Ch.2 Eye to Eye

I stared at the mirror as I washed my hands. My skin had the slight tan of someone who went outside yet didn't try for it. My face was freckled along the sides of my nose. My brown hair was short. My eyes were a brown so dark that they looked black.

The beach had gone from bad to worse. After introductions I had been lead back to number 5 and introduced to Evelyn's niece, Connie. Her black hair had shrouded her face at first, but when she looked up I was surprised to see one brown eye and one green.

The whole time that I had been there – having been invited to dinner, which was slightly burnt but much better than the nothing I would usually eat – she had stared at me. I kept getting unnerved, as it was the first time in a long time that anyone had payed any kind of attention to me.

Evelyn and Mack had both let me fade in and out of their attention. The conversation had been interesting, as they had kept almost saying something. My guess is that it was a secret, because they would barely save themselves from letting it out. If Connie hadn't been there, I would have heard because half of the mentions had been cut off by her.

I growled low as I thought more about how she hadn't taken her attention off of me once. I had found a great many things out. For instance, Connie and her little cousin were not the only two that had mismatched eyes. It seemed that a boy named Col also had them. Each one was involved in some 'Society' that was accidentally mentioned a few times. There had been many interesting ecological things going on in the past five years. And that when I went to school I would be in the same grade as Connie, Col, and someone named Rat.

The rest of the information was packed into the back of my head, but at the fore-front were the eyes. Three people in town had them, and two were my age. I glanced again at the mirror, then down, then up again.

This time I gazed into my own eyes, the single color contact I wore resting on the counter. Now my left remained the almost black, but the right was a light gray. I looked at my eyes and thought back to all the names and pranks and pain that had come to me as a result of them. I thought to how my own father sometimes slipped when I had the contact out and called me 'Dual'.

It wasn't a very bad nickname, but the story behind it was. I cringed every time he called me that.

Here, though, I would be able to fit in with my mismatched eyes, mixed with the others that had them. No one would even notice - at least I hoped they wouldn't – and I would fit in and be overlooked like before, but without the painful contact.

I walked from the bathroom and out of the house, Dad already having planted himself in front of his computer. The sun shone down and I smiled as its warmth hit me. I could feel the pressure that comes before a storm bu decided not to worry, as it should be tomorrow that it rained.

I again walked to the beach, but this time thought better of staying near number 5. I refused to let them invite me again, as Connie would get to stare at me again and this time would see my eyes. I walked along the cliff and watched as the tide fell even further back then it had before. I looked at the waves that came in and pulled even more of the water away. Seagulls littered the area and were pecking at the remains of high tide, filling themselves up.

I carefully wandered along, wondering if Dad would notice that we had no food before or after the first week of being here. I swear, if he was even a drop more involved in his work he would starve in front of that screen. Don't get me wrong, I love him and never bother him about stuff, but sometimes he is scatter brained.

Ahead I could see a notch in the cliff that caught my attention. Red stone surrounded the entrance and I could hear the dripping of water inside. A smile came to my face. This must be the haunted cave of Hescombe!

Slipping inside, I saw the many tide pools that covered the ground. There were starfish and anenemies crowded inside, but this is not what captured my attention. High ledges surrounded the inside of the cave, looking sturdy enough to allow me to lay on them. I quickly climbed the wall and lay flat on the shelf, my arm dangling over the side.

It was surprisingly comfortable and I felt myself drifting into sleep. It had not come last night, as this was a new place and I had been thinking about many things, and I slowly slipped off.

…

I startled awake by the sound of something hitting the ground and what sounded like a sigh. There was no light and I realized that I had slept the day away inside a cave. I glanced over the edge and saw that the tide was in, filling the cave and blocking my exit. The water splashed in and out, yet seemed to take form around something. Sitting up, I realized I was trapped until the tide went down.

I sat up more and resigned myself to the wait, slinging my legs over the edge. The contacted with something that swayed back when I hit it and I felt a stabbing poke in the back of my knee.

"ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!" The cave shook with the bellow, quacking in the aftermath. Hands reached up and grasped my legs, yanking me from the shelf and holding me up-side down. In front of me was a bull head attached to a man's body. I saw that golden hair covered the chest whilst the head was covered in dark brown. The horns, which I realized were what poked me, looked menacing as the minotaur shook its head.

My mind stopped. I was being held upside down by a minotaur in a cave down the beach from my house in the middle of the night. It made no sense! Minotaurs weren't real! Yet, right in front of me, was proof!

"What do you seek intruder!" The beast boomed, leaving my ears ringing. My mind felt funny – as if it were tingling – and hard pressed – as if I were doing the puzzles in the morning paper. - I groaned as the blood rushed to my head and started a pounding headache.

"That is no answer!" he yelled, "You are here to hurt the Universal, aren't you!" The accusation fell on me as I groaned again, water splashing up and getting in my nose.

"What is a Universal?" I asked, holding my throbbing temples. A shock ran through me suddenly as the minotaur left the cave and hauled me down the beach. I was swinging like a pendulum in his grasp and my hair kept submerging in the cold waves. I shivered and sneezed, already feeling miserable.

The grasp loosened as I fell on dry sand, thankful to finally be right side up and the headache going away. The minotaur leapt toward the house at the end of Shaker Row and I knew now was my golden opportunity. I rose to my feet as the beast went out of sight and ran home.

I quickly rushed to my room, quietly shutting the door as to not disturb my father, and sat on my bed shivering. Shadows played across the wall and danced into my mind. Mythological creature were real! Now I knew, the trees had truly stolen my mother.