Here is your official first chapter! Please let me know what you think!

CHAPTER 1

Sam walked confidently down the hall towards her boss' office. She got a call that he wanted to speak to her, but she wasn't entirely sure why. Obviously it had to do with her job, but she had just gotten back from her last assignment and was told she would have a few days rest before her next one. Samantha Ann Manson or Sam as she preferred, was a highly paid Environmental Investigator. And a good one too. Ever since she was younger she had been interested in helping the environment. She even became an Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian when she was younger and that hadn't changed since. Her drive to help and preserve the earth made it sometimes seem like she was unfeeling for other people, but the truth was Sam did care. She just was so tired of all the crap that went along with it and people's inability to learn from their mistakes, it just made her mad.

Sam worked for AEI. The Agency of Environmental Investigation. It was a government funded agency located in Washington D.C. Sam had moved there to go to college and made sure she got hired right when she graduated. She had moved right along after that. Her passion and smarts allowing her a way to the top. Now she was the most sought-after EI there was. Sam didn't mind at all. She loved her job, and she loved helping people. However, she did love some down time as well which was why the 24-year-old woman walked into her boss' office with a bit of a scowl on her otherwise beautiful face.

"What do you want, Gregor?" She asked tiredly, taking a seat in the chair opposite his desk. Elliot Gregor wasn't only her boss, but a good friend of hers. They had known each other since the beginning of their college days and had even dated for a short time, but both realized they only ever were going to be friends.

"I have another assignment for you." He said pulling out a file.

Sam sighed, 'Saw that coming a mile away.' She thought sarcastically. "I was told I had a few days off." She chose to say raising an eyebrow at him.

Gregor nodded seemingly just as tired, "So was I, however this is coming straight from the big boys." He tossed the file over the desk making it slide to her awaiting hands. Sam took the file and opened it as Gregor spoke, "It would seem a small town called Amity Park in Minnesota is causing problems."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Minnesota? What could possibly be happening in Minnesota? In a town so small I've never even heard of it?"

"Centralized earthquakes, electrical storms, fires, gas leaks, extreme weather differences and gravity irregularities." Gregor answered in a deadpan.

Sam stared at him, "What?" She then started rifling through the file as fast as she could. And sure enough it was all in there. Every disaster. Sam looked up at him in shock, "I guess most of those can be explained even if they are all highly unlikely, but gravity irregularities? What kind of irregularities and how is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but that is why you're going in." He answered passing her a packet. Sam took the packet knowing it had her assignment and plane ticket in it. "Thank your lucky stars we got it."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked confused by the statement.

"Amity Park has been fighting off government interference for months now." Gregor explained, "They said they could handle it. That the situation is all taken care of, that there doesn't need to be an investigation. They managed to hold us off for four months."

Sam's eyebrows shot up, "That long?"

Gregor nodded, "Yep. We had to twist their arms and bend them backwards to get them to cooperate and allow you to get in there. I'll tell you what, that mayor of theirs has one heck of a silver tongue."

"Good to know. Was that all?" She asked wanting to get started.

Again. Gregor nodded, "Let me know if anything happens."

.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.

Sam went home after that and took a nap. She was tired and she found that taking a nap before a flight helped her. When she woke up she was pleased to see it was in the evening. So she packed quickly and as she ate her dinner consisting of salad she looked through her packet and the file on Amity Park. Apparently the town had always been strange. A few random reports of UFOs, strange green lights, but mostly the people really just kept to themselves.

The first occurrence was a little over six months ago with an electrical storm. Things had escalated from there. The gravity irregularities had only recently started happening within the last week or so. Sam was incredibly curious as to how that was possible. She sincerely believed the gravity claim was nothing, but bull. However her job demanded that she go in and do a thorough investigation of all claims and write down a detailed report about it. If action needed to be taken she did have the ability to arrest people if necessary.

