Chapter 1: Brown-coated Stranger

It was an average, almost summer day; Nyx's mom and dad were at a soccer tournament with Drew and Ashley, her younger bother and sister so she was home alone. Wearing nothing more than a bright soccer T-Shirt, jean shorts, tennis shoes and a pony tail, she wandered the house with a book constantly seeking a more comfortable spot to read in. Twelve o' clock rolled around and Nyx decided some chicken ramen noodles wouldn't hurt. She grabbed a pack out of the pantry cupboard, a pot and strainer from under the stove, a bowl and a spoon. Lunch was ready in less than ten minutes. Nyx cleaned up her small mess and looked out the window above the sink as she placed the pot in there to soak. In the cow field behind her house something new and glossy caught her eye. Taking a second and closer look, Nyx saw a deep blue box that looked to be made out of wood and was about the size of a pay phone box. Confused but not willing to put forth the effort to investigate further, mostly because there was nothing she could really do to investigate besides to get a closer look, she finished cleaning up and then ate her noodles. They were delicious.

Nyx sought out a new comfortable position on the couch in a room just off of the kitchen, containing a couch, loveseat, and flat screen T.V., set on reading a fair chuck of her book before she got uncomfortable and went somewhere else. When lost in a good book, Nyx usually has little concept of time, but what seems like soon after she started reading, she heard her dog, Hershey, start to bark. Slightly annoyed, Nyx got up, opened the patio door, and went outside. The chocolate lab was barking at the wooded lot to the right of her. Nyx has only seen the residents of that house maybe ten times in her life and she has lived there for sixteen of her seventeen years.

"Hey!" Nyx said shortly and immediately Hershey stopped barking and ran to the patio steps, sprinted up them, and then ran a small circle around Nyx before stopping and thrashing her tail wildly in the air. Stooping down, Nyx petted her head until Hershey flopped down on the ground and exposed her belly to Nyx for a good rub. Nyx happily complied and asked Hershey rhetorical questions about what she was barking at. Long past the point of Nyx's hands being tired, she stopped petting Hershey and leapt up to her feet with Hershey quickly following suit. Nyx stood up straight and covered her eyes from the bright sun, curious as to whether or not the blue box was still in the field. It was, and someone seemed to be walking away from it. The person wore a brown, ankle-length over coat, kind of like a detective, and was holding something in his hands that shone in the sunlight, like metal. It must have been some type of electronic device because she could faintly hear it beeping like a metal detector. Nyx watched the figure head towards the tree line and the twelve-foot deep dry creek bed that separated the backyards of her street from the cow field. The density of the trees in Nyx's next door neighbor's yard caused her to lose sight of the person but the beeping was still barely audible and appeared to be getting louder and more intense. Hershey started to bark again so Nyx calmed her with a good scratching behind her ears. After a small while the beeping became so quite that Nyx thought that she was imagining it so she went inside to continue reading, but Hershey started to bark up a storm again so she was brought into the house and put in her cage with a fresh bowl of water.

Back upstairs on a different couch, Nyx again got really into her book. The suspense of the climax was killing her and she sped read and skimmed occasionally just to get to the end faster. Occasionally getting mad at the main character or the author for stupid decisions, Nyx would pace a little and vent in her head. Sooner or later she couldn't resist the urge to find out what happened next and dove right back in. Needing a stretch and a venting break at around three, Nyx headed out the front door to get the mail. On her way back from the mailbox she again saw the brown-coated person, this time halfway down her street and she could then tell that it was a male with very voluminous brown hair. His device was still beeping and he hit it occasionally. Looking up, he saw Nyx and waved her over. Weary of strangers, she didn't move. He saw her indecision and called out, "I just have a question for you! I am looking for someone's house and I'm a little lost. Could you help me please?" He had a very charming foreign accent, British she thought. Nyx started walking in his direction and he jogged over in hers, his coat flapping in the wind, his metal machine beeping, his hair looking perfect, but yet somehow seeming to be uncomfortable as he ran, like it was his first time running, or like he was never really taught how to run. They met up about three houses down from Nyx's, her and her calm breathing, him and his ragged out of breath breathing.

"Thank you", he said as he exhaled. "I'm looking for Connor Limbard. Do you know him?"

Nyx thought for a few seconds and then told the man, who appeared to be about thirty, "No, I'm sorry. It's not ringing any bells."

He pushed a button on his machine and a piece of paper was printed out. Handing it to Nyx he said, "This is the address, but I have been up and down this street twice and I can't seem to find it."

Nyx took the paper from his out stretched hand and read the address. She handed the paper back to him and said, "The house number is very close to mine, it may be a neighbor. Would you like to go see?"

"If you would be willing, I would be very thankful," he said relieved.

Nyx turned around and started to walk back to her house. He took a few long strides to catch up and then matched her pace. Nyx turned her head to look at him and could think of only one thing to say, "How in the world are you wearing that coat and suit? It's at least 75º outside and unbearably humid! I'm hot in just my T-shirt and shorts."

He glanced down at his attire, over at hers, and then tapped his machine which had started to beep in a higher pitch. "Well… I'm just not?"

"That sounded confident", Nyx replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"Everyone is different!" He retorted defensively.

Nyx let out a small chuckle and said, "Whatever. Here is the house that you couldn't seem to find." The man stuck out his hand and she shook it a little awkwardly.

"Thank you. I don't know how I missed it the first couple times."

I glanced at him, at the power line pole with the house number on it, at the mailbox that also clearly showed the house number, and then back at him. "Yeah, it's not like it posted anywhere."

"I know!" he replied with a large influctuation on "o" of the "know". "All these trees… they really messed up my sonic."

"Your what?" Nyx asked, confused. Either ignoring her or simply just not listening, he took one step towards the house and his beeping machine went haywire. With a slightly panicked look on his face, he quickly turned it off and somehow shoved it into his pocket muttering something about it definitely being here.

"What did you say?" Nyx asked, still confused by his queer behavior. "What's here?"

"Huh?" he asked as he turned back around to face her. "Oh, nothing. I uh… my friend is here."

"And that thing went mad because…?"

"Oh this?" he asked as he pulled his machine out of his pocket. "It's nothing," and he then put it back in his pocket which amazed Nyx because that hunk of metal looked to be about two times as big as his pocket.

Clapping his hands together he started, "All right then, I will be on my way. Thank you again." He left the street in what seemed like a slightly nervous state to Nyx and headed to the house, mumbling to himself. Nyx didn't catch much, but she definitely heard a distinct "lonely" and "don't blow up". The man did not even bother to knock on the door; he just walked right in.

Still not one hundred percent sure as to what just happened, Nyx turned to go back to her house worried about the man, but somehow trusting that he would be ok.

Almost inside her own home not even ten seconds later, Nyx heard a yell, a crash, and something that resembled a strangled cry for help.