Chapter 1

Last evening as it was going dark

And I was walking in the park

I saw a boy along the way

Alas, he wasn't there today

It was the third week of July when I first saw him. On a Thursday. At nearly eight-thirty to be more exact. I had been walking in the county park located about a mile or so from our new home and I was just starting back when I heard a slight sound behind me. I turned and saw a boy about my age rapidly approaching on a bike. Not anyone I knew, of course, but there was something about him which drew my eyes to lock on his oncoming figure. I stood frozen for the several seconds it took for him to reach me and just managed a smile as he passed. He turned and smiled back and raised his hand in a quick wave before moving on down the road. For nearly a minute I stood staring after him and to this day I can not really say exactly why. There was just something about him...

My name is Karen Shepard and I was fourteen at the time. We had just moved here three weeks before from the city where I had been born and lived all my life. There we had a nice three bedroom house on a nice quarter acre lot in a nice neighborhood in a nice suburb. Nothing unusual, just a typical middle class American life. When my dad got the promotion and we had to move here, he and Mom decided they would like a place more in the country. They found one. Here we lived in a slightly older house, but one in good shape, on thirty eight acres. Still a very nice house and the land was mostly woods with a couple of fields and a stream running through it. But it was somewhat isolated.

I mean, I had always lived near other kids my age. I had walked to school since kindergarten and always had friends within a few houses. Here the nearest house was almost a half mile off and as far as I could tell no one under fifty lived anywhere within a couple of miles. It was definitely a big change for me and it was taking some getting used to.

Mom and Dad both worked and were gone all day, but that wasn't really a problem. I was an only child but was old enough to take care of myself and even made dinner several nights a week so it would be ready when they got home. Today after we had eaten I had just felt pent up and came down to the park. True, I could still chat with my old friends on line or even call them, but it wasn't quite the same any more. I didn't mind living out in the country - in fact I loved the out of doors - but I did miss not being around other kids my age. Hopefully it would improve when school started in another six weeks or so.