Sam had gone over all the information once she was on the plane and when she was driving the rental car. She was headed towards the mayor's office at that moment. She was told in her packet that she would be provided an apartment to live in while she was doing her investigation and the mayor had the key as well as information she wanted.

Pulling up to the town hall, she parked and got out. It wasn't as small a town as she had originally thought. The limited streets lamps in the center of the city allowed her a clearer picture of how large it was though. The town hall was nice. On the inside were painted murals of the town's history. She even saw ones that looked like they came from the Salem Witch Trials. Not entirely sure how that was possible, but she brushed it off. The picture was of a very large man dressed in orange. He was holding a basket of red flowers that had black stems and thorns. However, the flowers gave off a strange purple glow. Sam thought they were very beautiful if a bit strange.

But then she had always been interested in things 'normal' people weren't. Growing up she decided to become Goth and resented any kind of authority. She liked the darker side of things, she wasn't a morning person, and Edgar Allan Poe was one of her favorite authors. Through her rebellious years her mother and father had tried to quell the 'growing problem', but they only ended up encouraging it. Her parents were 'happy-go-lucky-must-wear-bright-colors-all-the-time-sunshine-and-daises' kind of people. Sam was not. Not to say that she didn't love her parents because she did, and she knew they loved her back. They were just different people.

As Sam matured and grew older, her constant need to rebel and need for all things dark and gloomy lifted some, much to her parents delight. Sam still considered herself Goth and still loved wearing darker tones, but she no longer called herself a 'creature of the night' so to speak. She was on relatively good terms with her parents now, even if they still didn't see eye to eye about most things. Even now she wore dark jeans, a long sleeve purple lace shirt and a black leather jacket she nearly never took off. However she had let her hair grow. Instead of the short bob and a small pony, she wore it styled down and it reached past her shoulders.

Sam was brought out of her musings when she reached the mayor's office. Inside she was greeted with a smiling blond woman with an orange flower clip in her hair. "Hello. How can I help you?" She asked cheerfully.

Sam smiled at her and walked up to the desk. "Hello, my name is Samantha Manson. I'm from the Agency of Environmental Investigations. I have an appointment to see the Mayor."

The woman's smile fell ever so slightly, but she nodded all the same, "I understand. Let me go tell him you're here." She then got up and walked into the Mayor's office. Sam waited patiently for her to return and as she did she glanced down at the secretary's name tag 'Starr Nae'. It was then 'Starr' came back out. "He will see you now, Miss Manson."

Sam smiled at her and walked into the office, "Thank you." Starr nodded and closed the door behind her. What greeted her in the office shocked her. The large window behind the Mayor's desk was boarded up, like someone had broken the glass. The desk looked a little small and out of place for the room and near the door where she was she saw a very large dent in the wall where something had obviously slammed into it.

Looking up she saw the Mayor himself. He was a tall African-American man. Sam had to admit he was handsome. He had teal eyes which contrasted against his skin nicely with short black hair. He wore a plain yellow long sleeve shirt and jeans. He had on a pair of black rimmed glasses and had an easy smile on his face. However his arm was in a sling and he had a bandage on his head.

"Oh my gosh!" Sam cried, "Are you alright? What happened?"

He chuckled and waved her off, "I'm alright. I'm sorry you haven't caught me at my best. A few days ago, I fell out the window behind me and sprained my arm and bumped my head." He answered chuckling good-naturedly.

Sam gasped slightly and placed a hand on her chest as she stepped forward, "Are you sure you're alright?"

The mayor nodded, "Yeah no permanent damage. Luckily the window only leads out to the front lawn. About a couple feet drop. I didn't have far to fall. Anyway, my name is Tucker Foley. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Manson." He said holding out his uninjured hand to shake.

Sam took it gently and shook his hand and noticed a wedding band on his finger. He was obviously married and judging by the wedding picture of him and another African American woman in a wedding dress sitting on the desk, along with the multiple other pictures of him and the same woman all happy, he was married to a very beautiful woman and married happily. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Mayor." She said drawing her focus back. It was her job to find out everything after all. To know all the clues and facts, but she did need to pay attention.

