Chapter One - The Birthday

“In my dream, I said your name.”

August 20th, 2024

Oak Creek, Wisconsin

11:43 PM

The girl, 4’10, only eighteen, stood from afar. Obscured by bushes atop a hill, she watched her target. She, the target, was making her way inside a well-disguised compound on the outskirts of this small town, not too far from where she herself lived. She watched as several armed guards followed behind her, and inside this fortress they went. A giant, bolted door keeping them secure. At least, that’s what they thought. But the girl had other plans. She was fairly certain she could break past the brigade, and fight her way through. This would be the first target of hers she would confront, and she did not know exactly how this would play out. But she had to do this.

“Avalyn”.

The target’s name was Avalyn.

And in Kayla Kay’s dream, she said her name.

In this dream, she saw the rough outline of this fortress that lay before her now. A sign, pointed down a road she could just barely make out, said “Welcome to Oak Creek”. She could roughly see the silhouettes of armed gunmen, of a hazy fog surrounding everything, but one thing she could see clearly was Avalyn. She wasn’t too much taller than Kayla herself. She was drop-dead gorgeous, the kind of face where if she were to look you in the eye you’d freeze up, wondering if you deserved to be the one on the receiving end of such a glare. Kayla thought she was gorgeous as well, but paid it no mind.

She had to go.

Avalyn would be the first of three. Kayla only knew there were three. But she’d need to dream two more times to know who they were, and how to get there. Kayla never dreamt, so she knew at once whatever information these visages would provide would be what she needed. She didn’t know how her mind could give her this, she didn’t know much about her existence at all. Why was she the way she was? Why was she so strong? Why were there only a few more like her?

And why did the night a week before have to happen?

August 13th, 2024

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

5:38 PM

Okay, who guessed $50?” A sweet sounding voice shouted to a crowd of guests.

Some of the guests laughed and applauded, some slapped their foreheads in disbelief.

“I knew it! Your mom has gone up $10 every year since you were fourteen!” A voice yelled in response.

“Yep, yep, very observant Thomas...” The sweet sounding voice replied.

“Open your next gift, Kayla!” A young woman said, reaching out to hand a gift over.

“Thank you kindly,” Kayla replied, happily accepting. “This one is from…Ah, Dad!” She methodically opened up the small box. While she normally tore open gifts on birthdays or holidays, her dad’s gifts were always extremely thoughtful. She felt it rude to crudely tear open anything her father would give her. Plus, he was also very strategic in his wrapping skills; always folding it in a way with the right amount of tape to which she could easily open it anyway. She always wondered if her dad noticed this habit of hers with his presents, and purposefully wrapped things in this manner. But here she was, opening yet another present from her father on another birthday. The most important one thus far, so she thought. There was just one issue this time.

Her father was nowhere to be seen in the crowd.

“This, uh—“ she stammered, “This one is from my dad, like I said...” She finished unwrapping what was a small white box. She didn’t know why, but she felt apprehensive to opening it. She could hear some slight voices in the crowd now.

"What is it? Is it jewelry?"

"Hurry, Kayla!"

At this moment, she wanted nothing more than to tell everyone to shut their traps, but she was too transfixed on the box. She undid the small piece of tape that was closing the small box and opened it.

Inside the box was a necklace, a small tulip hang dangling, glistening with a metallic sheen.

Kayla didn’t know what to say. Tulips were her favorite flower, her father’s as well. She could still hear voices out in the small crowd, wondering what it was. She paid the voices no mind. She took the necklace out from the box and put it on, to which now the voices seemed to be satisfied, with various “Oohs” and “aaahs” meeting the sight of her father’s thoughtful gift.

However, Kayla felt uneasy. She still didn’t know where her dad was. She was starting to feel herself panic, her heart racing. She knew something was the matter.

“Have any of you seen Dad?” Kayla asked the crowd, her lip beginning to quiver. As the guests looked behind them and every other way, Kayla ignored them and stood up, walking out to see where he could’ve been.

Kayla’s father, whose name was Grayson, worked in pharmaceuticals. He was busy a large majority of the time, but he never failed to make an effort to spend whatever time he could with Kayla and her slightly younger brother Gregory. Whether it be the rare trip to another state, or going to a theme park or something or other, Grayson Kay always did what he could to make sure his family felt the love he felt for them all.

Grayson had left earlier in the week. His company, which Kayla did not know too much about, often sent him to other parts of the United States for business arrangements with other pharmaceutical companies, but he still always made sure to call the family at home and let them know he was doing okay and that he’d be home as soon as he could. He always was, before long. Lately he had been spending more time at home, much to the satisfaction and delight of the family. Kayla wasn’t sure why, but she felt like her father was more anxious than usual. A bit more reserved, she thought. Usually, despite Kayla getting older, her dad would still playfully swoop her up when she wasn’t looking, which always brought a smile and laugh to them both. This was a small tradition that started when she was a lot younger, but with her small frame not increasing by much, which she always thought was weird because everyone else towered over her, Grayson kept it up from time to time.

