Shifting Tides

Chapter One

"Hey, slow down, will ya? You're going way too fast for an old timer like me."

I stopped mid-jog and turned to face my dad, rolling my eyes as I did so. I knew he wasn't really tired- he just didn't want to run.

Normally, I'd have cut him some slack. But, this was the man who not only forced me to eat my vegetables as a child- he laugh as my face contorted in the sheer displeasure of broccoli's infamous taste.

No way I was giving up the chance to get back at him for that; This was a revenge story 16 years in the making.

"C'mon daddy, we both know what the doctor said. You have to do cardio to strengthen your heart," I said, moving over the small, stool-sized stone he had decided to stop on.

As I moved over to him however, the wind blew my hair into my face, obscuring my vision with long wisps of blonde. Thus causing me to not see the rock in front of me, and thus causing me to fall face first into the sand. My dad just laughed.

"Ha, this is even better than watching you try to choke down broccoli when you were little," he said, still perched on his rock. I sighed.

Dad 1, me 0.

"Laugh all you want, let's see how funny it is when you have to drink your favorite Kale smoothie, huh?" I said this triumphantly, even as I lifted myself out of the sand where I had so recently fallen.

My father smirked, a mischievous light glinting in his dark brown eyes.

"Can't make a kale smoothie without kale, now can we?" He said, lifting one eyebrow to accent his mock question.

My mouth dropped.

"...What did you do," I asked, already fearing the answer.

The wind tousled his dark brown hair as he spoke, making his unruly hair look even more like a birds nest than usual. I half expected a seagull chick to pop out at some point.

"Well, seeing as how the ocean is already full of green things-" he began, but I interrupted.

"You threw it in the ocean??" I exclaimed, wishing I were surprised. But I wasn't. This was one of his more... tame jokes. "Don't you-"

This time, he was the one to cut me off.

"Hey, the way I see it, if the man upstairs wanted us to slurp down liquified vegetables, he wouldn't have given us these," he said, pointing to his pearl white teeth. "And besides, why else would he make bacon unless we were meant to eat it- on everything."

I groaned. It was impossible to win with this man. But, I still loved him more than anything- growing up without a mom, siblings or really any friends, he had possession of most every nook and cranny of my heart.

I cracked a small smile as I brushed the last of the sand off my clothes. I looked over at him- he was still laughing. I gave him a look of mock disgust, and started heading back up the beach.

"Hey, where are you going?" He called out.

I grinned as I jogged away. This time, it was my turn to laugh. "Back to the house- I'm gonna make you a broccoli smoothie!"

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By the time we reached the house, it was nearly sunset. Since I had a head start (And, my dad was pretty slow...) I reached our "front lawn" first: technically it wasn't a lawn, so much as just an extension of the beach up to where our house was.

I loved our little house; It was like my dad and I had our own little castle out on the beach. It was about 300 feet from the ocean; And the only way to get out here was a small dirt/sand road that peeled of the nearly as small road that headed into town. Behind the house was a small forest- not huge, but enough that we got some frequent animal sightings. Top that off with the small, wraparound porch that over looked the ocean (One chair, plus one book, plus one sunset, equals Happiness.) It was absolutely amazing.

As I neared the house, I realized I hadn't left our front porch light on, so it was hard to see, but even still I could see the unfamiliar, beat up orange pick-up parked near the house. I frowned, trying to figure out who it could be.

My dad jogged up right about this time, somewhat out of breath (Okay he could barely breathe, but hey I wasn't going THAT fast..).

"Hey, I think I've done enough running to last me a life time, how about we call it even on the smoothie huh?" He said, bending over to use his knee as support while panting for air. He hadn't noticed the pick up yet.

I ignored his comment. "Who's car is that up there? I've never seen anyone in town driving a car like that before," I said, giving the car a double take. And I would have remembered if I had. For one thing, the town wasn't very big to begin with at all. For another thing, this truck looked worse than most of my "crafts" after I got my bejeweling kit years ago; Huge, gaudy white wall tires with chrome rims that I was sure could blind anyone if they caught the sunlight just right. Not to mention the fact it was jacked up enough off the ground to give you a nosebleed. Top that all off with a peeling, Trump colored paint job, and multiple dents.

My dad stood up, frowning himself as well now. "I don't know.. I don't see the driver anywhere around here," he said, squinting his eyes as he scanned the woods just behind our house.

"Lets go inside, I'll grab my gun and you call 911, just to be safe," he continued, still glancing around the beach.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Dad, you are too paranoid sometimes, I swear-" I began, but I was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass coming from inside the house. My eyes widened and I looked at my dad, who signaled me to be quiet. I nodded and followed him around the side of the house.

At this point, it was completely dark outside, and now that we were closer to the house we could hear more noises from coming from inside. Someone was in our house. I turned around just in time to see my dad loading a magazine into his handgun. It made a small clicking noise when he did so. My eyes widened even more.

"Where did you get that??" I whispered, knowing his rifle was inside the house, lying in his bed. He loved that thing like it was a living creature I swear.

He motioned for me me to stay quiet, then pointed down to a small hole in the sand, and a rusty, now empty, metal box.

Next, he handed me a hunting knife that was a bit too large for me to handle- in the hands of an experienced hunter, it was sure to be a lethal weapon. However, knowing myself, I would probably impale myself on it before I ever did any damage to the intruder. But before I could protest, my dad motioned for me to follow him.

We moved stealthily towards the front door- well, I should correct that statement. My dad moved stealthily, I tried not to accidentally kill myself with the very sharp knife I was holding in my hands.

When we reached the door, my dad motioned for me to stop. I still bumped into him anyways. I quickly readjusted the knife in my hands and looked to him for instructions. He started counting.

One...

Two...

Three!

With this, he swiftly kicked in the door and swept the room with his gun, looking for the intruder. At first we didn't see anything, our eyes still adjusting to the darkness. And then we saw him. A large man stepped out the shadows, the steely shine of a chrome gun barrel reflecting in the moonlight.

And it was pointed at me.

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A/N

**cliffhanger** Sooo how did you guys like chapter one? Please let me know in the comments, I really appreciate any feedback I can get!

Don't forget to vote, and if you have any theories on who the man with the gun is, I'd be really interested to hear them!

And again thanks for reading guys!! I really appreciate it!
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