Halbrooke; A small, wooded town in Washington

Click

The loop on the computer started, a simple minor chord progression. Felix had recorded it only a moment ago on his Ibanez, and had just finished looping it to his satisfaction. He let it play a moment, then hit "record" on the computer. He took his pick between two fingers, clicked the button on the Big Muff pedal, and began playing on the Aria. He didn't think about the chords too much, just playing what sounded nice. He let himself play for a minute before he stopped playing, then turned off the pedal and amplifier carefully before stopping the recording. He rewound it as he put the electric guitar back on its stand, then started listening. He nodded along to it, thinking about how it sounded a bit like Pink Floyd. He had always loved the band, especially their guitarist, so the influence was inevitable and obvious.

SCHBREEENGHBVVVVM

The sudden distortion made Felix jump out of his seat cursing. "The hell?" He rewound the tape, and played the section back at lower volume. Sure enough, the screeching, explosive distortion was there exactly as before, as though he had accidentally recorded it. Was there some kind of interference with the tape? No, that was impossible; it was all digital. Maybe he had a defective model. Maybe there was some kind of EMP going out. No, that would have destroyed the machine, and possibly his amp...was that how EMP's worked?

He glanced out the window. Was something out there? He couldn't tell. He licked his lips nervously, noticing they were suddenly dry. An unexpected metallic taste hit his tongue. He spat in alarm, seeing bits of blood and saliva on the desk. He wiped his finger under his nose, saw blood on his finger. He swore, grabbing a tissue and pinching it under his nose with one hand as he wiped the bloody finger off on another tissue. He stood and walked over to the window, and looked out.

A humanoid shape, clad in black seemed distinct even in the darkness, partly helped by its immense size—it seemed to stand taller than the house—and also by the pale skin outside the black it otherwise wore. The contrast, and the effect, was unearthly, and chilling. Felix looked away hastily, lowering the blinds quickly and walking rapidly through the house, turning on lights and closing any glimpse of the world outside. Tonight would be another sleepless night. Unless he could figure out what to do...who could he call? He looked through his phone's contact list before finding someone. Perhaps this person could help. Here goes, he thought to himself as he clicked to call and put the phone to his ear, his breath quick and shallow.

It was just another one of those nights, he noted. All the other rooms in the hall were locked, and he was here alone, as usual. As one of the professors there, one might expect him to be there late looking over music - But he didn't just look over it, he truly read it, he felt it, and could see it. His office light was the only light on in the entire hall save for the lights near the elevators, kept there for safety reasons. The rest of Fraizer-Murphy hall was dark, and one would assume that not a living soul was there. Fraizer-Murphy hall, a hall made just for the fine arts (Affectionately dubbed FML Hall due to the intense, difficult classes that took place there), was also deathly quiet at the time - Rather unnatural sounding for him really, since he was so used to noise.

Looking up at the clock, he sighed to himself and stood, beginning to pack his things. It was late, and he should go home and rest for the next day of classes on campus. Of course he'd probably have to scold the tenors for speeding up, yell at the basses for flatting, rant at the sopranos for oversinging, and criticize the altos on their lack of inaudibility - Just a normal day of getting things done. As he turned off the light and made his way into the hallway, he locked his door, and made his way towards the elevators.

Suddenly, there was a sensation of being watched. It crept across his skin, eerily, and he shuddered. He stopped, looking around himself without looking behind, making sure there was nothing in plain sight before looking back. Nothing. As the looked back, he noted that there was still nothing there. However, his office door was open. He could've sworn he locked it? Perhaps he thought he did, but didn't. With his logic, he made his way back, closed the door, locked it and made sure it was locked, then made his way out of the building without further incident.

Just as he was at the font step to his small house, his cellphone began to ring. He wondered who would be called so late and checked the caller ID as he slipped inside the house and closed the door. It was Felix. Being a musician, you tended to meet other musicians, even if they weren't from your genre, but you just got to know them in various ways. Placing the phone against his ear after answering, he spoke while carrying all his things up the stairs to his home office.

"Privet, Felix. Quite an hour to call, da?" he said, tone of voice suggesting exhaustion. "What is going up?" he asked, placing his things on the desk. This speech quirk was a habit of Viktor's since english wasn't his first language, tending to mix 'What's going on' and 'What's up' into one strange phrase - 'What is going up?'.

