<div class="floatleft">(http://i43.tinypic.com/66fbtf.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_u"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Dianna L. Emerson</span></em></span><br/>The outskirts of Reedland, nearbye<br/>Human<br/>Day 1, Evening<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Dianna had found the inward limits of Reedland to be endless. She took her car into the center of town and felt the spirit of something powerful. There was a spinning sensation around her as soon as she stepped out of the car. The general store appeared to have an excess of parking. she figured no body to mind if she left the old beater there. She had no plan for the evening, but in a worst case scenario she could return to her vehicle and sleep there.<br/><br/>The streets seemed a barren form of society. It was like her own personal ghost town. Reaching over the center counsel, Dianna packed her purse with her keys, her wallet, two bottles of water, chapstick, and her favorite book; "Anonymous Five". The novella had been written a few years before by a man named Francis Malcolm Post. Not many copies were pressed, locally made in Texas. She knew the writer well, a family friend and small time celebrity. Keeping it on her reminded her of what she was doing in her life. The accomplishment that had been given as an example by Mr. Post. And, the story itself, about a young woman changing her surroundings enough to accell above her expectations. The purse was light. She closed the car up and locked the doors.<br/><br/>A classic rock song poured through her head as she stepped off to the West, directly into the sunset that had forced the light away. She didn't know the dangers of town, and she was too high on freedom to feel the urgency in the wind, or her own mortality hanging from her sleeve.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>7:27 P.M.</strong><br/><br/>She had started west, but ignoring the map and the stars, Dianna had covered ground all around Reedland and beyond. Now, backroads, and hidden trails through the landscape had put her on the edge of a disaster. She was walking with her head up, ignited by the emerging stars, and the hidden paths that led to no where. There was more than enough empty space to make a door. Dianna saw the spinning lights of the police peer around a thick billow of trees. The lights were miniature in the distance. However the shape of the farm was clearly lit up.<br/><br/>The moment she realized that she was close, she froze. Her rational mind was not damaged, a flick of the switch permitted her wit. 'You're in the middle of Nowhere, Dianna. There are more than two cop cars, at a farm. Also in the middle of nowhere.' The morals of childrens stories started to influence Dianna's next decision. 'Curiousity killed the cat. The boy who cried wolf. Little red Riding Hood. Santa Clause.' She shook her head clear of these ancient lessons. 'You're an adult. Do the adult thing.'<br/><br/>She kept her eyes open and started a soft approach toward the busy crime scene. 'The right thing would reveal itself shortly enough.'<br/><br/>