Here's the first chapter to this story! Enjoy :)
Ocean City, New Jersey
June 1st, 2024
It was a beautiful sunny morning. Temperature was supposed to get up to a high of eighty-two today.
Noelle woke up bright and early and started her workout for the morning. Afterwards, it would be a perfect day to go to the beach. It would also be the first time this season going as well.
She went headlong into her workout, so she can get done as soon as she can. It was still early, and she had plenty of time before packing up what she would need for the beach.
About an hour later after she finished her work out, she slipped on her bikini. Followed by a light purple tank top and some light khaki-colored shorts.
She then made lunch and put it in an insulted lunch bag. Afterwards, she stuck it into her large, cinch sack bag with her towel. Noelle then applied sunblock before shoving that in there.
The young woman also packed a book she has yet to start reading, a field guidebook to butterflies of America. She also made sure to pack her phone and air pods as well.
One of the last things she grabbed was a beach umbrella. Then she put on some sunglasses, and a hat.
Once she had everything she needed, she left her small beach home and started to walk the couple blocks to the nearest beach. It certainly was nice living so close. It saved her the trouble of driving and the nightmare of finding a parking spot. On top of that, having to pay for it.
It was still fairly early by the time she got there. But there were already a few people on the stretch of beach.
Not surprising in the least. Ocean City was a very touristy town this time of year and it was bound to get more congested and worse as the summer season drew near.
Noelle figures she may as well enjoy it before the tourists start flocking down here.
She found a spot and started unpacking her things. First, she put up her umbrella. Then she laid out her towel a couple feet away from the umbrella in the full sun.
She then placed her sack under the umbrella and started to pull off her tank top and shorts.
Now, she was in nothing but her bikini and couldn't wait to get wet. Noelle made a b-line for the water that wasn't too far away from where her area.
The water was still rather cool as she dipped her feet in. She wanted to adjust to the temperature first before heading in.
At this time, there weren't too many people in the water. Most were still laying back on the sand, sunbathing and soaking up the early morning sun.
After a few minutes, Noelle started to inch her way into the water.
Goosebumps erupted on her flesh as she submersed herself inch by inch. But she brushed the coldness of the water aside and continued on and once she was nearly up to her chest, she crouched down a little until she was submerged up to her neck.
She let out a small gasp at the cold temperature now covering most of her body.
It took a couple minutes, before she closed her eyes and dunked herself under the cold saltwater. But at least she knew, by doing so, she would then be used to the water completely.
Noelle was submerged for several seconds, before coming back up for air.
Once she did, she headed out a little further until she couldn't touch and started to tread water. It was currently high tide, and she may as well take advantage of it by doing a couple laps up and down the shore.
Of course, the swim was slow and lazy, seeing as she already did a workout this morning before coming to the beach.
It was really more of enjoying her time in the water. She even got on her back and floated lazily among the tiny waves. All while looking up at the cloudless sky.
She really did love these warmer seasons. Just being able to be outside and swim was just what she needed.
It was hard being an outdoors person and being cooped up inside during the winter months. That's why, she was saving up to eventually move to Florida.
Noelle was rather close to saving up just enough to move too. Probably just one more year, and she should be able to make the move.
Being a teacher, she can't say the salary here was the best. But soon, it will be enough to make the move. Plus, things down south tend to be cheaper anyway.
New Jersey was really one of the worst states to live in. Between the crazy inflation, the politics, and the winters, it could drive anyone up the wall, and that is why, she couldn't wait to leave.
Noelle spent a good portion of the day at the beach. Not leaving until around 4pm. It had gotten fairly crowded during the morning and there were still many people there by the time she left to go home.
It was also still quite hot out.
When she got home, she put her things away and took a quick shower to wash the saltwater off and cool off. But it was still pretty early, and she didn't want to be shut in for the evening just yet.
She made the decision to visit Corson's Inlet State Park.
It was one of her favorite places and she knew it well. The park itself was maybe only a fifteen-to-twenty-minute walk from her place. So, she packed a water bottle, her book she had been reading earlier at the beach, her iPhone, and her air pods.
Before she headed back out.
Noelle had her air pods in as she walked the fifteen-to-twenty-minute walk to the park.
Secrets, secrets in the shadows
A light on in my window
But I know, nobody's home
Voices, screaming in the background
I look but no one's around
I black out, forget who I am
I keep crying out for help
I been talking to myself
I can feel it slip away
It's driving me insane
She mouthed the words to the song playing off her iTunes playlist as she walked.
Until she finally made it to her destination. Once there, she started to walk about the area. Her feet digging into the sand as she went. Seagrass lining the path on either side of her.
Every now and then, she'd see someone either on the path or walking along the shoreline off to the side.
It was rather peaceful and quiet here. Seeing as there were hardly anyone here as it was. Something she much preferred. A place was just sometimes always better with less people and no crowds.