So much for getting a good night’s sleep. It was just one of those nights where time dragged on. Enid sat on the couch her back to the soft black leather, her feet curled in around her legs. The tv was on, muted so all she got was picture. It usually calmed her nerves and kept the memories at bay. Tonight it wasn’t helping.

She had tried every trick she had used growing up. The only other option she hadn’t tried was going outside. It was night time. Her house was surrounded by woods. There was no way she had going outside. While she loved being on the outside of the tiny town in the middle of nowhere, there were times when she didn’t like it. Now was one of them.

Her mind wandered back to the missing girl. They had never found her. Such a small town usually crimes to this degree never happened. The whole town had been in frenzy for a few days, lost budget, and called everything off. She hadn’t given up her money while she could have helped them. No one in the town really knew her. She came in once a week for groceries and was gone again. Besides of the random days when she needed things for shoots or extra material for her jewelry no one in the town really knew who she was.

The young woman was okay with it. But on nights like this she really did wish that she had someone she could call. She couldn’t burden her grandparents, plus they were already in bed and in a whole different time zone. So she was stuck trying to work out the unnerving feeling that something was wrong. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she remembered the last time she had felt this way. It hadn’t ended well.

“So long as the power stays on… I’ll stay here. Otherwise, I guess the bar is still open.” She whispered to herself as she flipped channels trying to find something to settle herself down.

"I know it's late," Felix snapped. He glanced at the clock. 12:22 AM. Quite an hour to call, he admitted privately, but disregarded it. That thing outside was more important. He sighed, then continued speaking, softer this time. "Look, Viktor, there's something creepy going on outside my house, and I'm not sure what it is. If it's not too much trouble...could you come over or something? Bring a weapon; I think it's that kind of something creepy." He paused a second, then licked his lips nervously before voicing his darker suspicion. "I...I think this is related to-"

SKRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEBVVVM

"Son of a bitch!" Felix jerked the phone away from his ear, nursing it as he heard the screeching continue before it stopped abruptly. He put the phone back up to his ear. "Viktor? You there?" He checked the phone: the call was lost. In fact, the phone appeared to have died. "God dammit," he muttered as he closed the old phone and tossed it onto his desk. He hoped Viktor could arrive soon. He wasn't sure how long he could remain here, depending on what that thing was.

For 5 minutes he waited, huddled in his room next to his recording deck, his guitars, and his computer. Several times he had thought to call again, but his phone was unresponsive, and the landline didn't work either. He snapped to attention as he heard a knocking at his door. He looked around for a weapon, before settling for a heavy flashlight. He slowly made his way through the house, afraid despite how well-lit the house was, and reached the door. He didn't have a peephole, or windows nearby to tell who it was. He cupped his hands against the door, and yelled through it, "Who's there?"

Viktor blinked as Felix snapped at him, but said nothing about it. He made his way to his kitchen as Felix spoke, absolutely starving. He tended to be a complete workaholic, so forgetting to eat wasn't uncommon for him. Just as he pulled a plate of chilled, pork dumplings from the fridge and placed them onto the counter, Felix said his name. As always, he listened, always being a good listener. Hearing Felix's panic through his voice, his grow furrowed and he frowned, ignoring the food on the counter now.

"Something outside your house?" his voice was thick with concern and he stopped to listen, leaning against the fridge. However, when Felix asked him to come over and bring a weapon, he bit his lip. He knew he had several guns hidden away upstairs for his own protection that he got while in service, not to mention he had licenses for all of them - But he didn't know if- Suddenly, there was a loud shrieking from the phone and Viktor dropped his phone, clasping his hands over his sensitive ears.

"Ohooiet'!" He swore loudly. Despite his ringing ears, he sprung into action, forgetting his food completely. He ran upstairs and popped into his study to snatch the keys off the desk in his study before rushing into his room. Once in his room, he opened the closet and shoved his clothes aside, unlocking a door to a smaller closet in the back of the closet. He pulled out a large, heavy black case before rushing back outside and jumping into the car. He set the case in the back seat before starting up the car and backing out of the driveway. As he began to drive down his street, he opened the glove box and slipped a switchblade into his pocket - After all, you never knew when you'd need to protect yourself in the car.

Driving, he flew down the streets - Thankfully it was a quiet night and not many people were out, so it wouldn't take long to get to Felix's house, maybe 10 minutes or so. Speeding, it would take him maybe two or three minutes less. To his surprise, he got every green light on the way - making the normally 10 minute drive only 5. It was rare that it happened - ever. It looked like he was just lucky tonight.

