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Golden Wind: Everytime I hear Evanescence's "Going under", I think of your story :)

Hope you all enjoy chapter 1

Chapter 1

The white stone plates felt cold under Kim's naked feet as she stepped out on the balcony. She leaned against the rail, which really was a low wall made in sun dried clay, and stared newly awakened at the garden a couple of meters below. It was still chilly in the air, because the sun had not yet managed to warm the earth. Away by the horizon you could se how the deep blue night sky was colored burning red with a splash of yellow and orange. The sun's rays peeked out and suddenly the whole world was full of light.

Kim yawned tiredly and pulling her fingers through her hair, she realized it was a complete mess after the night. Signing she turned her gaze once again to the surroundings. A several kilometers long beach spread eastwards and the Caribbean Sea sparkled seductively in the sunrise. During day the coast was in most cases full packed with tourists from all over the world and with them came huge parasols and noisy children. Luckily the house lay sufficiently far away from all that commotion. There was nothing more irritating than hundreds of people all at the same time trying to sunbathe or cool of in the sea.

"Fools." Kim thought slightly wickedly, for she couldn't understand what drew those people to act like that. Sure, sometimes she went down there to dip her feet in the water, but only late in the afternoon during the sunset. At least it wasn't equally hot then. Kim didn't enjoy the warmth in this part of the world very much. Enough is always best, even concerning temperature. Despite the climate, the country was still fairly pleasant. The landscape with its charming steeping rock formations, calm remote glades and deep rainforests with a wonderful fauna, was a dream place. At least you avoided the loudness of a metropolis. Here everything was paradise.

Many years ago the Neesons and Kim moved to this newly built Spanish inspired two-storey house. Kitchen, study and a living room with a high ceiling were on the bottom floor. The two large bedrooms with separate bathrooms were located on the second floor. There also belonged a garage, wine cellar and a huge garden to this beautiful house. Tanya Neeson loved to sit on her knees in the dirt and plant or nurture her precious flowers. It was always very nice and decent looking in the back, where the family also had a little pond with fish in it. They were quite amusing to watch as they swam in and out between stones and other natural obstacles.

Any how, everyone loved the house. More correctly; Kim liked it, but she didn't care too much about the four walls. Sure, the rooms had air conditionings and were nice but she never attached to anything that would sooner or later disappear from her life.

Kim was one of the few people awake at this hour. But it didn't matter to her. The silence was wonderful and sometimes you could hear the distant call of some bird. If only life could be as simple as this beautiful morning. The summer holidays had just begun and so far everything had run calmly. Kim used to entertain her self by taking long walks to cliffs that rose from the sea. These were located where the rainforests stopped abruptly at the high precipices and there was not another human in sight. The air was sort of different there, she felt more alive there then anywhere else. Meditating or just admiring the view, she sat there on the rocks for hours. Sometimes she took her drawing-book with her so that the nature could live forever in her drawings and not just in memories. From time to time she would also take walks amongst the trees.

But despite that Kim spent a lot of time outside the sun didn't seem to affect her skin. She looked as she always had; long straight jet black hair that reached her ribs. The skin, especially in her face, was pale as if she'd been carved out of pure white marble. But her eyes were the one's one noticed first; light grey with a depth like all the seas of the world. She really looked different from the other with their sunburned arms and legs. It made no difference if people looked at her. Let them look, she thought.

However, today was a very special day since it was Kim's 11th birthday. They were always celebrated with the whole family by going out to a restaurant and eat. Maybe it was a desperate attempt by her parents to get her out of the house to meet new people. Pretty silly actually. Kim didn't really care but she didn't want to hurt their feelings. Furthermore, something strange was in the air.

Since two weeks her father, or as Kim's rather called him; Thomas, hade acted strangely, that is to say more than usually. But Thomas refused to tell what it was that weighted him. The truth was that Kim didn't actually know what he worked with. She only knew that he was some sort of scientist or researcher. It was none of Kim's business to know more than necessary. Besides, all suspicious questions about the job were forbidden. You could of course ask but it was like talking to a wall; no answer.

Suddenly the pleasant silence was broken by the ringing of a phone. Kim quickly realized that the thing actually belong to them. Shortly Thomas came walking from the kitchen and sat down on the chair with a phone pressed to his right ear. His burning red hair shone sharply in the sun and the sea blue eyes blinked drowsily. A relatively thin moustache decorated his face that was timeless. Kim noticed that she seemed angry to be awoken this early and he spoke fast. But she didn't quite hear what was being said so she let her curiosity take over. Silently she lay down on her stomach by the wall and laid her ear against a tiny decorative hole.

"Damn it! What is the meaning of this? I'm on my vacation." Thomas roared indignant but still keeping his voice down.

"I'm sorry to bother you but we have some BIG problems, Neeson." the man in the other end answered. His voice was slightly trembling.

"What kind of "problems"?"

"One of our bugs has escaped. It's probably running around freely in the jungle right now and enjoying the freedom. Just don't ask how this happened..."

"WHAT!" Yelled Thomas and slammed his fist in the nearby table. "Are you completely brainless if you let a thing like that get away! Do you realize what will happen when it gets hungry for blood and feels the scent of people?"

"Of course I know!" The man was seriously scared but was also beginning to get angry. "We need to catch it before it has time to do too much damage.

"Why do you call me and not the guys with big guns?"

"We will, we will. But we also need your help. You're the one who has spent the most time with them and..."

"Now just wait a minute. I can't, not today. It's Kim's birthday. We always celebrate by going out to dinner."

"That may be. But if we don't catch this creature soon; maybe there won't be any birthday for either Kim or another unfortunate person."

Thomas signed heavily and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his green bathrobe.

"Alright, I'll come. But I'm only staying till four o clock. After that, you're on your own.

"Thanks Neeson. I knew I could count on you".

The man hung up and left Thomas pondering in the garden. After a couple of minutes he went back in to boil some coffee. He really needed his caffeine-kick now.

Kim lay still on the balcony floor and breathed heavily. Was she dreaming or did she actually hear all of that? What ever it was that had escaped it was neither cute nor fluffy. The phonecall made her head spinn. She completely forgot about the celebration. For the first time something indescribable in her ignited. In spite of her being a reserved girl that didn't care about the rest of the world, she became terribly curious. Maybe this was her chance to prove certain theories...