Chapter 1

welcome to autumn's harvest

the train pulled into Appleton station at 4: 35pm, right on time. It was the last train for the first day for the new touring season for autumn's harvest. It was a peaceful town that came into a new discovery that the world went crazy over the new type of tree..the ever-fire pine. A tree that appears burn on an everlasting blaze of glory, throughout the four seasons. The trees have brought thousands of tourists that not only spend money, but make the tourist destination the most popular for the past six months. The groups of people came out of the red and green train named "the Appleton express"

"mommy, can we go see the trees?" a little boy said to his young mother as he was running around her, the mother nodded as the young boy's face lit up.

The last person to come out was a rather strange person, a young man wearing a black leather jacket, a black t shirt with big white letters "don't ask" black leather gloves, blue jeans and black boots. He had a blue dufflebag slung behind the left side of his back that held close. He took off his sunglasses "wow, this place actually is pretty picturesque" the young man said with excitement as he walked off of the platform, there he saw the quaint places that were built before the tourist traps. The town in itself from the young man's research over had fifteen thousand eight hundred and fourteen people, the town obviously grew in popularity the city folks that came in and actually made the towns old residents seem rather uncomfortable. "OK so where is the green leaf motel?" he said looking around the area, thinking that the train station was near all of the hotels but he sadly did not see the building. As he walked off of the station and too the street, he heard the hustle and bustle of the tourist attractions, the screaming children and what sounded like obnoxious polka and country hybrid music. The town was active and the people were friendly...something young man was very foreign to, coming from a city that was always go go go. The town was simpler and very homey.

"green leaf...green leaf..." the young man said to himself till he walked past a diner, it was named "maggie's" as Zack walked in, he felt like he walked into a person's house rather than a restaurant. Everyone was talking joking and laughing inside and as he walked in. he was met with a sense of anxiety "this place is rather energetic" as he said that, a middle aged woman with salt and pepper hair walked u to him

"it sure is, hi...well I can tell you are new to the area...i am mother Maggie….i am the waitress and the owner of the restaurant" she smiled at Zack, her smile was warm that in a way disengaged Zack in a small amount "well I can take your coat if you like, we can hang it up by the…." Zack waved his hand as she was trying to reach for his coat

"it's fine, I'm looking for the green leaf hotel.." Zack said looking around the diner, his anxiety was slightly visible

"oh you mean the apple inn!" mother Maggie said as she corrected him "well, when the town started to pick up speed..the strokels decided to change the name and give the place a fresh coat of paint...they never missed a chance to get money" she said in a passive aggressive tone. She looked around "hey I have an idea, how about we get the sheriff to help you out!" Maggie said as she walked up to a person. The cop had a beige outfit on, matching his dark brown hair that actually was cut in the style of a crew cut. His brown eyes were looking at Zack and a small smile reached across his cheeks. He got up and placed a couple of bills on the table.

"how do you do? i'm mark grasser" the man said as he placed out his hand out, Zack was nervous and he shook it. The man could tell that the young man was naturally nervous "i understand that you need help looking for the apple inn...i was supposed to have lunch with my deputy, I haven't seen him at all...maybe he'll be here when I get back. Zack nodded as mark looked at Maggie "keep my food warm" Maggie nodded to him

"will do, you both come back...i'll cook you something special" maggie said to Zack and mark as she went back to waiting tables

mark said with what appeared to be a heavy southern accent. "shall we go sir?" the young man nodded as he started to walk with him. The two were walking the sidewalk. "so I never seen someone wear so much black before during the summer.." the cop said trying to feel out the young man. "aren't you hot in all of that?"

"truth be told sir, I just hate showing a lot of skin….it makes me feel weird" he said as he walked past the many smiling people but not looking at them, not even with the man who was talking to him. "i actually came here for vacation, getting done with college is very rough"

mark was glad to hear that the kid was not a trouble maker, just an awkward kid that just needed a break "well, the city is rather nice...just make sure that you remember that you gotta be a little patient, this isn't like the city even if the tourism is booming" he said as they stopped in front of an eye sore of a building. A giant building full of red, yellow and orange colors.

"umm, this is….this is an eyesore" Zack said as mark shook his head in agreement. the two walked into the hotel's lobby, it was a quaint cozy living room-Esqe vibe. The TV had on on some sort of game show. There was an old couple sitting in the chairs, the old woman saw the two walk in

"oh sheriff martin, what can I do you for?" the old woman got up from her comfy living chair "what can I do you for..?"the old woman asked mark.

"well as you can see with me Mabel, I have with me a young tourist here who actually had a reservation for a room, under your old name" Mark told the old woman "considering that he actually decided to stay here instead of the "heavenly knights" hotel, I think you can take care of him" mark said to her, giving her the hint to "play nice"

the old woman smiled "well why didn't you say so, EDDIE GET HIS BAG!" the old man got up and tried to take the bag off of Zack, only for him to dismissed by Zack "relax boy, he ain't gonna bite!" Mabel told him.

The awkwardness was secondary only to be eclipsed by the fact that the old man tried to grab him. A roaring feeling of fear and unease evident in his system, unaware it slightly shown in his face "that's fine, I can take it up there myself" Zack said nervously "i prefer to keep my bag with me. The old man didn't care and only went back to his chair. "so I have the money required for the four days..also the reservation confirmation slip". As he handed her the two-fifty and the confirmation letter "will that be all?" Zack asked the Mabel The old woman nodded as she put the cash register in then handed him the key.