Parking outside, he grabbed his case and cautiously looked around as he made his way to the door. Felix had said something was outside, and he wanted to be careful just in case it was dangerous. Knocking on the door, he waited patiently, looking around himself in a paranoid manner. That's when it dawned on him. Shit, did he bring any spare bullets? He hoped that it was nothing so that he could simply stay the night to make sure Felix was okay before leaving the next morning - Keep things simple and bullet-less. Hearing Felix yell through the door, Viktor replied.

"It's Viktor, I got all green light on the way here." he spoke, once again with a small english flaw.

Colin Davis
Colin left the EMS station, pulling his black leather jacket around his body to block out the cold as he made his way over to his white Jeep Cherokee, climbing in and quickly putting the key in the ignition to draw some warmth from the Jeeps heater.
The EMT sat there for a minute, waiting for the heater to come on before placing his hands on the still-cold steering wheel and pulling out of the Station parking lot and heading a couple of miles down the road to the local bar.
The missing child case had really played havoc with Colin's emotions, partly because he had taken part in one of the many unsuccessful search parties, but mainly because it reminded him a lot of a case from Mercy City, in which the ending was not a happy one at all.
At about this point, Colin REALLY needed a drink.
The EMT pulled into the almost empty parking lot and got out of his Jeep, walking quickly to the establishments door to get out of the cold. Once inside, he seated himself at the old oak wood bar, finding a seat with an ashtray and lighting a cigarette.
A few moments later the bartender, Jerry, Colin thought his name was, came over to stand in front of him.
"What'll it be?", The bartender asked.
"Blue Moon", Colin said in his usual short, and to the point manner.
"Gonna be here awhile?", Jerry asked as he grabbed an ice cold bottle from under the bar and handing it to Colin.
Colin simply nodded, then added as an after thought. "Coffee too. Black, two sugars."
A few moments later, he received his coffee and began to drink both the Blue Moon and the hot, caffeinated drink.
After finishing the Blue Moon, Colin took out his cell phone and flipped through the few contacts he had until he came across Felix's name and picture.
At the bar. Feel like talking over a few drinks?. he was about to push send, but thought of a couple of others who may be willing to make an appearance. He flipped through his contacts again before he found Enid's and Niko's names and number, then he added them to the recipients list so they would receive the same message as Felix before hitting "send".

Niko stirred groggily on the floor of a brightly lit doorless hallway. Yawing he sat up taking notice that he was shirtless still wearing the shorts that he usually slept in. "Yo, what did I smoke last night?" the hallway was nearly endless, stretching to what seemed like the end of the world. It was a familiar place, placating him with a wave of nostalgia. As he pulled himself to his feet he heard the sound of children steadily growing in the distance until he heard their laughs and giggles as if he were standing in a crowd of them. He looked around nervously as he slowly made his way down the hall alone. He knew this place, he'd been to this place many times before. It's name was on the tip of his tongue. Niko came under a flickering light. The only one aligned on the ceiling that was blinking. His eyes came across a bronze plaque on the wall which read: Halbrooke Elementary School 1912

It was his middle school, he looked over his shoulder. There was a door behind him. How did that get there? Curious he turned to it. Maybe it was an exit. He laid his hand on the door knob, twisted and pulled it open. The cheerful sounds of the happy children were sucked into a deafening silence. He stood frozen. It was a classroom, walls covered with colorful drawings, brown wooden desks-full of attentive children who's eyes were all on him. A hand clasped over his mouth. All of the children's eyes began to roll into the back of their heads as blood spilled from their mouths. They fell from their seats coughing and crying. He jumped into the room to help, not knowing what to do. His entire body trembled as he cradled one of the children in his arms. He recognized her. A 7 year old girl with golden locks who's face had been plastered all over town for the past few weeks. Her name slipped from his lips in an almost inaudible whisper. "Faith Krusser."

She smiled. "You'll never find me."

The expression on Niko's face embodied his confusion and terror.

"If you come looking for me, he will come for you," Black tentacles burst from the girl's chest, reflexively Niko dropped her and backed away. Faith continued speaking as she convulsed. "He will come for all of you."

