INTRODUCTION
Neptune, sunny Neptune. A dreamy land of sea and sun, an enchanted land where to raise kids and build a happily ever after.
That was Neptune when I grew up, a town of hopes, a town of friendship, promises and marshmallows. But Lilly died. And nothing never been the same. The difference between the 09's and the non-09's, the have and the not-have, servicing them like never before, has just been growing. Crime rate has been sky-rocketing, and a feeling of segregation spread across the lower class, planting the seeds of angriness deeply in their hearts and minds.
Vinnie Van Lowe, our dear and doll PI, full of promises, strong of my father's association to my night visit to the Kane's House, took over the sheriff's position. Full of promises, but lacking of talent and judgment to fulfill them, his reign over the city's law force has been disastrous. His lack of managerial skills even made it worst, the whole deputies going their own way and while gaining independence, also gaining a lack of motivation and guidance. The town was left to a disconnected unit of law officers, who, without being dismantled, was acting in an unorganized and an inefficient way that would be as good as if it was inexistent.
Saying that we were happy of this situation would be a lie. Yes, we did have more clients, because of the inefficiency of the legal and public law services, but this situation had been hurting our town. Hurting us.
My father's reputation has been badly hurt by my investigations, and since then, I have been keeping on the low with my P.I. work. Business suffered during the first year, but incompetency, without bringing esteem and respect back, brought an ever-flowing number of clients to our door. Husbands and wives do not stop cheating with the rise of violence, and I think that is one thing we can be sure of human nature: trust and faithful commitment to each other is another utopia of human mind.
It has been 3 years. 3 long years since that day Logan gave Gory the lesson he deserved, that he defended me, shining and standing on his white-horse, being as knightly as he always been. A knight in a shinning armor. A psychopath with bare hands to make justice. Choose your version. My heart prefers the first one, my head the second. 3 years since my father lost the sheriff election. 3 years of decline in the sunny and dreamy land of Neptune, who has never been as much as a Sin City then ever. Which also means 1 year since my graduation, since OUR graduation. Who would have guessed that we would all make it alive that far in life, eh?
Wallace, shining star of the basketball team, finally graduated in mechanical engineering, but his experience in Africa opened him to the world. He opened his heart to the poorest, to those people with a heart bigger than life and a stomach as empty as their pockets. He was now working for the UN as an engineer project manager, going abroad as often as he could on the field, trying to build and repair the few infrastructure and devices they had over there.
Mac, whose true informatics genius never stopped amazing me, caught the eye of major industries players, but Jake Kane made an offer she couldn't refuse. Cracking his codes impressed him, but surely made him feel threaten by her intelligence and skills. And keeping my friends close to him by a legal agreement restraining them to provide me any information relative to his company and activities was also motivating him somewhere, somehow.
Parker, also moved on and made her way in public relations. Her ever-nice, cheerful and easy-going nature helped her to make her way, her sociability and willingness to say "yes" to life bringing her to the top of her game. She never quite forgives me to be the one Logan loved, and being still roommate with Mac was making things somehow difficult some days. She could open me widely her door, as well as welcoming me like a stranger. I still remember that first day that I met her, with her poster of Colin Farrell. She loved them dark, handsome, with those sad eyes full of misery and strength. She liked them tortured… she liked them like Logan. I should have known better back then that Neptune is too small for not sharing love.
After beating up Piz and Gory, Logan decided to be forgotten by moving to the East Coast. Dick and he still travel around the world, best buddies for life, chasing the best waves, defying them to keep themselves alive. I never had the chance to spoke to him after that day. He just flew away, his eyes still burning my eyes, my mind and my heart, making me shiver, making me feel alive. When I went to his hotel, a few days later, the reception told me he just left, leaving a note to pack up things. Movers came at one point to pick them up, to send them to him, and by tracking them I discovered he was in New York. I was quite surprised by that. There were no waves over there. But hearing about Dick and him just going around the world to ride them was comforting me, knowing that one way or another, he was getting his fix of waves, of surf serenity.
I read in the tabloids that he was actually dating some kind of young and pretty actress, or heiress nowadays. He was always surrounded by amazingly good looking blond goddesses. Being now a successful writer, his life couldn't be more glamorous, unless he decided to start acting… But anything far away from his father was what he was looking for.
As of me, well…me… I have been dating Piz for the last 3 years. I have affection for him, and even if he knows that my heart belongs to someone else, once he was gone, he never lost hope that one day my heart will belong to him. He loves me deeply, I know it, and he will never hurt me. His internship in New York turned out well. He is now the rising star of a Los Angeles affiliated station, and we are smoothly leaving our college years behind us to become real adults. Well, if that is possible with his emo character, Zac Effron boyish look and hopeful and naïve mind. It still impress me how naïve and positive he can be, compared to me!
But every time I hear Logan's name, my eyes keep looking for HIM, and I can see a little piece of Piz dying every single time. My affection for Piz is undoubtedly, and I feel a warm tenderness growing in me each time he wakes me up with a breakfast already on the table, when he opens me the door, gives me his jacket in cold temperature, hold my hand, kiss me on the forehead. But he is no Logan.
Looking at the time board, I stop reminding myself of how far we have come from in the last 3 years. It is no time to be lost in regrets or in sad thoughts. Action is the word. Action is the goal. In 1 hour, I will be boarding. In 1 hour, I'll have to go find the last person I was expecting to go find. In 1 hour, I will be in New York. With a target. And a big one.