Mabel looked at him and said with a suspicious tone "we do house keeping every day at noon, no loud music and breakfast is at seven thirty" the young man took the key and nodded. Mabel looked at the confused sheriff mark "i don't trust the kid, he is dressed one of those rockers with the crazy earring...and he has to have drugs in his bag!"

the sheriff looked unconvinced by the old woman's ludicrous statements "or he rather just wanted to handle his own bag" he said with a smile "if he does give you trouble than you can always give me a call.." the sheriff smiled as he excused himself.

As Zack walked up the second floor. He reached a small sitting room where there was roaring fire. Inside of one of the long necked arm chairs sat a man, he was sitting there drinking a cup of tea. The man's crazy blonde hair was spiked up. He sat there his black dress pants were crossed. His red and black dress shoes had a dull reflection of the roaring fire.

"the fire, such a chaotic element of life….something that can destroy things in a matter of minutes" the man said as the rest of his body couldn't of been seen. "tell me something young man, what do you know of fire?" the strange eccentric voice asked Zack.

"well destructive, it has helped man discover many different ways to cook, fight the elements and overall survive.." Zack told the man, confused by what the man was talking about. "truth be told, when it comes to the elements..i prefer water...free flowing, calm but vengeful when need be"

"water is a strange being, after all….one cannot survive without the other...in our world, we have many elements, we just don't know...or the mass populous doesn't know" the man said as he laced his teacup down, his black leather glove shown. "we have the same style" the man alluded somehow knowing what Zack was wearing.

"yeah, well black is a classic color to wear.." Zack was saying before the strange man placed a finger out

"during the summer, when the sun is beaming down on you...like an over protective mother trying to stop you in your tracks" the man joked as he than added something else "dont you get hot with the leather and long sleeves on?" the mysterious man said as somehow he was reading into zack's insecurities

"no, i'm quite alright" Zack said as he saw his room, he looked at the direction to where the man was and sighed. "i must excuse myself, I wish to put my things in my room" he said as he turned around and walked away.

"ta-ta, see you real soon" the voice said in a playful yet sinister tone. It made Zack feel nervous as the voice remained quiet. Zack went into his room and locked the door behind him. He slid down his door and placed his head in his hands.

"that man, what the fuck was that?" Zack asked himself as he than looked around. There was met with his room. It was his temporary home away from home, Zack was shocked at how modest and clean the room really was. He took a sigh a sigh of relief as he saw the one thing that that made him happy, that was his bathroom with the big white claw foot tub. He walked into the bathroom and sat on the foot of the tub and smiled "i am gonna be in here a lot" Zack had a love for the water, it was the place that made him the most safe, after all growing up it was like his sanctuary. Throughout the hellhole that is high school, middle school and elementary school.

as he was putting the water into the tub a thought shot through his head "oh shit.." he said as he than looked in the room for a phone, after using a prepaid card..Zack called someone on the phone. After a few seconds of ringing "hey dad?..yeah I am at the hotel room, I will definitely be enjoying it here...it is so pretty.." he was listening to his dad talk until he knew it was time to respond "yeah dad, I'll call you every day….and I'll take lots of pics...and a t shirt" he softly chuckled as he then looked at the clock it was five thirty "hey dad, I'm gonna take a bath and get a bite to eat!" he softly smiled as he than said "i love you dad, have a good night" he hung up the phone and after a few seconds laid on the bed "i needed this so badly.."he said with an excited tone. His dad was someone who meant the world to him, it was four years ago when his dad told him that we was adopted and what happened next shocked the both of them. Zack did not care at all and no matter what...his dad was his dad..adopted or not.

It was around 7:24pm when Zack came out of the bathroom...rubbing his hair with a towel, he was in a very good mood and as he was getting his clothes on and freshened up. as he heard the thunderous roar of his stomach, he decided that he was going to go to that restaurant that the sheriff was at...he also decided to check in town to see if there was a place where he can get snacks and some vacation supplies for himself. As he walked around going through his bag, he actually decided to put his CD player and the case of cds that he had on the desk next to a blank notebook and accordion folder. "maybe tonight, I'll just listen to my music later before bed. As Zack was setting stuff up, he saw something at the corner of his eye. He looked out his window and just stared outside for a few seconds "what was that..." Zack thought to himself. "I'm seeing things again..i thought I just saw a child" he shook his head and then decided to just get ready to get some food. As he put on his boots, he kept thinking that he saw a little girl…

as he was about to leave, he looked at the window confused "it's nothing" he grabbed his gloves off the table by the door and left.

As he was walking down the hall, he overheard the sounds of a person talking through one of the doors of the room. Normally he wouldn't ease-drop, but something about this caught his attention. He heard two voices

"remember it is important that this goes off without any issue, after all..we need all of the research we can get..." a stern voice said as he was talking to a second party. Zack was confused by what was being said "all you just got to do is…."

"what are you doing?!" Mabel suddenly said as she was looking at Zack with confusion. The old woman was obviously suspicious of Zack, it wasn't bad enough that he thought he was a strange person all together, now the woman thinks he's an ease dropper. "young man, I hope you weren't trying to spying on that young couple inside trying to make love…." she saw Zack's face instantly lit up due to embarrassment and than started to shame him "i knew it, you are a pervert you little.." all of a sudden what came out of the room was an older man, balding man with gray and obviously new to Mabel's attentions "who are you?! I don't remember checking you in" the old woman said as than the man slammed the door and locked it. "hey hey get out of there!" she screamed as he banged on the door. Zack took the time and sneak away, obviously the old bat had a new person to pick on. He left the hotel and proceeded to get away. It was going to be interesting to see what would happen when he got back.