around and around in the water, gaining speed each pass it made. Faster and faster the water began to spin. It was forming a cyclone in the water. Faster and faster the mermaid/man went making it bigger and bigger.

Suddenly a loud crash sounded behind her. The man grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward, but not before she looked back and saw a horrible, gigantic beast. The last thing she saw before disappearing into the water was black mechanical arms clawing at the air where she once stood.

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Let me know your thoughts. Critique is totally welcome(as long as you're not mean or rude about it xD)