Chapter 1
Walking down a path running parallel with the beach, whilst reading a book and skill fully dodging people coming towards her at the same time, was a fourteen year old tom-boy by the name of Aria. Glancing up every now and then to keep track of where she was walking, she made her way to one of her favourite spots she visited all the time. Aria folded down the corner of the page she was reading and closed the book as she reached a fence. Well it wasn't really a fence, more a bunch of wooden logs with a sign saying 'Do not cross' in front of it, but that never really stopped her before. With a quick look to make sure no-one saw her she jumped over the logs and ran through the tall, wispy grass that grew from the sand. Aria never really understood why no-one was allowed here, it was a beautiful place to relax. She finished crossing the sand and got down towards the glistening water, although she never even let her toes get wet.
She started to pick her way up a cliff to where she had made her 'hide-out'. There was a large gouge in the face of the cliff and pointed out to sea, making a small cave, it protected her against the harsh summer sun beating down. As she placed her book in the corner of the cave with things she had gradually left over time, like the pillow and sleeping bag that was always there in case she stayed the night, never worrying about anything because they wouldn't get wet, Aria moved forward to stare out to sea like she has every day for the past nine years. The Ocean, she hated the ocean and was scared of it, never going in, although, she also found it beautiful and mysterious.
Aria was an orphan, thought to have been lost at sea in one of the most terrible shipwrecks in history. A warm salty breeze blew past her, one of the most memorable things of the local beach, and something of which she loved. Aria loved being outside and being active, walking, running and quite often skating, on a skateboard she was given by a friend one year for her birthday. She was never quite able to be still for very long, and constantly finding herself ending up in trouble. Aria often sneaked out from the orphanage when no-one was looking. As she tucked a stray piece of dark brown hair behind her ear, she tried, like she did everyday, to piece together what happened. As she stared out to ocean, memories started flashing in her minds eye, she could remember very little about who she was or where she even came from.
One memory she had that she could only just remember, were certain features of two people, one, a woman with dark brown hair like hers and brown eyes filled with defiance and anger, but also kindness and care, and a man, with golden hair, a warm smile on his face and his eyes… his eyes were haunting, from what she could remember he was young, he looked early thirties, but his eyes seemed to betray him. His eyes seemed like the ocean, dark blue like hers, but they could be calm one moment, then seem to hold all of the oceans fury the next, also showed age, far beyond what a human could live, and seen horrors one could only begin to imagine. Ha, what was she thinking, who ever he was, he was certainly human, and to show that was the love he showed for the woman standing next to him with her arm around his waist. The memory was like a photo of a moment in time, caught forever.
But that was the only happy memory she had of whoever those people were, because after that all she remembered is the people's screams as fire burned through the ship or were thrown overboard into the icy cold winter water. She can remember being woken from her sleep but she can't see who it is because it was pitch black, but she could tell the voice was that of a man, she was only five at the time so her memory the events are not that great either. After that the next thing she remembers is a loud explosion to the right of her and being thrown over as whoever was holding her jumped out of the way, but she fell out of their grasp and slid across the wet deck. Their was another explosion and a lot of screaming, she had knocked her head on the ground as she landed and was slowly starting to lose consciousness, she can just recall someone calling out her name in vain as she slipped off the side of the boat as it capsized and also fell into the merciless, icy-cold depths of the ocean and finally lost consciousness.
The next thing after that is when she woke up after being shaken awake by some lady taking an early morning stroll along the beach. The lady explained that she found her washed up on a beach. That was when she was brought to St. Thomas Aquinas' catholic orphanage; it was only small, three care takers and roughly twenty five kids. She was given food shelter and a basic education, although she was studying things far too advanced for someone her age especially in the Maths and Science areas, she was also forced to study and follow religion, but she never paid attention, just stared out the window until she was allowed to go. But still she was grateful for what she had been given; after all they took her in when she had nothing. No, not nothing.
Something in the back of her mind reminded her, and instinctively her hand flew to her baggy plain blue shirt, not the shirt to be exact more what was underneath it, a silver key hanging from a chain. She had worn it ever since she could remember; she didn't have one single memory where it wasn't hanging around her neck. She was drawn out of her remembrance as she was shocked when she held the key in her hand that she could hear a faint singing in the back of her mind, like a beacon, calling. The song always seemed full of sorrow and longing, but often at times it would change to happiness or joy for awhile but never stopping its constant call for whatever was lost. It has always been there, forever, and she guesses will continue to be so until she dies, she was just shocked because it has been awhile since she has heard it this vivid, after all, today was the anniversary from when she was found washed up, battered, bruised and cold on the beach.
Aria looked out over the ocean again, once she stopped staring at her filthy, white (or more brown, now) skate shoes, and noticed the sun just starting to set over the horizon. How long had she been sitting there? Aria stood up to have her earlier question answered by the pain and numbness in her legs. Aria brushed the dirt off her also quite baggy, black shorts, and tightened the hair band that held all her long brown hair neatly out of her face, although it didn't stop her fringe that hung into her eyes from driving her insane. She picked up the book she was reading on the way over. And surprise, surprise it was completely based on space and science. As she started walking back to the orphanage she wondered where her nearly obsessive, (nearly? More like certain) fixation with space and the wonders that could be held past our solar system could come from. Just to find herself just as clueless as every other day.