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June 18, 2008, 8:45 AM

Not how I'd planned to start my day. My alarm had been set for seven o'clock AM, but my phone went off way earlier than intended when someone called me. The only unfortunate thing was that I was by no means ready for how bad it startled me, and it ruined my plan of stealth to get out of there without anyone noticing. My phone went off on my bedside table, scaring the bejebus out of me and waking up my sister Cassidy - who, unfortunately, slept in the same room as I.

Scrabbling around to find my phone which was still making a nasty rattling racket on the bedside table, I fell out of bed, making even more noise. What time was it anyway, and who the hell just called me and blew my plan out of the water? I snatched my phone off the table and flicked my finger across the screen, silencing the blaring noise. I held my breath, and cringed as I heard someone shifting in their bed at the other end of the room.

"What the hell was that?" My sister Cassidy growled, bitchy as ever. I tried to stay quiet and hope she didn't know I'd been the one to make half the ruckus involved. "I know your there Dan." She hissed.

I sighed. "Just go back to sleep Cassidy, it was nothing accept my phone." I said, hoping to disinterest her, wait until she was asleep, and then leave.

"Yeah right, that was a ring-tone, what do you take me for?" She snapped, and sat fully up, not trying to be quiet about it.

"What does it matter to you, anyway? Go back to sleep." I muttered, and lay back down.

"Because it looks like you're trying to get out of here early... going to try to shrug off babysitting your sister for today again, slacker."

I gritted my teeth. She loved to pull the guilt on me, and she used it so much, you'd think I would be used to it by now. At least it was coming from her and not from 'dad'. Why was I hiding it, anyways? She couldn't stop me, and she didn't dare wake him, he hated being awoken this early.

"Yeah, what are you gonna' do about it? Tell dad? You know he hates being woken up this early, and he'll scalp you if you even knock on the door, so suck it up. You watch Leah, because I've got life to live, and you need to get off your sorry butt." I muttered.

There was a vicious growl from my sister. I moved quickly and got up, walking across the room and slamming the door behind me in fury. Not exactly the smartest move I realized, that would have woken the whole house. I checked my phone as I hastily made my way down the steps and through the dirty home. Jacob had called. I winced when I realized I'd hung up on him. Snatching the keys, I headed for the door.

"Where are you going so early?" Oh no, not her... I sighed and turned to see my youngest sister, Leah, rubbing her eyes and still in pajamas.

"I need to go to an interview, but I'll be back, okay?" I said quietly. She just blinked at me. She was the only sibling that didn't hate me and I didn't hate back. She was still so innocent and sweet. Why didn't I stay to take care of her and keep her from the horrific dysfunction that dad had allowed? Guilt crashed over me again and I crouched down to meet her bleary eyes.

"What's an interview?" She asked. A smile crept onto my face, and I explained briefly what an interview was, and when she just nodded, I hugged her tightly.

"Be good today... don't forget me." I whispered as her tiny arms wrapped around my neck in a tight hug.

"Will you come back?" She asked, almost in a whimper. I almost lied and told her yes, I would... it was like she knew. She could read it in my eyes.

"I don't know, little one." I said, the words coming easier. I had lied far too much to her, but, like I said... she always knew, and she never told. I breathed in her scent. If she had been allowed to stay in my room instead of Cassidy, waking up in the morning wouldn't be so miserable and put me in a bad mood all the time. She looked so sad right now that it spread worse than my sister's horrible mood.

"Don't worry," I whispered, glancing up the stairs briefly to see if Cassidy would come and try to stop me. "I will always be here for you."

Would I?

I couldn't bear the lie, and got up, gently stroking her soft, brown hair. "Go back to bed Leah, I'll be back tonight." She gave me one last look and walked back into her room that she shared with my brothers and slowly shut the door.

_ Good girl, don't wake them_. I didn't want to think about any of my family. All I wanted to think about was how I would get Leah away from them all when I had enough money to get out of here. I would take her, and get the hell away from here. I couldn't stand it. It all had gone to shit after mom died.

