Depths Of Darkness

By Jason Summers

When Heather returns to Oregon after being abroad, she has no idea what horrors are waiting for her. There's a monster in her town. It's killed before, but it's hungry again. No one knows it's there. Waiting just below the surface. Waiting for Heather.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jason Summers
• Release date: Aug 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465751089

Book preview

Part 1

Birth and death; we all move between these two unknowns.

Bryan H. McGill

Chapter 1

There were demons in the world. Real, soul stealing, life ending demons. Their thoughts were dark, their actions darker, and even if they smiled at you there was no question that they were carefully calculating your demise in their brains.

Heather Morgenstern knew nothing of demons the day her plane landed at Roseburg International Airport, bringing her back home for the first time in four months.

She had been staring down at the ice and snow as the plane descended and pointing out the differences between Roseburg, Oregon, and Playa Vento, Mexico to herself in her head. There were many, the most obvious being that there had been no snow in Playa Vento. Roseburg, however, had been hit hard by Jack Frost. Looking out her window, Heather had a hard time seeing anything other than shades of white. Heather was also grateful for one huge difference : the people in Roesburg spoke english. In her four months as an exchange student in Playa Vento Heather had only met two people who could speak english, one was the representative for the program who she had only met twice, and talked to on the phone once or twice . The other had also been an exchange student from America, Jeff. She and Jeff had become good buddies during their educational venture but were now on different sides of the continent. She had been attracted to him, who wouldn't be? He was the all american jock. Dirty brown hair, hazelnut eyes. He looked like he had been ripped from the pages of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue. But he had brains too, and a wicked sense of humour. Heather liked to think that it was his sense of humour that had sparked her fancy, but she knew it had probably been his cute ass. In her four months learning the way of life of a different society she still didn't know whether the attraction was mutual.

Jeff would have been stupid not to fall for her, she was one of the prettiest girls in school. Heather’s hair was long and straight, the colour of copper and framed her face perfectly. She wasn’t underweight like most of the pretty girls her age who felt that to be beautiful was to be skin and bones. No, Heather had a nice body, probably because she loved nothing more than to jog every morning. In Roseburg, she would wake up with the sun and jog for at least an hour every day, usually in the woods behind her house, there was a trail she had discovered there. Sometimes, if she didn’t have any other plans for the day, she would jog all the way into the national park that started about a mile and a half into her backyard. She loved to find a secluded spot with a beautiful view and just listen to her heartbeat race.

Yeah, Heather had a wonderful body and still Jeff hadn’t made a move on her. Maybe he was Gay, she thought to herself and laughed. He hadn’t seemed gay.

Heather consciously pushed all thoughts of Jeff out of her head, she knew they would make her sad and she would miss him. She reminded herself to e-mail him when she got home and then moved her thoughts on to other things.

Her father would be waiting for her at the airport, the poor man had probably been waiting for the past week. He had not taken her decision to travel halfway down the globe lightly. Ever since Heather's mother had died he had kept his daughter close, a precious, fragile life he would make sure nothing happened to. Heather had felt bad leaving him but had also felt it would be healing for both of them. She needed to get away from Roseburg, and he needed to learn that she would survive on her own.

It was funny, Heather thought to herself. She was actually somewhat excited to be back in town. Never in a million years did she think she would ever feel that way.

The planed landed successfully and Heather’s luggage was the first to arrive at baggage claim. Her bag was heavy and she had a hard time lifting it off the conveyer belt. For a brief second she was scared the bag wasn’t going to move and she’d make a fool of herself following her bag around the track that went around the room.

Luckily, she gave it one hard pull, and the bag was off the conveyer belt, on the linoleum, and Heather had nothing to worry about.

She made her way down the hall and through the glass doors that separated travelers from the general public and immediately saw her father.

Craig Morgenstern was fifty and already frail. His hair was the colour of the snow outside and his skin could also be described as being a shade of white. Heather's father was so thin one would imagine a big enough gust of wind could blow him away. He jumped to his feet the moment he saw her.

Thank God you got back safely. He said, squeezing her in his arms. Heather hugged him softly, she didn't want to break the man.

I missed you Dad. She said, pulling out of the hug. You look good. Have you been waiting for long?

He smiled. I got here three hours ago, I couldn't wait to make sure you landed safely. Nice tan by the way. How was the flight?

Long.

He laughed and reached for his daughter's luggage.

I can carry that. Heather said, trying to stop him. She wondered if the bag weighed more than her father.

Nonsense. Your dad is going to carry your bag's and that's that. Let's go to the car and we'll talk about your trip on the way.

Okay. She said, but when they were halfway to the car she tried to snatch her bag back, but his grip was firm. Never the one to give up, they both carried it the rest of the way to the car, each taking a side and carrying it between them. It was almost like they were holding hands but the luggage painted the picture slightly askew.

Heather took in a deep breath, the air smelled different, crisper. It had been so hot in Mexico.

There was just something about the cold air of Roseburg, Oregon.

It was home.

Chapter 2

In the car, Mr.Morgenstern updated Heather on the events that had taken place in Roseburg since her departure. There were not many.

You remember Kathy Jenkins? Her father asked, the poor man was spending more time looking at his daughter than the road. Making sure all the pieces were still there. She owns the bookstore on Main, well, I should say she used to own it. She sold it to this big company from California.

I know Dad. She sold it back in August when I was still here.

Her father shook his head. I don't know what the big deal is. Still looks the same, only difference is now instead of a sign saying Jenkins Books, there's a sign saying Barnes and Nobles. Oh, and they bought the place right beside it too. Turned it into one of those Star Dollar coffee shops.

You mean Starbucks? Heather laughed.

Something like that. He replied, smiling. Too fancy for me. I like my coffee instant and black, simple as that.

Anything new at the station? Heather asked, looking at the houses passing by. Snowplows were out in droves trying to clear away the heaps of snow that covered every inch of land. When did all this snow come in?

Aside from being a frail man and a loving father, Craig Morgenstern was also chief of police. He lead a team of less than a dozen deputies and officers in keeping the streets of Roseburg clean of filth and crime. The only problem was there was never any crime to deal with, Roseburg just wasn't that