Aidan

Aidan Miller is fifteen years old. He lives in a quiet American suburb where almost everyone knows each other. His family is well-off, but not spoiled by luxury: loving parents, a cozy home, good grades in school, and plans for the future. Aidan is one of those guys teachers look up to. Kind, well-mannered, quick-witted, always ready to help his neighbors or protect those who are weaker. He knows almost every child and adult in his neighborhood.

So one evening his attention is drawn to an unfamiliar girl.

She is about ten years old.

She sits alone on the playground swing, even though it's long since dark. The courtyards are almost deserted, the streetlights barely illuminate the empty paths, and the lights in the neighboring houses are gradually going out one by one.

Aidan is sure he's never seen her here before.

Strange.

He knows all the children on this street.

But this girl seemed to appear out of nowhere.

She swings silently on the swing, doesn't cry, doesn't call out for her parents, doesn't look scared. She just sits, clutching her old, battered backpack tightly, and stares off into the darkness.

Why is she alone so late?

Where are her parents?

Why is no one looking for the child?

And why, as Aidan gets closer, does he have a strange feeling that this chance meeting will change both of their lives forever?