I slid out the door, closed it and locked it and went to the car. This car hardly got used. Dad never really drove anywhere, and my brothers had their own fancy cars. Why were they allowed to work, and not me? How the hell did they even keep their jobs? Because my family is retarded, that's why. I slammed the car door, anger returning again. The sooner I got a job and got out of here, the better. I could leave it all behind me forever. Screw them, I lost them all when we lost mom.

I started the car and backed out slowly, making sure that the road was clear. I'd learned to drive, but they wouldn't let me get a job? I scoffed. None of them made sense. I picked up the phone and called Jacob back. Being like he was, he picked up the phone after the second ring.

"Hey, why'd you hang up on me?" was the first thing he asked. Of course I explained, because he would understand. I'd known his son, Richard since we were in third grade, and I'd met his father when I entered high school. There were few that understood, but the Hanson family was one of the few that did.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a call, and Cassidy decided to wake up and get on my case, the phone woke her up, and I kinda fell out of bed searching for the phone." It sounded funny telling it, and Jacob barked a laugh.

"Well I appreciate you calling me back so soon, Krystal wants to know if you want breakfast, and Richard won't shut up about asking when you'll be here!" I heard muffled muttering in the background. I bet that was Richard.

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great! I'll be there in about five to ten minutes." I guessed, since I was just about to get on the highway. A muffled thud and Jacobs bark of annoyance.

"Rich, I know your excited, stop jumping all over me like a five-year-old, go play with your sister or something, I'm on the phone." There was an excited squeal in the background. Yep, that was Richard. I grinned and said goodbye before closing the phone.

After getting on the highway, I realized there was something I wanted to ask. I flipped open my phone again and speed-dialed Jacob. When it didn't ring, I looked quickly down at my phone. No service? What the heck? There was always service on the highway...

I tried again and still, I got nothing. I closed my phone and stuffed it back into my pocket, trying to turn on the radio, I got static. Okay... this was weird. It's like something had completely blocked off the signal. I tried turning the dial both ways. Everything was static. Maybe a tower got taken down or something.

I rolled down my window and rested my hand on the side. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. There was no wind. No nothing, like time had frozen. I blinked and held my hand out the window. It was like I was holding completely still. There was no noise of wind accept for the car's engine. There were no other cars on the roadway either. I blinked again. No other cars, it was dead still out here.

"What the hell?" I said aloud, and looked around, not seeing any cars behind, in front, beside or on the other side of the highway. Usually there were at least five people out on the road. There was no one... no one and nothing. I looked up at the sky out of my front windshield.

What, was going on here. The sky was dark with clouds as though it was going to rain. Trying to make sense of this, I told myself that everyone stayed home because of the weather. It wasn't a holiday, so there should be some people out. But there were none, none at all. The radio wouldn't work, but how could that be blamed on the weather.

I neared Jacob's place and switched on my blinker to pull off onto his road, feeling as though the action was rather useless. I put my hand out the window again and frowned. Now I felt air. I heard air. But there were still no people. I tried the radio. It still wasn't working. I blinked several times as though it would help. I looked back out the windshield and the weather still looked nasty.

Did Jacob still want to go out to the site in this weather? There would probably be no one there. I tried to call him one more time, and this time, it worked. He didn't answer though. Was this me or was today just... being weird.

I turned onto his road and looked around again. After just a few minutes driving, I came up on their driveway and parked next to Jacobs's car, the only slot available in the tiny two entrance parking place.

I stepped out and stared at the sky. Odd weather... the weather report had said it would be clear, yet they almost always seemed to be wrong. The sky seemed to have gotten darker from the last time I looked. I stood there for a moment, just staring at it. The entire thing looked more menacing that any normal cloudy weather. Frowning, I headed towards the door and felt a cold gust of wind that gave me a chill more out of fear than cold. There was something about this that just didn't seem right. I would have to ask Jacob if today was a good day to actually go down to the site... unless they worked in cold, threatening weather. I rang the doorbell and waited. A holler from inside,

"What are you knocking for?!" I grinned and entered, smiling cheekily. The moment I entered, I got tackled. I should have expected it. Having older brothers, I knew what to do; however, I wasn't expecting a smaller weight to land on my legs. Oh, the little pipsqueak!

