Flanna arrives precisely at noon, just as she said. This is announced by the doorbell, which, I would like to emphasize, this house doesn't have. And yet, somehow, she keeps ringing it whenever she arrives.

I slip on my hiking boots and walk out the front door, locking it behind me.

Flanna's back in her usual sweater and jeans, and grinning as always.

"Hiya, Edlynne! Are ya ready to go? I brought a pie for our picnic! And I know the perfect spot!" She exclaims happily, holding up a wicker basket, identical to the one she gave me.

I hold up said wicker basket, showing that I'm bringing the apple pie she gave me, with a brass knife to carve, and a water bottle.

"So we both brought picnic stuff! A feast! C'mon, we have a lot of ground to cover!"

Flanna leads me down the dirt streets, chattering on about this and that, important things that happened at different places, and the people who live in the houses.

It's nice out, sunny, with a gentle wind. And yet, there's nobody but us in the streets. Not a single voice, or a footstep, or a kid playing in the yard. Nobody. It's like the town's deserted.

The houses are far apart, separated by great expanses of lawn and bushes, and trees. Trees so tall I can barely see the tops without blinding myself in the bright sunlight. They must be so old... I can't tell exactly what kind of tree they are. Maybe pine? The branches are all so high up, it's hard to say. They're no good trees for climbing, in any case.

The trees begin to thin, making way for larger, paved streets, which are as empty as the ones we just came down. The houses are still pretty far apart, but they're closer to the streets.

There are lamp posts now, though unlit, and communal mailboxes. The blue kind, with the letter painted on the side, you know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure I've ever seen one of this outside of a movie.

The streets start to turn and twist, with less of a clear end and beginning, and patches of grass between them.

And then, there it is.

"The largest building in town," Flanna announces, turning to face it in all of its glory. Red brick with marble pillars and window frames. "The school."

It's odd, though, the sign outside the school, it only says 'School', with no other distinctions. I suppose, in a town this small, everyone would know exactly what school you're talking about anyway.

Flanna leads me up the sidewalk, to the great, glass, double doors. She rings the buzzer beside it and grins into the camera.

"Come on in." Chirps a lady over the intercom, and I can hear the doors unlock. Flanna pulls it open, and we walk inside, and up the marble steps. At the top of the landing are four doors. One set of metal double doors directly ahead of us, and a wooden one on either of the other two walls. The one to the left labeled 'Nurse', and the one to our right labeled 'Office'.

We walk into the office, which is a large room, with lots of windows on the outside wall. There's a u-shaped desk, cluttered with papers and computers, and a lobby area with wooden chairs.

"Hi! What can I do ya for?" Asks a woman in a wheeling office chair, who catapults herself from one side of the desk to the other, organizing and signing things, and connecting calls to other places.

"We're here to drop off our registration forms for the school year!" Flanna chirps, holding her stack of papers at arm's length over a computer with both hands. I grab mine from my basket and hold it out as well.

"Course ya are. I'll take those." She grabs them from us, sets them down on a pile, and in the same spin grabs a phone and starts a conversation.

"Thanks!" Flanna exclaims.

"Thank you," I say, figuring it best to be respectful. The lady nods, though I can't tell if it's to us, or the person she's talking with on the phone.

We walk out of the school, and back into town. I listen absentmindedly as Flanna explains where everything is, what happens where, and what people are like.

My mind stays stuck on that lady. Other than Flanna, she's the first person I've seen all day.

"We should go to the mall next! It's where everything in town really happens! Not much to do in a town like this!" Flanna announces.

"You have a mall?" I ask, not expecting a town this small to have its own mall or even a shopping district.

"Oh, yeah. A lot of this town just dead ends! But there's this one long street that leads out into the woods and to the shopping district! All sorts of cool shops there! It's where everybody hangs out!" Maybe we'll see some people there, then.

I follow as Flanna leads us down winding roads, seemingly going nowhere, but they all lead to each other, and then to one road. It goes out into the woods, the only path in that direction.

It has no lamp posts, no landmarks, just trees, and Flanna's stories.

All-day, Flanna's been telling me about these "Shadow Creatures", which she sees out of the corners of her eyes. They watcher her, follow her, and nobody but her friends believe her.

This is where she sees most of them.

"Don't ever come here after dark. Not even to go home. Especially not if you're alone. That's how people go missing- or turn up dead." This is the first time I've seen her without a smile on her face. It's unsettling and shows just how drastic the difference is between her eyes and hair. But more than that, it shows how serious she is about this. I can't help but wonder if someone close to her's gone in there and not come out.

"Never go off the road, either. The woods get dark quicker than the road, which makes everything even harder to navigate, especially since everything looks the same in there." She continues, leading me into the woods, down the dirt road.

I can't help but feel like we're being watched after that, and Flanna's talk of shadow-creatures doesn't help, either. I might just be starting to see them.

It's dark on the path, no lamp posts to guide us, just a crack between the tall trees to let in light. No light in the forest, either, just densely packed trees and other plants.

