Chapter Two: The Pier

“Welcome to the town of Rausoh!” the person told me. I could hint a little fakeness in his tone, but I wasn’t going to challenge anything.

“Thank you,” I replied, “I’m Ariel.”

“You can just call me Joa. Come on in why don’t you?”

As I walked into his house, I felt as if I should ask him about the strange note I had gotten, just to see if he knew anything about it. I don’t think that I should directly approach it however.

“You have a nice house.” I told him to be polite.

“Why thank you!” He replied hastily. 

It in all honesty was kind of old and not well kept. It had a slight odor to it as well, making it very unpleasant. I tried to ignore it all and all but I really couldn’t.

“So, how are you enjoying the neighborhood so far?” He asked.

“Well, it seems like a nice place,” I told him, “but something seems to be off.”

“How so?” He asked with a little bit of abruptness to his tone.

“Well, right before the movers left, one of them gave me a note…” I pulled the note out and showed it to him. He read it and didn’t look surprised.

“Well, I really can’t help you at all with that if that’s what you’re asking. I don’t have enough of my own so why do you think I can help?” He seemed pretty angry at the moment. I showed myself to the door and got out.

I couldn’t help but to think that he thought I meant something else. I just wanted to know what it was for, but his answer seemed like he was trying to defend something.

Then another neighbor, one of my next-door neighbors, got home from work, this time it was a woman. She noticed me as I noticed her. She waved for me to come over as well so she could greet me. I was hoping that it wasn’t going to be like the last visit.

“Hey! My name is Ariel, what is yours?” I asked her.

“I’m Shah” She told me.

I didn’t let her get anything else in because I really wanted to have knowledge on this strange note. “Can you tell me what this note is for?” I pulled it out and showed it to her, “I showed it to Joa but he reacted funny...”

“Ah, I guess he thought you wanted to borrow money. He should have known better.” She paused for a second and remembered why I was asking this question again, “That note… well…” She kind of stopped here and looked around.

“Well, what?” I asked back kind of fast.

“Well, it’s kind of thing that you have to find out for yourself… I don’t want to discourage you in anyway.”

“I won’t be discouraged in any way! I just want to know what this means.” I was getting kind of angry at that point.

“Well… you will find out if you just wait long enough Ariel.” She looked worried. I didn’t really care however as I waved my good bye and went back to the house.  

As the rest of the day went on I met some other neighbors as well. Tuan and his wife Ji lived in the house on my other side. They weren’t really talkers and just told me their names and asked mine. Then there was Alexander, a British man who had lived here for about two years came back to the house that was left of Joa’s house welcomed me.  His accent was heavy so it was hard trying to understand him in Thai, but then I asked if he knew English and I was able to speak better with him there. Then to the right of Joa’s house came Restati. He was like Tuan and Ji and just told me her name and went inside after asking mine. There were more neighbors, but I didn’t really bother with them as they were farther away. I didn’t really get to ask anyone else about the letter except for Alexander, but he just kind of looked away and “noticed” that he had to get to his dinner. Time was slowing down but I did notice that I was hungry.

I didn’t really cook much, well, I didn’t really cook much at all! I just decided that I should make a sandwich since I the only food I really had was bread, peanut butter, and jelly. I watched some TV and kept on looking at the clock. 7, 7:30, 8. Finally when it was about 8:30, I decided that I should start looking for the Pier at least. I went and hopped into my car.

It was dark outside, but I didn’t notice. Heading through the quiet town, I noticed that most of the stores were already closed and that most people weren’t out. It didn’t seem too odd, but the place just seemed empty. I made my way through to the beach area and the pier was close by. I checked my watch, 8:43. I still had about 15 minutes until I was supposed to be at the pier.

Instead of waiting in my car or going to the pier and waiting, I walked along the beach. It was a pretty place, calm. The sand was soft and it felt good between my toes. I checked my watch again and noticed I had about five or so minutes until I had to be there, so I went on ahead. As I was walking however, I felt a strange softness on my foot, but it didn’t feel as soft as the sand and it felt cracky. I would’ve gone back to it to see if it was just a crab or something like that, but my time was depleting, and I wanted to be there on time. I might come back to it when I am coming back from the pier.

As I got there, it didn’t look like anybody else was there. I checked my watch, 9:00 exactly. “Hello?” I called out.

As if out of nowhere, a voice responded, “Ariel Seery?” It was low and frightened me.

“Yes?” I replied after the shock was gone.

“Welcome to Rausoh. There is a matter at hand you must participate in by living here.” I tried to reply, but he cut me off, “The Tirangaus demand that you pay them a ‘safety fee’ among your original taxes. If you don’t, your safety is not in our hands. You will have to make a payment every week and your first one starts tomorrow. Be warned Ariel, your protection depends on this.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, “what do you mean protection?”

I got no answer and then realized that he was gone. Was this what Shah meant about me being discouraged? I still couldn’t completely grasp the idea. And protection? What was that supposed to mean? So many questions!

I wandered down the beach still confused. I looked at my watch to see I hadn’t been up there more than five minutes. It was then that I felt the same odd cracky smooth feeling. I looked around to find out what it was. I finally found it and picked it. I gasped and dropped the object as soon as I saw it. A finger had been lying in the sand.

Author's Note

Second chapter is up!

Reviews

[Vee]

Ugh!!!! I wants more to read!!!
Write story faster!!!
haha it's good!

[Angel Baby]

This is a very interesting story, looking forward to reading more. Thanks for sharing. P.W.