"Richard, you know better than to sic your little sister on me." I growled, and lightly tossed the young girl off my legs. A huff of protest and I scrabbled away from Richard to get him in a bear hug. I got a hug around the waist from Tracy and then Krystal yelling from the kitchen.

"Breakfast is ready!"

I entered the kitchen with the two siblings behind me and gave Krystal a hug. I was like a part of the family and had been for some time. I could smell what she had been cooking and my mouth watered as I looked over her shoulder and got a smack. Chuckling, I went to see Jacob, who was in his study reading a newspaper.

"Hey! I heard you got a warm welcome." He smirked, and Richard tried to slip out of the room. "You behave Rich; I don't want you mauling our guest... and don't involve your sister." He called.

"He already did!" Tracy chirped. A shocked gasp from Richard, "You promised you wouldn't tell!" The little brat only giggled and raced over to her father when Richard went at her.

"Daddy, he's gonna get me!" She shrieked.

I loved how this family were always themselves. Even Jacob, who was considered far too old for the antics I had seen him do from time to time, had a playful streak in him.

As Richard came for Tracy, Jacob stood up and chased Richard out of the room. Richard, startled, gave a yelp and wildly fled, nearly falling in his haste.

"Jacob Riley Hanson! Good Lord! You'd think you were five! Leave him alone." Krystal chided. "Come get your breakfast before it gets cold."

Jacob only smirked, gave his son a promising and creepy evil grin, to which Richard gave an equally creeped out expression and went to sit down at the table. I didn't realize I was as hungry as I was, and must have beaten even Richard. When Richard and I were here, Krystal never had leftovers. We ate quickly, knowing I had to leave with Jacob to go down to the site. I put my dishes in the sink and gave everyone a quick hug as I headed for the door, only then remembering to ask Jacob whether today was a good day to go down to the site.

"Hey Jacob... on my way over here, it looked like it was going to be a rather stormy day... are you sure today is a good day to be going down there?"

Jacob looked at me with a puzzled expression. "The weather is fine Daniel... at least last I checked."

Feeling rather embarrassed, but not sure why, I went and looked out the window, about to call him over to look, and the weather was fine. Not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't believe this! The whole time I had driven over here, the weather had been dark and stormy, as far as the horizon in every direction, and now it was cloudless. It could not have cleared up that fast, not in less than 30 minutes.

I just stared for a minute, confused and worried.

"Hey Daniel... are you alright?" I jumped as Richard leaned on the window frame next to me.

"Yeah... I could have sworn on my way over here that it was going to rain...it was cloudy in every direction." I muttered, and when Richard remained silent, I looked over. For a moment there was a look of deep concern on his face, his eyes shadowed, and then it was gone as fast as I had seen it. I shook my head. "Odd, must have just been my windshield tint."

Richard just blinked, and then headed off toward his room. I went after Jacob and as I got in my car, I looked out the window again. Yeah, sure, my window tint, the weather was fine. I had no idea what just happened, but it gave me the creeps and I couldn't explain it. Jacob must think me crazy!

I suddenly noticed another car behind mine as I followed Jacob out of the driveway. I'd never seen it before and it hadn't been there when I'd arrived. Krystal didn't need a car, she worked at home, and I hadn't noticed any guests come into the house during breakfast. It was a beautiful car, a large, sleek, Yukon Denali XL. I wondered whether it was worth asking about later.

I followed Jacob out onto the road and looked out at the sky again, just clouds collecting across the sky, but nothing dark and frightening. I had probably... no, I hadn't mistaken anything. I had seen what I had seen... but apparently it had never been there, or had cleared up amazingly fast, and it had covered the entire sky.

Once Jacob and I were out on the highway, I followed him and tried turning the radio on again... but again...it didn't work. All I got was static. The Radio had worked last week... maybe it had just gone off and died. Another cold shiver and I pulled my phone out of my pocket, a feeling of foreboding making me cold. I dialed Jacobs's number. It didn't work. I rolled down the window. There was wind and plenty of people on the highway now, so...

