[ @gabidrake ]
Technically the night shift started at 6pm, but there were others who already were there, and when she was hanging out at home with her parents, a small emergency came up and she had to stick around the inn until just now. This was why having multiple people around for the shift was good, she didn’t feel bad skipping out on the first few hours - she’s been pulling her weight so far anyway.
And now it was around midnight and she was heading towards the lighthouse, not even realizing that after maybe two turns people started following her. She was humming to herself, her earbuds in her ears as she walked along the main street of the town, the quietness and the darkness something familiar in the town. She grew up here, so often she was out at night, this was nothing new.
What was new, however, was when she turned into a smaller street, heading towards the water now so she could do the rest of the way to the lighthouse on the beach, and somebody cutting her way off at the end of the street, hood up, looking... well, looking weird. “Uhh, hey, sorry, I am just passing by. Are you coming from the lighthouse? Is everything okay?” She figured a small check in wasn’t going to take too long, and she pulled one of the earbuds out.
Except then some other figures appeared behind her and the street turned even darker then before, the small light of the lights on the main street hidden behind them. Something was wrong, Steph could feel it, but this was Port Vale. Nothing really bad happened here, right? These had to be just other porties. “Uhh, hello. Didn’t realize so many people were up this late. Did something happen that I’ve missed?”
“You’re that one, right? The one who digs and digs?” a feminine, rhaspy voice asked.
“Digging? I am really not a digging person...” Steph said, looking between the two sides of the street. They were getting closer to her.
“Don’t play dumb. You’re looking for information about creatures under the water, right?”
“Yeah, but-- but that’s nothing new, really. You guys all know that. --You guys do know that, right? This is some kind of joke? Take the hooks off, don’t be weird, guys. I can’t recognize you, please. It’s dark and I’m tired and just wanna get to my post.” They were all so close now, though, and didn’t seem to be really stopping and then one of them grabbed for her, something flashed in the night and oh boy, this was not a prank, not a prank at all.