Bliss

Chapter One

Isaac gazed out into the shining sea with his enchanting emerald eyes, his golden brown hair blowing in the breeze. From his view, nothing could be more extravagant than the view of the ocean undisturbed. Low waves rolled onto the beach with a touch of grandness, while the golden sand glimmered in the sunlight. The briny aroma of the ocean wafted out and around the entire beach, which attracted many sea gulls and pelicans. The constant squawk of the birds could be heard from the hill which Isaac rested upon.

A presence was behind him. He turned around to see a young lady around his age. She had dark, flowing hair, and had a delicate, gentle face. The lady bore the brightest of sapphire eyes which seemed to be the jewel of her flawless face.

The young man was shy so he could only mutter a few words,”Hi. My name’s Isaac. Are you…” He was to shy to continue.

“Are you what?” replied the young teenager coolly. Her voice was like the angels, pure and complete. She also had a strange accent, which was almost unnoticeable behind her voice.

“Are you new here? I know everyone around here,” Isaac said, dropping his shyness a bit.

“Yeah, well… Anyway, my name’s…” faltered the girl, “my name’s Teri. “And you’re right I’m not from here’”

“Do you like, it here?”

“I guess. I have not gotten to look around much.”

“I could show you around if you want to. I mean, you’re new and all so I guess you still have to move all your stuff in first.”

“Thank you for the offer; I could probably go, you know, tomorrow.”

“I guess I’ll see then. You probably have to leave now.”

“I could talk to you for a while, that is if you want.”

“No, no, it’s fine. You go get ready for tomorrow. Your parents might get suspicious.”

“That’s true. I’ll guess I’ll meet you here tomorrow morn’ at nine right?”

“Sure.”

Isaac watched her walk away, just making sure she was safe. He brushed his dark, glossy hair out of his eyes and turned around to look at the glazing sea once Teri was gone. Everything in the world seemed to be going his way, and in his mind, nothing could get in the way from his meeting with Teri, the wonderful young woman, tomorrow. As soon as Isaac was sure Teri was gone, he hoisted himself up and walked his usual normal path back home.

When Teri got to her house, she felt very sunny, despite the gloomy, bored veil over the house. Not all of her worldly possessions were unpacked yet, and without those homely things to liven up the house, everything seemed quite bland. It had been about a week since she first came to this new country, and everything was mostly chaotic. Nothing seemed normal as it was before. Teri liked it that way. It was more interesting than it was then.

Teri walked over to her new room in her unfamiliar house. It was smaller and duller than her old room, and it had a funny smell wafting around the room. She walked over her bed and laid down to rest for it had been a long day. Her blue eyes twinkled and sparkled as she thought about Isaac. What a person he was. Although he seemed very shy at first, he seemed like a great guy.

“Hey Teri! I’m home,” said the voice of Teri’s father, Ethan, “Your brother’s here!”

“Teri, look what I got,” said Teri’s little brother, Jake, as he showed a little lump of fool’s gold.

“Wow, where did you get it?” said Teri, bored.

“At the fair, they sold them for fifty cents per lump. What a deal!”

Jake was about eight years old, but he was eccentric, intelligent, and sharp. However he was a little bit naïve, unlike Teri. However, like his sister, he had dark hair and sapphire blue eyes. He was also a tall boy, so people would often assume that he was ten or eleven. This drove him insane; he’d jump in the air and shrieks, “I’m seven! I’m seven! I’m seven!” Of course, he would get into trouble by doing this, but he proved a point to those people.

“’Ter, what did you do today?” said Jake, who called Teri, Ter, for short.

“Your sister looked around town today.”

“I went with Daddy to work.”

“Speaking of work, I’m tired, go away. I want to sleep.”

“Ok Ter.”

Teri’s thoughts swerved back and forth between Isaac and family and her old house. She desperately hoped that she would not go back; she was almost settled in this new place. Even though she enjoyed the hectic ness of moving to new places, she would prefer staying here and having to go through the experience only once. As much as she liked moving, she missed her friends at her old school, especially her best friend, Ester.

Ester, the shining star of a friend, was always there. She would speak up for you just like a good friend would. However unlike normal friends, she was always a little bit depressed or gloomy. Her clothing would be all black and would contrast with her bluish eyes and pure golden blonde hair. Despite her depressed ness, she was always a good friend, but now that Teri was here and Ester was far away, she couldn’t contact her well as before, even with Ester’s address.

“Teri, come out of your room! It’s dinner time!” Teri’s mom, Joan called out, “Your brother is down here setting the table.” Teri wearily hoisted herself up from her bed. She was tired and wanted to sleep. “I’ll be right there mom!”

Dinner was a simple butter jelly sandwich; there was nothing special about the meal. It filled her up though, so Teri was satisfied, but incredibly tired.

After dinner, Teri went up to her room to sleep. Her bed was lumpy and hard, but it didn’t matter for she was tired. Within minutes she fell sound asleep.

It was eleven o’ clock at night but Isaac was talking to himself as he drew a picture of Teri, “Wow, I wonder what I should show her tomorrow. Maybe some of the landmarks and all or the beach, or my secret spot by that little cavern, I don’t know what I should show her. I guess I’ll take ‘er everywhere.”

“Isaac, who are you talking to?” said the voice of Isaac’s mother, Nan.

“Nothing ma, just talking to myself nothing much.”

“Well talk softer; you’ll wake your dad. It will be a long day at work tomorrow.”

