my book!

Prologue; Affinity Yarrow

The moon set on the horizon just as the sun sank to the ocean floor. My tears blurred the waves as they splashed up and soaked my bare feet. I pushed them into the sand and cried even harder than before. My dad's gone. He didn't even die trying. I sit there for what feels like years, days, or hours, but when I check my watch it's only been a few minutes. I stand and the sand sticks to the soles of my feet. I sling my beach towel over my shoulder and make my way back to my house, where it doesn't feel like home.

My dad had always worked at the mental facility down the road. He got his job there when I was just a few months old and was best friends with his boss. When my dad went missing, his boss did too. We never did find either of them, but two years seems like a long time to take to track someone down, especially if there's two of them. My family and I just assumed they both died. I miss his smile, his face, his quirks. I can't help but wonder how he died in the first place.

My dad would always read me a bedtime story when I was younger. He would always read me the same book every night. It was about this boy who found these monsters and got bit. He ended up turning into one of them. Turns out they were their own tribe, The Sparrow, who lived underground. Most people called them The Ground Junkies and they were actually pretty good people, but they didn't know how else to repopulate their tribe since their rituals ended up stopping them from reproducing. They could be completely normal people by day, but by night they lost control. They bit anyone at first sight and dragged them to their underground bunkers.

I cried the first night he read it to me, and I cried just as hard after the last.