Niko sprinted from the classroom and fell onto his bedroom floor. A dream. He sighed a breath of relief then looked a bit ahead of him. His cell phone buzzed. He reached out to grab it. It was a text from Colin wanting to meet for drinks. Shaking off the sleep, he picked himself off the floor, got dressed and left his home, but not before grabbing his video camera.

Roxanne Greene
Roxanne Greene walked home quitely her footsteps next to silent on the ground. She was wearing a checkered skirt and white top with a tan jacket and boots. She had a load of paper stuffed under one arm the sheet nearest to her body wasn't very visable but you could just read MED then ASSE. It was her medical assessmet sheets and studies. Roxi was a medcal student and the local university. She had moved her from South England last year just to go to this university. The girl was walking home from a late night revision session with a fellow medical student. She seemed to be in a hurry to get home as her short but slim legs moved quickly in a fast but elegant stroll. Her black hair was caught in the wind flying behind her like a black cape. She stopped at number seven lumber lane. She inserted her key turned it then swung open the black door. Inside a cream carpet and white walled hallway greeted her despite the bright colours the room was rather dark. The lights were off and curtains drawn. Roxi thought she was going to be burgled. Well she did last night.

Roxi had been up studying around 2am maybe? Her security light came on in her garden. Roxi yelped and ran to her window to look down at the intruder. She saw a pale head and dark clothing the man seemed to vanish quickly as if the ligt had scared him. Roxi called the police thinking the man had been trying to find away into her home. The police spoke to her get to sleep at all last night can't blame her though.

She was reading underneath of the lamp on her loveseat when the phone went off. Enid jumped slightly before she calmed herself down and reached over to the stand and grabbed her phone. She pulled up the text message and read it before her brows furrowed.

“Colin Davis… oh yes, the man who had to approve the stuff for the house. That’s right. I had forgotten I’d had his number from when I first moved in. Wow… two years.” Then she remembered her own comment about the bar being open. At least she wasn’t the only one.

Should I go though? I’m not exactly a socialite and no one really knows who I am… Guess it could be a good first attempt right?

With a shrug of her shoulders she placed the phone down on the stand again, put a marker in the book and laid it beside of the phone. Standing up, she stretched and then headed upstairs cutting on lights as she went.

Once inside of her room she grabbed the mid drift, long sleeve, black pull over she had on earlier in the day and slipped it over the teal tank top she was wearing. She still had on her jeans with the large hole in the right knee, but she didn’t much care. It was only a bar after all and wasn’t like she was meeting a potential client or anything.

Slipping on her boots, she grabbed her keys and wallet from the nightstand beside of the bed and headed back down the stairs to the living room. She grabbed her phone and slipped it inside of her left pocket before heading to the garage. She pushed a button on the side of the wall and the garage door started to open.

Unlocking her car door, she slipped into the seat of the silver Dodge Caliber. Taking a deep breath, she started the car and backed out of the building before putting the door back down with the remote in her car. Finally clear, she started for the bar. It wasn’t a long drive; the bar was the first thing that she came across in the town. Though it was on the outer reaches of the town to begin with. Enid didn’t quite live inside of the small, rural town.

Less than fifteen minutes, she was pulling into the bar. She cut the engine and glanced around. Everything seemed perfectly normal, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. She didn’t know if it was just her nerves considering it was getting close to the anniversary of her parents’ deaths or not. She hoped that was all it was.

Getting out of the car, she locked it and headed into the building. It was a typical bar, she knew. Though she had never been one for going into them very often. Since she had turned twenty-one she was sure she could count on one hand the number of times she had had a drink or even been inside of a bar.

It didn’t take her long to locate Colin. He was the same as she remembered him from when she was building her house. Nodding to herself, her curly locks falling slightly into her face, she made her way over to him. Pushing her hair back she took a seat one down from the man. She didn’t know if she should say anything at all, but hey he did text first right? And it wasn’t like she had replied back.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Enid figured that was a good place to start the conversation, which was something she had never been good at. She preferred business contracts where they expected her to be a bit distant. Here she never quite learned what people expected from her. Not like they knew much about her at all. She preferred to keep it that way, but she didn’t want to come off as a total weirdo.