"Oh please. Just call me Tucker." He said taking a seat at his desk and gesturing for her to do the same. Sam obliged and sat in the seat across from the desk.

She nodded offering him a smile liking him already. "Then please call me Sam."

He nodded as well, "Can do." He then pulled out a key ring with a few keys on it. "So Sam these keys are to the apartment where you will be staying and here is the address." He said handing her a piece of paper. "I also placed a key to the town hall on here if you need to go through any of our records, feel free to do so." He handed them over to her and Sam was a little shocked at how forthcoming he was about it. Most of the time people did everything they could to make her job harder. This was a welcomed change. A suspicious change considering how hard Amity Park and Tucker in particular, had fought bringing anyone down to investigate in the first place, but Sam chose to ignore it… for now. "So first things first. Welcome to Amity Park. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay here. I know I have!" Sam couldn't help the small smile that graced her features. Tucker's happiness was somewhat contagious and he was a very down to earth person who was easy to get along with. "Do you have any questions?" Sam nodded and they began.

For the next hour she and Tucker talked about the town. But soon they moved on to other things. In fact Sam learned that his wife's name was Valerie and she was the Chief of Police here in Amity. They had met in high school and were high school sweet hearts. Sam also learned Tucker was a self-proclaimed Techno Geek. Something he was very proud of.

On the topic of the investigation she wasn't able to get that much information out of him. Only that most of the disturbances happened around the center of town. That was a very large area, but at least she had gotten that.

Finally it was time to leave and Tucker walked her to the door. "You know, you and my wife would get along famously. Would you like to have coffee with us one of these days before you leave?" He asked kindly, opening the door for her.

Sam thought about it. He seemed like a nice guy and she didn't think coffee with he and his wife would be bad, so she nodded, "Sure. That would be fun."

"Great. We can work that out with Starr a little later. But before you go there are two more things I forgot to mention." Tucker said stopping her from leaving.

"Yes?"

"There's a city wide curfew. No one is allowed out past midnight." He said and Sam almost laughed until she realized he wasn't joking.

"Are you serious?" She asked still not believing him.

Tucker nodded, "Unfortunately. It's not enforced by the police, but for your safety it is highly recommended you stay indoors."

"Why, what's going to happen?" She asked crossing her arms. She wasn't really planning on burning the midnight oil, but she didn't like being restricted. She had always had problems with being restricted.

"It's just for your safety." Tucker said choosing not to elaborate. Sam could tell there was more, but she didn't want to push too much so she chose to let it go. "Last but not least, if you see anything strange, please report it to either myself or a family called the Fentons." Tucker finished.

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Strange like how?"

"You'll know when you see it." He said instead. "It was a pleasure meeting you Sam. Have a good day." With that he headed back into his office leaving his door to shut behind him.

Sam stood there a little confused for a second. What the heck did that even mean!? 'You'll know when you see it.' See what!?

"Would you like me to schedule that now?" A voice said drawing Sam out of her thoughts. Sam spun around to see Starr smiling at her questioningly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sam asked walking up to her.

"Would you like me to schedule the coffee get together now or would you like to wait?" Starr asked again patiently.

"Oh no, umm thank you Miss Nay, but not right now." Sam said kindly.

"Alright. And just to let you know it's Mrs. Nae. I'm married and the name is Korean." Starr corrected happily.

"I'm sorry." Sam apologized with a smile.

Starr waved it off, "No big deal. You can just call me Starr if you would like."

Sam nodded, "Alright then Starr, you can just call me Sam. It was nice meeting you."

"You too, Sam!" Starr called as Sam walked out of the office.

Sam found the apartment relatively easily. It was on Main Street not too far from the park. She quickly unpacked and got right into bed. Despite it not even being 5 yet she was out like a light before her head hit the pillow.