At some point she drifted a little further away from the water and more into the seagrass and reeds further in land.
As she walked through, she saw something up ahead and to her right. Curious, Noelle headed in that direction. She knew the whole area well enough, having been here many times throughout the years.
She knew what was up ahead on the left, was some tiny little pond situated quite a way from the shore that was separated far from the tide.
As she drew closer, Noelle noticed something odd happening within the tiny little pond or tide pool.
On the way, she removed her air pods, and put them back in their tiny charger, before putting them in her sack, and shouldering it again.
Once she got there, she was baffled to see only what could be described as some tiny whirlpool within the water. But what both intrigued and freaked her out, was that there was this strange bright bluish light swirling within it.
The young woman instinctively stepped back from the strange phenomenon.
She has been to this little pond/tide pool countless times before and she had never seen anything like this. Yet, at the same time, as she kept staring into this strange whirlpool, she unknowingly found herself stepping closer to the water's edge.
It wasn't until she was about shin deep did, she realizes the trouble she was now in.
Noelle underestimated just how strong the pull of this tiny whirlpool was and wasn't prepared for what happened next. Something that completely caught her off guard and surprised her.
The strong current of the whirlpool had her crouching down to brace herself and to keep her from falling over.
But even as she did squat down, it did her no good. She had her arms out to steady herself and keep her balance. Yet, it didn't seem to be working. She was losing her balance as the strong currents of the pool started sucking her in.
Noelle really started losing her balance and started flailing her arms. She couldn't even get her legs to move to turn around and try to get out of the small tide pool.
Fear and panic started to overtake her when she realized she couldn't reach the water's edge.
"Help! Someone help!" She yelled out in a panic.
But sadly, it seems like no one heard her.
The young woman continued struggling to keep her balance and keep herself upright. Unfortunately, as much as she tried, she could no longer keep herself upright anymore.
With one more strong tug of the currents from the strange, glowing whirlpool, Noelle suddenly found herself being swept off her feet.
Next thing she knew, she was completely submerged. All she could hear was the roaring water in her ears while struggling to break the surface.
She managed to break the surface for a split several seconds when she pumped her legs hard and swung her arms.
"Help!" Noelle screamed again.
Not a few moments after the word left her mouth, she was swept under again.
The young woman found herself being thrown about within the current. Her sack that was over her shoulders, was thumping against her back as she continued tossing and turning through the turbulent, yet brightly lit currents.
Air bubbles escaped her mouth as she flailed about in a panic.
The whole thing felt like it lasted forever, and she felt herself going lightheaded due to the lack of oxygen. She knew she was drowning, and she was scared beyond belief.
This was turning out to be even scarier than when she nearly drowned that one time at the beach when she was in her mid-teens.
Then when she felt like she was very close to blacking out, another bright light pierced through the water. Next thing she knew, her arms hit air and she started flailing about once more.
Her head broke the surface moments later and she started coughing up a storm, while trying to catch her breath. The bright light she was now seeing, was sunlight.
Noelle's light blue eyes opened, and she spotted land not a few meters ahead.
She wasted no time in using the last of her energy to gun it for the shore. Relief hit her when she no longer felt the pull of the current as she cut through the now placid water.
After a couple more minutes, her feet had touched the bottom as she hit shallower water.
The young woman waded the rest of the way in, until she was finally able to make it to solid land.
Once there, she collapsed onto her hands and knees, panting like crazy trying to suck as much air into her lungs as possible. Her body felt like rubber from the whole ordeal.
It must've taken her another two-three minutes before she shakily got to her feet.
When she did, she looked around, while still lightly panting. Her dark brows furrowed in confusion as she looked around. Strangely, she wasn't still within the park.
This area looked strange and unfamiliar to her.
'Just where the fuck am I!?' Her mind screamed.
Noelle frantically looked around, taking in her surroundings.
She started to panic a little wondering where the hell she could possibly be. It didn't even look like she was anywhere near the beach right now. Instead, she looked to be in the middle of the woods somewhere.
She stumbled further away from the pond or shall see say lake that she came out of.
The air was still warm and had a soft breeze that enveloped her as she continued closer to the tree line. Noelle gripped the straps of her sack, that was surprisingly still attached to her back in comfort and anxiety, all while still rapidly looking around.
What was scary, is that there didn't seem to be a soul in sight.
Noelle was just a couple yards away from the tree line when she thought she spotted quick movement from beyond the brush. Then she heard something moving about back there from within the foliage.
The young woman froze and squinted her eyes, trying to peer through the dense foliage to see what it was.
Then she started to see what appeared to be dark silhouettes of some being that was making its way through the bushes, and by the looks of it, towards her position.
Noelle clenched her fists, fight or flight instincts started kicking in. Yet, she couldn't tear her gaze from what was possibly coming.