Colin sat at the bar stool staring at his coffee when Enid sat down next to him.
"Couldn't sleep?". Colin turned to look at her. She still looked relatively like the young woman who's house he had inspected two years ago.
"Not much for sleep these days. This whole Faith case makes it hard to sleep", he said taking a drink of his coffee.
"Anyway, just got off my shift at the station. Chief gave me the next few days off for vacation, thought I'd start off with some coffee and some company." Colin finished his coffee cup and set it down on the bar.
"Just to clear up any confusion...My invitation isn't a sleazy attempt to get you in my bed or anything. Just uh....it's a small town you know? It pays to get to know people". Colin didn't understand why he felt compelled to blurt like that, he was more of a soft spoken, quiet guy.
The EMT cleared his throat.
"So anyway, what about you? Trouble sleeping?".

Felix sighed in relief as he heard Viktor through the door. He then unlocked the door and opened it, letting Viktor enter. "Thank God you're here, Vik," he said as he closed the door a bit too hard and locked it. "I've been worrying myself sick the past few minutes. I'll show you where I saw it, and tell you what happened." He started leading the Russian choir professor down the halls of his house to his recording room, talking as he walked.

"I was recording some noodling, trying to compose something, you know, and this weird distortion part suddenly appeared on the track, like the one when the phone cut out. I took a look outside to see if anything unusual was going on, and I saw this...thing, outside. It looked like a person, but it wasn't. It's complicated. Lemme see if it's still out there." He slowly eased a crack open in the blinds, and peeked out. Yep. "Shit, it's still there. Right out there, in the trees. See it?" He stepped away from the window. He didn't want to look at that thing again. He wiped his nose, noted blood again, and nervously went to get a tissue.

Enid listened to Colin as he spoke. She took in his appearance that looked very much like she vaguely remembered it being when he had come to the house's building location. She hadn't been happy when she found out she had to have things approved before the could be built. She was tired of living out of hotels and wanted her own place already. Plus, the locals hadn't really understood why she just didn't buy one of the existing houses or how she had the kind of money being so young that meant into building the type of house she had. She had just shrugged her shoulders at them. Let the small town talk, much like it was doing now with Faith.

Nodding her head she turned to the bartender and ordered herself something to drink. She was never a heavy drinker, she much didn't like it, but it was something to do to pass time and she sure didn't need caffeine in her system so coffee was out. "I don't see why they never asked for donations." She wasn't implying she would give money if someone had asked her. She would have, but again she didn't want to hint at the kind of money she had. If they knew... she understood small towns and as towns were dying, she wasn't it. It was a bad blood idea she didn't want to venture into because she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Once the young woman received her drink she took a swallow before turning to face Colin again. "So why my company?" She wasn't an very social person. She had been surprised he even had her number. Maybe it was that small town thing again. She didn't always understand small towns at least not everything about them. There were some things she understood perfectly. Then as she listened to his explanation, a small smile spread across her face. She took another drink to hide the fact.

"You wouldn't be getting anywhere near my bed." She muttered. No one had been near her house since its completion two years prior. They didn't know anything about it except those like Colin who had approved certain things she had wanted to build. The interior design would be a mystery to even him. It pays to get to know people? Really? I never thought of it like that. Enid shook her head at the thought. She was a loner and she didn't plan on changing that anytime soon. There were just some things she didn't want or need other people finding out about her.

"You could say that..." She replied. Sleep came easy most nights. But recently even before Faith's disappearance she had been getting much more restless. She was spending more and more time outside of the town and away from home. She was coming up with any excuse that she could. She didn't quite understand why, she just knew she didn't want to be here. Something was telling her to get out while she still could.

When Felix answered and allowed him in, he let himself breathe a sigh of relief. It was good to see that he was alright still, well, 'alright' in a way he supposed. After setting his case aside, he followed Felix as he led him through the halls of his home. Felix's house was homely in Viktor's opinion, and he envied the surroundings sometimes - Though at the moment, that was far from true.

Viktor nodded as Felix began to explain, glancing into every room that they passed of which the door would happen to be open. "Distortion?" he inquired, brow furrowing as he continued to follow Felix through the halls. He wondered what he had meant by a distortion, and briefly wondered if it could be an electrical problem. However, he quickly dismissed the idea for now - believing his friend. "You there, Felix?" he asked before peeking through the small crack in the blinds.