Indeed it was late at night, but Isaac usually stayed up at night to talk to himself or draw. He had nothing else better to do and he didn’t want to go to bed.

Isaac had no younger siblings. His older sister, Nallie, was in college so he didn’t see much of her often. Sometimes on the holidays he did, but she was mostly out with her boyfriend, Clyde, who was a tall, tall, man with matted black hair. Isaac was always scared of him so he didn’t talk to his sister much.

Other than that, Isaac was always alone, and even at school, he didn’t have very many friends. Besides, most of his classmates think he’s insane because he normally stays inside during free breaks to draw. Isaac was an outcast, a pariah, completely different than everyone else, always out of the loop.

“Done,” Isaac said, he had finally finished the drawing Teri. The picture was drawn detailed. The face was shaded in such away; you could see the depth and perspective of the drawing. Her eyes, in this picture stood out like diamonds; her face altogether is perfect and flawless, and this is how he saw Teri.

Soon Isaac went to bed, which was soft, warm and cozy. He was eager to talk to Teri tomorrow. Tomorrow was only a few hours away, so Isaac got little sleep, for he went to bed at around midnight, he didn’t care though, and he could live happily off very little sleep which was an advantage. He would wake up early in the morning to comb his hair and get dressed up in somewhat baggy attire. Isaac wore sagging blue jeans with a loose Hawaiian shirt. Off he went with nothing in his hands, towards the briny beach.

Teri had not arrived before Isaac. So for a while, Isaac was awaiting Teri. He was as ready as could be.

“Isaac, I’m here! I’m here!” said the chiming voice of Teri as she came towards him. There was a metallic object in her hand, which kept glimmering as she walked.

“Hey Teri what’s in your hand?” said Isaac cautiously.

“Oh, it’s a little thing I wanted to show you. It’s my mother’s amulet. Actually it’s my grandmother’s. It was passed down from generation ”

The amulet was a glowing violet jewel with many facets and cuts; however the jewel was completely flawless and whole. That amulet itself was a spectacle of amazement and awe. The border of the jewel was an unblemished shade of gold; except for the writing which said: To my love: Tracy Palling. Your life’s story will burn strongly in my heart and in my mind even after death.

“You can probably see that it was some relative of mine’s husband.”

“Yeah, you could see that.”

“Well, you see how this stone looks completely unblemished whatsoever? It’s not. If you look carefully there are visible scrapes here… here… and here…” said Teri pointing at certain spots on the stone, “You can’t tell unless you really look hard. It’s really minor scratches, but I’m surprised at the amount of flaws, considering its age.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” said Isaac confused, “It’s still pretty cool anyway.”

“Well, I thought you were going to show me around this place.”

“Sure, let’s get going’”

Teri quickly pocketed the amulet.

The first place they went was Amgine Library. The building was three floors high and was built in a colonial style. A stairway led up to the entrance and met with a row of pillars. At the door, marble lions seem to roar out at the people who came by, while limestone statues of Greek goddesses welcomed and greeted them.

Inside the library, the entire ceiling was painted with images of undisturbed wildlife collaged into a patchwork of art. Shelves full of books lined the walls and dotted areas of the library, while miniature lounges were found near isolated areas. Decorative, stone-white pillars appeared to be holding up the painted ceiling.

“My parents own this place,” said Isaac, “My last name is Amgine.”

“Wow. Who wouldn’t want to have an entire library this magnificent?”

“My classmates.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s go up to the roof. I want to show you something.”

Isaac and Teri went towards a stairway that led straight up to the roof. The walls around the stairway were decorated with paintings and artwork of various subjects. It was a little art gallery.

“Where did you get these things?” asked Teri.

“My parents have good friends who know how to paint.”

They continued walking for several minutes. When they eventually got to the top, Isaac said, “Ok, this is the miniature observatory deck. It’s kind of cold up here.” The place itself wasn’t the highest place in the world, but you could still see for several miles. Teri could see her house; how shabby and old it looked from here! The lavender paint that seemed quite brilliant and sharp up close seemed, from up atop here, was seemed to be peeled and faded. Her backyard appeared desert dry and was filled with monstrous weeds.

Besides concentrating on how horrible her house looked like, Teri gazed out onto the small city. One place in particular, an odd shaped building with strange slants and sharp angles stood out like a sore thumb. There was a sign on it that said: ESOR PRODUCT CO. Buy our products. What a weird building. She decided to look around more. As she scanned the city, Isaac said, “Are you ready to go yet?”

“Uh, sure. What’s the ESOR building about?”

“I have no idea. No one knows. For all we know it could be electronics or atomic bombs. Let’s go.”

Down the stairs they went, which was less tiring that going up of course. It was extremely cozy inside than it was outside, which was pretty cold, maybe about seventy or eighty degrees. How quiet he seems now than yesterday, Teri thought, I think he’s shy. Teri reached down in her pocket to touch her amulet to make sure it was safe. It was gone.

“Hey, Isaac, do you know where my amulet is?”

“No, is it gone?”

“Yes of course! Help me find it.”

“Ok.”

Back up the stairs they went just to make sure it was not on the floor. How could it just disappear like that? The higher they got the more worried she got. That thing was one of the most precious family heirlooms. Once they got to the top they began a thorough search. It was not there.

A gunshot was heard suddenly. Then a bloodcurdling shriek was sounded. The air was soon filled with rough, course laughter. Teri and Isaac rushed down the stairs again to see what was going on. Outside the library was a gruesome sight of gore, and near that area, two men standing near the assaulted person holding a shock gun.