Maybe I had just caught it during maintenance or something... it just didn't feel right. I would get the radio checked out later, it may have just fried, and the car was an old one after all.

After a whiles drive, we approached the turnout, passing a small white road sign that read 'Sugarloaf Turnout ½ Mile'. I snorted a laugh. That was an interesting name. I realized why a moment later. There was a massive pile of dirt sitting off to the back of the turnout. We pulled off, and slowed down. I didn't see a road anywhere, just a large turnout with a giant pile of dirt at the far end. Jacob didn't slow, but headed past the dirt pile and for a moment; I thought he meant to dive right down into the trees. However at the last moment he turned right sharply and vanished down behind the trees and the hillside.

I followed him, and saw that a rough road had been paved out of the hillside and sloped steeply down, paved with tractor treads and winding down into the shadows of the forest. I never would have seen it if I hadn't paid close attention and looked. This must be where Jacobs's dad was constructing a new 'neighborhood'. Why would go so far and to such lengths to carve their way down into a canyon to build a few houses. Things just got weirder and weirder.

We kept heading down, down into deep forest, the road twisting and turning. Every now and then, there would be wide open spots of clearing where it looked to be a future build zone. How far down did this road go? The road was bumpy and torn up here and there where trees had been uprooted and de-stumped; occasionally I would see a tractor or man-lift settled off on a turnout. The whole road was a mess of tractor, truck and boot prints. How were they going to build anything down here? It seemed far too closed in and dark. Maybe some people liked it like that, away from the city and the smog and the... people. Too many trees, too little space, I liked my space... not that where I lived had any notable space besides a back yard.

It suddenly seemed darker. A cold chill ran along my spine and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. What was that about? Of course it would be darker down here. But it wasn't just dark... it was darker, as if... I looked out the windshield and realized that I could see masses of dark clouds collecting across the sky. Was it just me again, or did it seem like a thunderstorm was rapidly arising?

Something flashed at the edge of my vision and I glanced over for a second, seeing something orange and black. Had that been an animal? I'd seen... fur?

There it was again. Out of nowhere, a wave of sudden fear swept over me, as though something bad was sitting in my backseat. Involuntarily, I looked in my rear-view mirror. There was nothing there. Another flash of orange and black on my driver's side, and I glanced there too, swerving a little bit as my eyes left the road. Were those cones? No... there was nothing there, even when I looked in my rear-view mirror again.

I needed to keep my eyes on the road, I ignored the orange and black flashes that seemed to be appearing all over the place... the images were flashing at the edges of my vision like a broken TV screen, broken and wavering.

The more I tried to ignore it, the more I saw it, sometimes for almost more than a second and I nearly swerved twice, checking mirrors and over my shoulder, getting more and more on edge. What the hell was- I slammed on my brakes, giving myself whiplash as I saw a huge orange and black creature right in front of my car, clear as day for a split second before it vanished.

Sucking air back into my lungs and realizing I had been breathing shallow, I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them. I had seen it, for sure, what the hell... I got out, nearly stumbling as my legs were suddenly unsteady; I looked around the front of the car. No prints. No Fur. No Blood. I hadn't hit it... but I had seen it! I put a hand to my forehead in confusion and turned fully around, staring at everything, expecting to see something, an animal fleeing into the woods, a flattened cone, something... but there was nothing, nothing accept the dirt in front of my tires.

"Daniel, are you alright?" Jacobs's voice startled me and I whirled around. No, I wasn't all right. I'd seen...a giant orange and black... it had looked like some sort of a Feline. There had been a giant cat in front of my car. I struggled to keep the emotions out of my voice as I answered, clearing my expression and thoughts. "Yeah... I thought I hit a squirrel" I lied.

Jacob didn't look fully convinced. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just a bit of whiplash." I said, forcing my breath not to shudder. I felt paranoid. Maybe I was actually seeing things... maybe years of being trapped with a totally dysfunctional family had finally gotten to me.