The road feels endless like we're just walking in one direction, destines to meet an untimely end. As if we're in a loop, with the same non-land marks, and the same moving shadows, and the same tricks on my mind.

And yet, Flanna is silent. This is, quite possibly, the only time Flanna's been silent. It's unnerving, and I can't help but feel as if we're being watched.

The wooded-path does end, though, opening up into a wide-open circle of buildings taller than any in town. They don't rival the ones in the city, though, they don't even come close. The tallest one is seven stories.

"The really big one is the mall! Isn't it huge! It's the tallest building ever!!" It's really not, but I shouldn't tell her that. That would be rude. And she seems so happy, and after that long silence, it's nice to hear her talking.

"Beside it is the grocery store and the recreation center! There's an entire arcade in there! A pool table, and swimming pool, and a ballroom, too! We don't use the ballroom much, though. Do you know how to ballroom dance? You seem like the kind of person who'd know." Flanna pauses, and I realize she's waiting for an answer.

"I know how to. I don't much, though." I reply, and she jumps up and down in circles, grinning wider than before. She really is excited about this.

"Really?! I was right!! You have to teach me sometime! I'd really love to know how!" She exclaims, laughing. She grabs my wrist and starts to run, leading me around the circle block, and telling me what each and every store is.

There are several stores that sell random knick-knacks, and a few that seem out of place in such a small town- such as a psychic, a plant shop, an herb store, and another store that deals in the occult. And an antique shop that sells working weapons? Why would a town such as this even need these sort of shops? Or any town at all?

"And that's the shopping district! Do you wanna go to the lake?" Flanna asks, and I shrug.

"Okay. I don't see any reason not to." She grins again before walking down a grass path between two stores. "This is the perfect spot for a picnic! Not a lot of people know about it! It's quiet, and it's deep enough to swim in! There are fish, though, so you have to be kinda careful not to upset them." Flanna explains as we walk through a giant field of tall grass. I hope I don't find any ticks when I get home- I'm not exactly dressed for this sort of excursion.

We go a little way into the woods, but there's a clear path marked by stones, so I think it's okay? I mean- she told me not to go into the woods, but maybe that only applies to the woods around that road?

It opens up again, into a large- and I mean large clearing. The lake is huge, a good fifty feet in diameter, with lilies, and visible fish. There's an open, grassy area around it, too. Flanna was right, it is perfect out here...

Flanna sits down at the edge, and I follow her, staring at the lake. It's a serene blue, with white ripples. The fish splash and glimmer beneath the waves, and frogs sing to us from the lily pads. It's beautiful, like something out of a Van Gogh.

We sit quietly for a while, eating our pies, and looking out at the clear, glassy water.

"You know, the entire time I've known you- which is long, I'll admit- your face hasn't changed. You always look kinda neutral." Flanna says, breaking the silence with another of her blunt observations. She really doesn't know what not to say. "It makes you kind of hard to read, but I think you're happy. I mean, if I was being annoying, you'd tell me, right? That's what most people do." She leans back, putting her weight on her hands, and stares up at the sky, which mirrors the lake in shade.

"I don't think you're annoying," I admit, looking up at the sky, too. "Though, I don't have a lot to base it on. You and that lady are the only people I've seen since I got here."

"Yeah, most people go away for the summer. Our school isn't all that good teaching and grades wise- so almost everybody goes away to summer school in other cities."

"I get it. They want to be ready for the next year- for life- so they're sacrificing their vacation to learn what they were supposed to." But if the school's so bad, then why did my parents send me here?

"Yeah- I guess. I don't think I could ever do that, though. I like my vacation too much."

"Hey, Flanna, where is the Elementary School?" I ask, looking over to her. I never once saw another school today, and we've been all over town.

"We go out of town for Pre-K, all the way up to 8th grade. Which means we have to get up really early for the bus since the next town over is so far away. Most of us sleep for at least the first hour on our way there."

"I've never been on a school bus- let alone for hours every day. I was usually dropped off at school in a car- mostly a taxi."

"Taxi? So you're from the city! I guess that explains why you talk so formally! What's it like? The lights, the busy streets, the super tall buildings?" Flanna asks excitedly, springing up from where she was leaning to hover near me.

"It's overwhelming sometimes- everything's so busy that it's hard to find time to sit down and relax, especially in a place like this. It's hard to find quiet or seclusion anywhere. No matter where you are- there's always at least three other people, and the noise from the streets reaches all the way up to the top of the highest skyscraper. Even at night."

"The noise must be deafening then!" Flanna exclaims.

"Yeah- but you get used to it, the sound, the lights, the smog. Actually- what's that?" I hear a rumble coming from the bushes behind us, a pair of yellow eyes staring out at us. It matches Flanna's description of a shadow-creature down to a T.

"I- I don't know. The shadow-creatures don't do this- I only see them in the corner of my eye- I- I didn't think they were real! I don't- I don't know!" She panics, crawling back toward the lake.

We jump to our feet, and the shadow-creature moves, never blinking- it's eyes trained on us- to the bushes beside the path. We're blocked in.