CHAPTER ONE - THE PARALLEL

 “No time like the present” Isaac mutters as he clambers out of his car into the rain flooded street. The rain has been relentless this year, more than double the last. It doesn't faze him. At this point he likes it. He lifted his focus from the street to the park across the way. “Cathedral Park. Terrifying as always” he says to himself. No one in their right mind would come here at this hour, but Isaac has a job to do. Issac Nohren – Private investigator. Hired by a middleman for clues surrounding the death of Nicholas Avery, a local mason who led a rather normal life. Apart from being murdered in a park that is. Isaac made his way across the street quickly, eager to find what he could and make his way back home. Something about this place didn’t sit well with him, an air of familiarity as well as the lingering sensation of past trauma. He shook the thought from his mind and continued to the crime scene. It looked like a scene from a movie, still wrapped in caution tape with dried dabbles of blood left from poor Nicholas. Isaac had never been tasked with investigating a murder, mainly missing persons and theft cases. It was his keen insight that landed him this case and he intends to follow through. He knelt down and examined the grass intensely. The local police were very thorough checking the scene but missed one extremely particular thing. A small bone, entwined in metal left sticking halfway out of the dirt. Isaac felt the feeling from earlier. This shouldn’t be here. “How could they have missed this?” He thought. He reached for the macabre trinket and was repulsed. It was slick and soft, the exact opposite of what he expected. With the trinket now in his grasp he felt every single hair on his neck stand on end. The air grew thick and hot like the day after a summers rain. It was December. Isaac sprung up and quickly observed his surroundings. Everything was the same... Yet drenched in hues of ochre and shadow. His stomach sank. “This isn't the park” he thought, mind racing. He needed to leave. He calmly but quickly walked back to the street; his car still parked across the way on the curb. Just as his feet hit the pavement, he saw the shadows behind his car shuffle. He froze in his steps. A deep, gurgling-like voice sprang out cutting through the thick silence of the night. “Hey... Who are you?" questioned the figure. Isaac was unable to respond. Sweat was pouring down his back, his fight or flight completely gone. Out from the shadow stepped a man, seemingly covered in ash. All Isaac could see were the milk-like eyes bulging from his head. The man bellowed “WHO. ARE. YOU.” And stumbled towards Isaac. Isaac reached for his revolver. This isn’t right. This is not Cathedral Park.