Jacob was staring right at me as if he was going to get the truth out of me by staring. I had a totally insane urge to laugh. Jacob raised an eyebrow and headed back to his car. I took one last look around, confused and a bit frightened now. Either it moved way too fast and light to leave any trace, or I'd just seen something that didn't actually exist.

I knew Jacob would bring this up later. We knew each other too well, and if Richard had been here, he would have known for sure I was lying. Would he have seen what I did? I took a deep breath, cleared my head and continued to follow Jacob, keeping an eye out for the strange creature. If it had actually been there, what creature would it have been?

Sure, anyone could have colored the fur orange and black, but what feline that large could they have possibly found, that looked like that? It had looked... like a giant cat... a giant cat with orange and black fur. The one thing that had stood out more than the fur was its eyes... green eyes, brighter than its fur, brighter than the light around it. It was almost as if its eyes had glowed.

I couldn't tell Jacob, he'd think I was crazy... would I tell Richard later? He might think I was crazy as well. No... I wouldn't tell either of them. I wouldn't tell anyone. Nobody would believe me, so I would keep it to myself until I found a logical explanation for it... if there actually was one.

_ _ There had to be one. There was always a logical, realistic explanation for everything.

After what seemed like a good half hour, we reached the parking lot. There were only a few cars here, and it wasn't even a proper parking lot, no pavement or borderlines, just a cleared dirt lot. The whole clearing itself was massive, enough for a small sized farm.

I parked next to Jacob as he picked a spot near the front of the lot and got out. As I did, I felt a cool wind brush past me and I looked up. The sky was gradually growing darker by the minute; it was certainly darker than the last time I had looked. The wind was getting colder and harsher, buffeting me as it blew in brief but sudden hard gusts.

I turned to Jacob to ask him if he noticed the weather again, but he was already walking across the bare lot towards a large mobile home set at the back of the clearing, facing out across the lot. It seemed that Jacobs's father lived out on the job site.

Another gust of wind whipped past me, slapping me with cold air and lashing the trees fiercely. Jacob didn't even seem to notice... and the wind didn't move his shirt. It didn't ruffle his hair. Now I knew there was something odd going on and the hair on the back of my neck rose up. The wind wasn't blowing his loose shirt or his hair. It was as if he wasn't affected by it. And that didn't make any logical sense. He was right in its path, as was I.

I looked down at my own shirt, which was moving in the wind, and then looked back up at Jacob, finally trotting after him and staring at the lack of affect the wind was having.

It was me. I was the only one seeing this weather, I almost knew it now. Something very strange was going on here, and it was freaking me out, a lot. Was my mind snapping after so many years of dealing with my family, or was it something else? What else could it be?

As we approached the small building, I pushed the confusion and rising worries from my mind. I had an interview to ace. More questions built up in my mind, but I pushed those away as well, knowing I needed to focus if I was going to get this right. Even if this was family relations, I still needed to keep a mature state of mind and questions and fear would only cloud that. I took a deep breath and followed Jacob through the door, stepping up into the warm interior, shivering in relief as the door shut behind me and blocked off the biting wind.

"Man, it's already hot outside and he turns the heater on in here" Jacob muttered. I stared at him with a look of near fear. Hot? It was anything but hot outside. Everything about this was wrong, and it was distracting me more and more. We headed into the interior of the 'office' and I notice there were several pictures hanging on the walls. I stopped to look at a few of them as we made our way down the hall towards the 'kitchen'.

Almost all of the pictures were dark; I had to squint at a few to see them clearly. I saw shadowy forms in the background amongst the trees. Not human figures, but the figures of giant cats. Where these even actual photographs? Couldn't be...I saw green eyes in more than a couple of them; glowing green eyes that seemed to be staring right at the photographer. I stepped back, uneasiness making me cold again.

I was so fascinated, yet inexplicably horrified by these pictures that I hadn't noticed Jacob just standing there watching me.

