Yeah... A whole new route for my writing and it's not very good so... Writer's block is killing me.

Fault Lines

~I was young, wealthy, successful and happy... so as far as anyone else knew... I had 'saved the town' from certain destruction by builders, by the weather supposedly, and by the Harvest Goddess herself. Being a resident of the village now, I found myself befriended by all and nearly every eligible male wanted my hand in marriage. There wasn't a day that there wasn't a present in the mail for me or some figure standing outside my door in the dim morning light requesting my accompaniment to dinner or such, but the problem was that the one I wanted wasn't even around.

~Let me explain. There were several men availible for marriage- Owen- the muscular, handsome blacksmith's apprentice, Calvin- the successful archeologist, Luke- the carpenter's apprentice who one of my friends was partricularly fond, and Toby- the laidback fisherman. Jin, the town's only doctor, married my friend Anessia while Chase, the most fabulous cook I'd ever met, married a less skilled Maya. Julius, a rather androdginist looking person, married a sweet and loving Candace while her sister remained single until Kai came from another village, and they hit it off immediately. My two dearest friends, Lillith and Ivory, had recently moved into the Maple Lake District and built fine houses near the lake. Little did they know, I had already done some matchmaking while they were getting settled in. I decided that Lillith went perfectly with Calvin's adventurous spirit and Ivory with Owen and his firey personality. I might have been single, but I wasn't going to allow them to stay single for long. The only man that caught my eye was the one who left this town shortly after my last run in with danger and he wanted away from the island like it was a prison. My heart ached for so long afterwards, but I could manage to just hope that he would come back.

~I cast my third line into the Carmel River in the slight spring breeze. Lillith sat next to me- her long, dark hair flowing over her shoulders like a waterfall of dark chocolate; her solemn eyes were captivated by the bobbing motion of the styrofoam in the calm waters.

~"I'm inviting Karen tongiht to dinner..." I commented just to break the silence.

~She jumped back like she'd been stung and looked at me with her huge, brown eyes. "The girl from Mineral Town right?"

~"Yeah..." I winced as I thought how she was bringing Rick, her chicken raising boyfriend, with her.

~"Who all's coming to dinner at the Sundae Inn again?"

~"Star, you, Karen, Ricky, Owen, Cal, Mira, and Luke. I think Toby and Renee might come. They've really been hitting it off lately."

~"Cal's coming?" Her voice was suddenly estatic.

~"Yeah. Why?" A sly smile began to make its way across my face as I sat down next to my friend and let the breeze ruffle my hair.

~"He's so sweet..." She grinned at nothing a sweet, honey-like smile that made my stomach churn.

~"Too bad you guys aren't going together," I planted the suggestion in her freshly cultivated mind and heard the mooing of one of my new born calves.

~Her face looked stunned at the prospect, and she searched my eyes for any notion of a hint. Little did she know that I had been talking to Calvin about taking one of my friends' hands in marriage. He was very interested in the idea and always seemed interested in good ol' Silver.

~"Hey, Silver, have you heard anything from the mayor about...?" I trailed off unable to continue.

~"No... He hasn't said anything about his son. I'm sorry."

~I bit my bottom lip and didn't even care if I caught the biggest fish alive or farmed the grandest plot of land. I wanted a family and to settle down, but I was discontent with what I had; therefore, I wasn't going to stop there- at defeat. I didn't notice the darkening day until Silver looked up and back at me asking, "Let's go, Kiera."

~I shoved myself from the dirt and dusted off right before I grabbed my fishing poles and darted to my house up near the mine and the source of the Carmel River- Carmel Falls. My home was cozily located in the most accessible part of the whole island- in the crossroads of all the areas near the district. The town was a quick ten minute walk from my house as was the mine where I dug up artifacts with Cal and ores with Owen and Chole, Owen's younger sister and Ramsey's granddaughter. I frequently saw Toby and Renee walking hand and hand to Carmel Falls where they 'fished' the whole day and came back with small smiles and creeping blushes. Every time I saw it, it made me literally sick.

~I said my farewells to Silver and dashed inside. I rummaged through my wardrobe and only found a good sundress that had only been worn once to a ceremony honoring me and all my achievements as a farmer/savior of the town and whole island. It was specially designed by Shelly to exentuate certain qualities of mine and I decided to wear it after all this time of gathering dust. It was white and dark blue with a dark blue ribbon around the small waist. I scurried to my bathroom and combed my hair, which was a tangled mess at this point. After a long fight with my naturally wavy hair, I looked halfway decent. I walked outside my front door and cast a quick glance to my ostrich and looked away before I messed up my hair again by riding.

~My heart thudded as I walked alone down the dim, dirt path to the merry city of Waffle Town, but there was no one around to walk with, an odd relief in the bustle of the day's activities. Soft, loose dirt drifted up from my footfalls and dirtied my old, worn-out sandals. I finally reached the compacted dirt street in the main outlet of Waffle Town and the lights of the Inn/Bar were lit and dancing in celebration, but I tarried my immediate duty and walked down to the beach. I accedently kicked a fancy seashell and picked it up after looking around for a moment and slipped it in the well hidden pocket in my dress.

~A soft chuckle from behind me startled me. "Man, Kiera. You haven't changed at all..." The voice was deep and masculine as well as rich and smooth.

~I remained crouched over and slowly stood after a moment, never speaking. "C'mon, Kit, you have to remember me..." It sounded more like a plea than anything else.

~"Gill..." It was barely anything more than a whisper and my heart pounded.

~"And this time, I'm back for good."