His blue eyes squinted out into the darkness, and he tried to indentify a shape in the tangles of tree branches clad in black pressed against the midnight sky. He continued to search, but simply couldn't find what Felix had been referring to. A humanoid shape in the twisting trees? I certainly didn't see- No. Viktor's eyes seemed to very suddenly focus on a form that he could have sworn was not there before. Like Felix said, it was very, very humanoid. But, at the same time, it didn't feel like a human. It reminded him of a statue, still, and watching from beyond that which they could comprehend - Through the folds of time. It sounded strange, yes, but it felt old. He felt like he was staring at an old eerie painting - The kind that you watched as you shuffled past, expecting to behold the colors change as the eyes shifted to follow your every move. Then, he blinked. Opening he eyes, he felt whatever it was may have gotten closer - perhaps not at all -, but his mind felt as if it was pressed against the window, inches away.

"Ohooiet'!" he yelped before he let the crack in the blinds snap shut and he backed away. He felt a sudden headache and reached one hand up to rub his left temple as he cringed. "What the hell is that? I've never seen one those before." he furrowed his brow and looked to Felix. "I see but, but i have no damn clue what it is." he told Felix honestly, the professor clearly confused and not having many helpful words to offer. "How long has that thing been there?"

It didn't take Niko long to get from his home to the bar, but not before checking to see if his grandmother was asleep. She was so still that it was almost as if she weren't breathing. After verifying that she was still alive without disturbing her, he headed out. He'd thrown on a pair of faded jeans that were torn at his knees and a dark hoodie that was the shade of midnight, his wild hair was tied back into a manageable ponytail. The place was about a ten minute walk down the street and around the corner from his house. It was a modest low-key place littered with a few locals.

Upon entering he could spot Colin and a female he didn't recognize immediately across the room sitting at the bar chatting it up. There were the hints of smiles on both of their faces as they stole glances from each other. A grin spread across Niko's own face as he casually made his way over to them.

"Kia ora! Hello!" He said heartily, slapping Colin on the back while grinning flirtatiously at the young woman as he took a seat on the other side of her. He sat his camera on the table. "Kind of weird to invite me on your date, Colin. You know I'm not into the whole group thing. I'm a bit insecure about my size." he turned and ordered a drink.

Colin Davis
"Kia ora! Hello!", came the greeting, followed by a hard but friendly slap on the back.
Colin knew who the voice belonged to, but turned anyway to see his buddy Niko giving Enid what he thought was a flirtatious grin, but to Colin, who knew Niko very well, it just seemed goofy.
"Kind of weird to invite me on your date, Colin. You know I'm not into the whole group thing. I'm a bit insecure about my size", he finished before turning to order a drink.
Colin had to ignore the urge to rip off Niko's head with his bare hands and punt it across the bar, but still had to hide a grin at his unique friend's equally unique sense of humor.
Classy, Niko...just....classy, he thought to himself, giving Enid a sideways glimpse and hoping she wasn't offended, but deciding to send his own remark at his friend.
"Yeah, well...you have every right to be insecure, based on what your last girl told me", Colin muttered just loud enough for Niko to hear, then attempted to hide his devious smile behind his coffee mug.

It didn’t take much to realize that she wasn’t the only one Colin had texted and she couldn’t blame him. How many people would actually be up this late and even willing to go out? Not many. Enid smiled lightly at the male not really sure how to react or respond to the situation. She didn’t really recognize him, but there was no shock. She didn’t know a whole lot of people in the town she’d lived in for two years.

But what he was suggesting was the very thing that Colin and she had just been talking about. They weren’t on a date. This is why she never went into public if she could help it. People tended to get the wrong idea. It was the look on the firefighter’s face in reaction to Niko that made the situation even funnier and she found herself trying not to laugh.

She listened to them banter. Yeah she was used to people getting the wrong impression and while she was never comfortable in social situations, she figured this was a crowd that she could handle. She barely heard Colin’s next words as her eyes landed on the newcomer’s camera. Her eyes light up and she went to grab it before she stopped herself.

“Sorry, may I?” She asked pointing to the camera. She wanted to compare it to the ones she owned. While she knew his equipment wouldn’t compare to her professional stock, it was nice to see people who liked photography. In a small town it was hard to find interests the same as other people. Maybe this outing wasn’t going to be so bad after all. It wasn’t like anyone knew her job, so it worked to her advantage. They didn’t know she knew anything about the world other than having money from somewhere to build her house. Working outside of the town was coming in handy because she loved showing people up and impressing them. Which was one thing she hoped she could do here in front of the two men who seemed content to pick on each other.