The... it was that... thing I nearly hit coming down the road, I was suddenly certain of it; a giant cat, a giant black cat with glowing, creepy as hell green eyes. I turned and saw Jacob watching me with an observant expression, eyes narrowed slightly as though troubled. He'd probably seen the disturbed look on my face.

"Jacob... what are these?"

He didn't answer, just turned and headed down the hall. "Come on, he's waiting"

He hadn't answered the question. It felt deliberate, as though he didn't want to discuss it. I looked back at the picture, at the black creature blending into the shadows with glowing green eyes. If these were real... it had to be a good camera... or... I felt cold.

I spun around and stared the way we had come, suddenly feeling watched again. I looked back to where Jacob was walking down the hall and then back towards the door. I wasn't sure if this was my imagination, or something that was actually happening. After a moment of staring at the air, I forced myself to turn and walk after Jacob. The feeling of being watched is a hard one to describe, and one I hope you never feel; especially if there is no one there... at least no one that you can see. I was even feeling the cold crawling up my back and fought the urge to turn around.

How was I going to get through this interview feeling this paranoid? Taking a deep breath, I fought to clear my mind and followed Jacob.

I'd met Kevin before only a couple times before and greeted him again with a handshake as we sat down. Jacob and Kevin exchanged some news about family affairs quickly, Richard going into college and such, before they actually got to me.

I had a feeling he wanted to make me comfortable with this whole thing because he started to ask me questions about how I was doing and such; and I politely returned with questions of my own. It appeared that Bella, Kevin's wife was going to have yet another child, which I congratulated him on. I hadn't known that Jacob had left the room to answer his cell phone until he came back in and Kevin looked up.

"I've got to run home really quick, you mind staying here Daniel? I won't be long." I nodded and Kevin just told him to shoo and made a small flailing motion with his hands, as though to scare Jacob off, which made me smirk. This whole family was silly to the core.

After Jacob was gone, Kevin leaned back in his chair and began asking me a few questions about any previous job experiences, what openings he had currently, and if I'd be available for them.

"You have your own transportation to get here?" He asked, occasionally flipping through some documents on a clipboard. I eyed the papers for a moment, noticing information about me, birth certificate, etc.

"Yeah, it's a rather cheesy old car, but it gets me where I need to go, hopefully I can get some repairs done on it as soon as possible though" I replied, allowing myself to lean back in the chair and look around the room from time to time and trying to relax. I still felt watched. It was always behind me. That was never an easy feeling to shake, especially when it grew as you thought about it.

I coughed. "Say that again?" I said, looking as though I'd been distracted by a thought, and not invisible eyes. He didn't seem to notice that I was trying not to fidget and was looking anywhere but him.

"Would you have anyone I could contact if anything goes wrong, or if you get hurt, anyone in your family?" Apparently, Jacob hadn't told him about my family.

I shook my head. "I have family members, but they don't have cell phones or a land line, and even if they did, they wouldn't answer it" I said honestly, feeling a light twinge of regret as I said it. Kevin looked up at me for a moment, and for a moment I thought I'd blew it, but the look on his face only told me he understood. Maybe Jacob had told him a little bit about my family.

I was about to speak and tell him that they were all dysfunctional dim-wits, but before I could, his cell phone rang. He was silent for a moment, and I could barely hear the voice on the other end of the phone. After a moment, he looked troubled. I shifted to get up and he looked back at me, covering the end of the phone when he spoke.

"Would you mind hanging outside for a while, it looks like I may have to run home for a moment. Feel free to explore and go check out the work site, just follow the road, you'll find the site on the other side of the creek."

I nodded and got up; smiling as I left the office and closed the door behind me. I then froze and listened to see if he was leaving... and when there were no footsteps approaching the door, I leaned against it and listened. I could hear Kevin talking to someone. He had put the phone on speaker phone and I could hear him walking back and forth across the office, pacing.

"Are you sure? This has happened before and it was a false call"

Another voice and I recognized it as Jacobs. Was he at the house already? Couldn't be... he'd just left!