It was memories like these that Kayla could not help but reflect on right now.

Earlier on this day, her dad was helping get this party set up, as was her mother, Ellen. Her brother could not really be bothered, but they expected as much from Gregory. As Kayla and her mother started to tape up a long banner across the fireplace mantle, Kayla looked over to see her father methodically looking at the balloons and tinsel he had started to place down. He had his toolbox out too, and was getting ready to place some newly framed photos of the family. He was very still, Kayla noticed. In fact, he’d been very quiet all morning, much like he had been since he’d been spending more time at home. He had embraced her after she finally woke up and left her room, with a “happy birthday” and kiss on the forehead, but after that, he didn’t seem to have much else to say.

“You know, Kayla,” her mom started, “I tell you every year you yourself don’t have to help set up your own party!”

Kayla scoffed. “Please. I always enjoy it. Plus you know dad always screws something up.” She said this a bit loudly intentionally, hoping to get his attention. They both chuckled, as Kayla looked over at him, only barely seeing his lip raise with a small grin, before falling back down. Kayla knew her small remark would usually make for a witty comeback response from her dad, but no such thing happened.

“So, just the cousins and a few friends tonight, huh?” Kayla’s mother, Ellen, asked.

“Yep…” Kayla responded, trying to focus on the rest of the day just being positive. She briefly looked over at her mom, knowing she had something on her mind.

“What’s up, mother?” Kayla sarcastically asked.

“How come Ren and Heather aren’t ever invited?” Ellen asked, not knowing if it would be a smart question.

“Ugh, mom!” Kayla replied instantaneously.

“Well, what? I know they’re a bit older than you but they seemed nice to—“

“They only came over for a school project. That’s it. The same with Damien, the same with Sierra and Lucy. That’s. It.”

“Hmph. You seem to be friends with a lot of your upper classmates…”

Kayla had turned her head to make some sort of remark toward whether her mom’s insinuation was, before they heard a loud THUD! The source of the sudden break in the tension was Grayson, who had dropped his hammer.

“You good, honey?” Ellen asked with a small chuckle. Kayla knew better than to say anything. She knew something was off with her dad recently, and her mom just didn’t seem to understand this, somehow. Despite their long marriage, one that began a year before Kayla’s birth, Ellen just didn’t quite seem to understand how to deal with her husband’s standoffish behavior, rare as it was. There were other times over the years where Kayla could remember looking in through the door to her father’s study, him being noticeably stressed. Hearing him on the phone, saying words she couldn’t understand, getting into arguments over things she could tell must’ve been serious. She, even as a child, wished she could do more to support her father. Her father earned enough so that Ellen could stay at home. But she too spent a lot of time out of the house, trying to pursue a degree she regretted not getting earlier in life.

“I, uh—“ Grayson said, his voice shakily. “I have to go.” He said this as he looked over at Kayla and Ellen, and Gregory, sitting on the couch in the living room browsing his phone.

“Oh?” Ellen asked inquisitively, but before she could ask more, he walked over to embrace Kayla. In that moment her father held her tighter than she could ever have remembered. She could barely return this favor. As he let go, he slowly turned away to walk out their front door. Despite knowing better, Kayla had to ask.

“When are you coming back?”

Her dad stopped in his tracks.

“Soon.” He turned to face her, with a small smile.

With that, he walked out.

Kayla left the crowd, trying to see whether or not her dad had returned yet.

“Dad?”

“Dad!”

“Mom, where’s dad?”

Ellen didn’t know either. “I’ve tried calling him, I—“

“Please, try again.”

Kayla ran upstairs to her father’s study, only to be met with no one. No one in her parent’s bedroom, the bathroom, absolutely no sign of him was to be seen.

Kayla slowly started hyperventilating. Her dad wouldn’t just do this. He was always at the back of the crowd recording her parties, he wouldn’t have missed one for the world. He loved his family. Why wasn’t he here? What good reason would he have to have left when he did? For what?

She went back downstairs, but instead of acknowledging the party and the guests, she headed right outside. She looked up and down the street, their cozy neighborhood seeming nightmarish in her confusion. She felt dizzy. She was beginning to rationalize this situation when she saw something that completely turned everything upside down.

Her dad’s car was still in the driveway.

Dad…?

Kayla’s anatomy was everything but ordinary. Out of the many things she’d eventually come to learn about herself, one of the most baffling was her ability to cry, or produce tears at all. Her tear ducts did not allow for literal tears to fall. Instead, her eyes would grow darker and darker shades of red, as her tears had no way of leaving her eyelids, instead backing up inside her corneas.

And yet, even strangely, she could still feel the wet, itchy sensation of tears dripping down her face.

As she backed away slowly from the sight of her father’s car, everything went dark. What she thought was herself fainting was actually a pillowcase shoved over her head. She heard a loud CRACK! which she realized was a blunt object hitting her head. As she felt blood starting to run down her head, she fell unconscious. A group of masked men dragged her away, fleeing quickly in a dark van.

No one saw a thing.