She suddenly let out a startled gasp when something suddenly came rushing out of the bushes and into the clearing. What she saw made her jaw drop and eyes widen in surprise.
There before her, were men, no... not men. They were humanoid apes, gorillas by the looks of it. Not only that, but they were wearing strange clothes and were on horseback.
Several of them came out and she suddenly found herself surrounded by no less than five of these humanoid gorillas.
They all shared looks with one another as their gaze shot back and forth between their comrades before setting their gaze on this strangely dressed human woman.
She was not dressed like your typical human woman.
The young woman wore this sleeveless shirt and bottoms that barely stretched down to mid-thigh, along with strange shoes. She had some canvas sack on her back being held on by a light-colored corded rope on each shoulder.
Noelle didn't say a word, she was too much in shock to do so.
Fear and surprise sunk into the pit of her stomach when she suddenly saw the gorillas draw rifles from their shoulders. What's worse, they pointed the rifles right at her.
"Don't move!" One of them yelled.
The young woman instinctively raised her hands. Shocked that she heard them talk.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" She blurted out in a panic.
A couple of them dismounted from their horses and cautiously approached her.
Noelle remained frozen to the spot as they drew closer. She didn't know what to do, except stay where she was, for fear of being shot. Though that didn't mean she was feeling any less fear from the gorillas approaching her.
"Strange, it seems like she just came up out of the lake from nowhere." One of them said.
"You're right, and what was that light we saw before she came up?" One of them questioned.
She tensed up even more when she realized these beings saw her just randomly pop up out of the lake.
"Please, I... I don't know how I got here." Noelle said.
They shared a couple more looks.
"Be quiet, and don't move." One of them snapped.
She did just that, dread swept over her as they surrounded her and at least one of the came up behind her. The young woman then saw as one of them in front of her grab her wrists and roughly pull them up in front of her.
Overwhelming fear hit her when she saw the one in front of her pull out some rope and started tying it around her wrists.
"Wait! What the hell are you doing!? I didn't do anything!" She blurted out.
"Silence!" One of the gorillas in front of her snapped at her, shutting her up.
Then the one behind her started roughly shoving her forward, getting her to move.
"Let me go, dammit! I didn't fucking do anything! I don't even know where the fuck I am!" She partly shouted.
Then Noelle felt a sharp sting, as one of them slapped her, trying to shut her up.
"I said, silence, human!" He yelled.
The one gorilla that seemed to be the one in charge then turned to his comrades.
"Bring her. We will take her back to the camp. Then bring her to Central City. She clearly seems to be some alien human like those astronauts Urko and Zaius told us all about." The leader stated.
Then they started pulling her along.
Noelle tried resisting. She dug her feet into the soft soil and twisted her body about. She clenched her fists together and swung them hard at one of the gorillas standing to her right.
He grunted in pain and stumbled.
Before she could do anything else, pain struck her, and she doubled over when one of them punched her in the gut. Then she yelped when another grabbed her hair and roughly pulled her head back.
"Do that again, and we'll shoot you!" He growled.
Noelle clenched her jaw and was barely holding back tears.
Then they ushered her over to a spare horse and loaded her on. Afterwards they all shouldered their guns and mounted their own horses. Not long after, did they take off back into the woods.
During the ride, Noelle could barely wrap her head around what was going on.
She though that maybe she had died. That she had drowned in that strange glowing whirlpool. But if that were the case, why would she find herself in a strange place like this, and with upright walking, talking apes!?
Not to mention, she felt those hits they dished out to her.
Not a few minutes into the ride, she couldn't stop her tears from falling as these gorillas led her further into the woods and onto some wide, dirt path.
It was like the twilight zone from hell.
I think I'm going mad
There's a war inside my head
My mind is a wasteland
I'm trying to make sense
No, I just can't take it no more
I think I'm going mad
Shaking, shivers in the red sun
Everything I run from
Has caught up to me
I think I'm going mad
There's a war inside my head
My mind is a wasteland
I'm trying to make sense
No, I just can't take it no more
I think I'm going mad
Mad
Mad
I think I'm going mad
There's a war inside my head
I think I'm going mad
There's a war inside my head
I think I'm going mad
There you have it. The first chapter! I'm sorry if it started out a little slow and dull. After all the stories I have written, it still seems like the most challenging part of writing them is almost always the first chapter and getting the story started.
I don't own the lyrics to the song in this chapter. The song is called 'Mad' by Imaginary After. If anyone is curious about the song, you can find it on YouTube. I first heard the song off of one of the episodes from the t.v. show 'Siren'. A very awesome show in my opinion and one of my favorites. You can watch all the seasons to Siren on Hulu, if anyone is interested.
It's a good song and I felt it was very fitting for this chapter and fits my OC's current point of view of everything that had just occurred and is still occurring.
Poor Noelle is currently captive for now. But Alan, Pete, & Galen will be making an appearance soon enough.
Until Next Time ;)