"On the way down there, Daniel just suddenly stomped on his brakes like he'd been about to hit something." "When I went to see what the matter was, he was staring in front of his car as though something should have been there." "When I asked him what the matter was, he said he 'thought he hit a squirrel'."

"So? Maybe he did?"

"Dad, when I walked over to ask him what the matter was, I had to say it three times before he finally stopped staring at the front of his car." "It's like he didn't hear me." "And when he finally did turn around to look at me, he had this... look on his face... like... I don't know... but that wasn't the look of 'whoops, I just hit a squirrel'." Jacobs's voice was incredulous, but also filled with worry.

Had it been that obvious? I winced. Oh now I really had blown it. So much for escape! I nearly walked away, but the next words drew me back.

There was static. "Jacob, you're breaking up"

"Dad... you need... get out... before... comes back!" Fear.

"You're going through a dead zone"

"You... need... get out-"

The connection died with a beep. Like the signal had suddenly been cut off.

"Damn mountains..." Kevin muttered, trying to dial back, but all he got was a 'no signal' beeping.

I'd heard enough, I walked lightly back towards the kitchen area and towards the door.

_ _ Before who comes back? He couldn't have been talking about me... Jacob hadn't known Kevin had sent me outside.

What had he meant by that? Who was he? I had a horrible inexplicable feeling that it had to do something what that creature in the picture. I scoffed weakly. Really running off with the imagination there...

I looked back up at the sky, more dark questions and fears hanging over my head like the darkening clouds above me. It was now certain that I was seeing things that no one else was seeing. There had been something with me, and still felt like there was. I kept looking around me, watching the trees and bushes lash about.

Apparently he'd experienced the sudden loss of signal as well...maybe I could ask him- no... I couldn't ask him or he would know that I had eaves-dropped. I had to ask, it didn't matter anymore, something was going on and it was making me increasingly edgy. Another sharp wind blew, fluffing my hair around as I headed down the road towards where the site was supposed to be at.

How far would this road go? I shivered with cold and looked around me at the road that was gouged out of the mountainside and hills to make the clearing and road leading down to the site. I stared at the bushes around me and expected to see another flash of green eyes and orange fur, but there was nothing but the wind, getting stronger, and pushing darker clouds across the sky.

The clouds... what was wrong with this weather...it didn't even seem like weather. It was weird... no... not weird... hellish. The clouds weren't just gray, dark. Dark gray, to a point where you'd have mistaken it for late afternoon and the sun would be setting, but it was almost 10 in the morning. I occasionally stared at the sky, getting darker, and seeming to darken the world with it.

Maybe if I ignored it, it would go away. I hoped so; this whole thing was starting to scare me more than I would have liked to admit. I hated it. I didn't want my day to go like this, and I didn't want to be scared. I should turn back and ask Kevin if he was seeing what I was seeing, go back and ask anyone if I was crazy.

I kept walking, staring at everything around me, listening to the haunting sound of the wind in the trees, lashing them about. Over the faint roaring sound, I heard the sound of running water. I saw, up ahead and around the bend, the creek that Kevin had spoken of, a makeshift bridge built across it.

I came up to it and stared at the water, looking upstream and downstream and watching the water travel swiftly, carrying leaves, twigs, occasional debris... and it started to rain. Oh good, now I was wet, scared and cold. Maybe there would be a roof over whatever they were building at the site.

I crossed the bridge, balancing precariously and hopping to the other side. I probably shouldn't even stay here long, if it was raining, the water would probably rise and wash the little bridge away, leaving me stranded. The thought made me stiffen with sudden terror. I didn't want to get stuck out here. I hurried up the road again, jogging, and already soaked to the skin. The road climbed steeply after a moment, I looked up and saw the site up ahead, at the top of another steep rise.

I almost felt relieved, as if I had been lost and had finally found someone. I did feel lost. I was scared and lost. I felt watched. Why was I so scared? Hoping someone was seeing what I was seeing, I began to trot, and then run up the hill, desperately hoping there was someone there. Desperately hoping I wasn't alone.

I felt so entirely alone. I felt as though... as though I were the only person on the planet.