'Another day at the Carsden TV station,' Sammy Kaplan thought upon entering the station. Frowning, Sammy reluctantly put up her Agatha Christie mystery book. 'Doesn't matter anyway; only one last chapter, AND I already know how it ends.' The current mystery in her hand was one she had read literally a hundred times.

"Morning, Sammy."

Before looking up, Sammy adopted her usual poker face. Sammy wasn't much of a people person, but one did have to deal with them whether they liked it or not.

And she did not.

The man in front of her waved. When someone waved at Sammy, she felt obliged to wave back. Or whenever they greeted her. But she never returned a smile unless she wanted to.

Which was pretty much never.

Sammy didn't know how to smile, really. Sure, her mother said she, Sammy, always smiled when she was a baby and a toddler, but Sammy didn't remember that. When it came to remembering smiles, the only time she could remember was when she came upon a suspenseful moment in her books. And that was only when Sammy read the mystery the first time.

The man was a guard at the station to make sure only those with staff or guest passes came in. Sammy didn't know what the guys' name was. Sure she had been told what it was, AND it said so on his shirt, but Sammy didn't bother with names. Well, not unless it was an interesting enough name to keep in mind for Sammy's novel.

Sammy was a writer and had always been the creative-type...in the family. To the people of Carsden, Samantha Elizabeth Kaplan was the silent type.

And Sammy wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

During work, the continuing talk was of Maggie Rose, a thirteen-year-old girl who had disappeared. Although it had been a few weeks, give or take, Sammy was still curious about it. It was a mystery, and Sammy was an aficionado for mysteries. And something that was even more of a mystery was that Sammy remembered the kid's name.

As a rule, she didn't bother with kids. They were too loud, sticky, and rarely bothered to listen to you, especially when they reached their teens. Which was another odd thing because Sammy remembered that she used to be that way. But that had to have been...what, six years? Seven?

"And the Mayor is still going on with the festival?" asked a woman a few years older than Sammy.

"That's what I heard," said the woman's gossiping wife. "I can't believe he would still run it with that little Rose girl out there."

"It's a bit of a shame, I suppose, but Carsden's never canceled a Harvest Festival before," a cameraman shrugged.

Sammy rolled her eyes. 'Figured that a jackass in charge wouldn't cancel a Harvest Festival. "We never canceled a festival before, and we ain't gonna stop now, not even for a kid. Doesn't matter if she might be dead or close to it!"'

Everyone in the room turned to Sammy, staring in surprise. Sammy didn't know why.

"Why you staring?" Sammy clipped, her voice dripped with the sarcasm it radiated whenever she decided to speak.

"Emotion...from you?" the cameraman stated.

Sammy's poker face disappeared for a moment. "Emotion?"

"You sounded angry," said the older woman.

"And you talked more than a few words," added the gossip.

Sammy blinked. "I did?"

One of the news anchors who was at a coffee pot, nodded. "Yeah; you called the mayor a jackass and were all sarcastic for his reasons for not canceling the Harvest Festival."

Sammy gaped at the people in the room. Everyone kept staring at her, all of them astounded at the multiple emotions flashing on the face of Sammy the Mystery.

News of Sammy's explosion of emotion spread like wildfire that day, and when her shift was over, she couldn't get out of the station fast enough.

What the hell had happened?! Never in her life had Sammy had so many emotions run through her like that! She had to get to the library.

The Carsden Public Library was Sammy's safe haven. She felt most at home among books, whether they were at her house on the edge of the Unlived Forest or at a library. And the library was where Sammy went when she needed to have some peace.

Sammy had books at her house, but the place felt a little creepy at the moment. Although her home was half a mile away from the forest, she could still hear odd sounds coming from there. She heard whispers that almost sounded like they were nearby, and just last night, Sammy swore she had seen a kid go into those woods.

But afterward, Sammy dismissed what she had seen. After all, she had read an article in the Heretic Report that day about missing Maggie Rose and, in one paragraph, how there was an account of a girl entering the woods earlier that week. So Sammy just believed her imagination was running away from her.

Unfortunately, Sammy still had to go back to her house first, creepy or not. Unlike the TV station, the library was not within reasonable walking distance, so she had to get her bike. Sammy didn't own a car and also didn't know how to drive one.

When Sammy got to the house, she ran inside to grab her backpack full of mysteries. It was about time to return them anyway.

Marble, Sammy's black cat with white feet, bristled when the front door slammed behind her. Marble hated loud noises, and it was good for Sammy to know when there was such a noise since she was a little hard of hearing. Still, she wasn't in the mood for Marble's dislikes.

"Get over it, kit-cat!" Sammy shouted as she left.

The bike ride to the library was extraordinarily quiet. Sammy noticed there weren't that many people out and about, which was a little strange. But, knowing that the townspeople had been warned about staying inside when it got dark, Sammy thought it made sense.

Still...

A sudden rush of wind blew Sammy's hair into her face. She screeched her bike to a halt while trying to spit her hair out of her mouth.

"Damn wind," Sammy muttered. She moved the last bit of hair with her finger and took off her backpack, looking for a ponytail holder. After finding one, Sammy looked up at the window of a nearby store and almost growled. Her dyed red hair was sticking all over the place!

Sammy flattened her hair, then proceeded to put it up. When it was, she noticed a teenager staring at her through the shops' window. Sammy narrowed her eyes at the teen, who didn't even flinch.

'Weirdo,' was her thought before she started off again.

But who was Sammy to call 'weirdo' when she was one herself?