New Haven

A FERRY RIDE AND A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

The older man never made it to the hospital. The Newspapers reported the older man had passed away in the ambulance. He left behind an only son and a grandson. The rest of the summer moved quickly so when the last Wednesday of August came around the girls were not excited to start school. They woke up late and almost missed the ferry boat that would take them to their new school. Sara, their mother, decided on crying the entire time they were on the ferry as David tried desperately to comfort her. He tried his best to calm Sara down as Dusk tuned her out. She stared out into the ocean for the first time in her life. Dusk tried to describe it to herself, but all the words that came to her mind seemed too small to describe the vastness of the ocean.

“Excuse me miss, can you take a picture of us please?” an older women next to Dusk asked. She gave Dusk her camera and rounded her family together. Dusk tried to focus in on the happy family and was ready to take the picture when someone caught her attention through the camera lense. A blond hair boy stood in the back ground of the picture staring at them while he leaned against the railing of the ferry just watching. He was tall with black pants and a black shirt on. Dusk saw as he stared at her. At least she thought he was staring at her.

“Is everything okay miss?” the women asked. Dusk nodded; quickly taking the snap shot she hurriedly gave back the camera to the older women. The older women thanked Dusk again. Dusk glanced back to where she had seen the boy only moments ago, but he wasn’t there anymore. She was surprised by the sudden rush of disappointment that came over her.

Dawn stumbled up toward Dusk, “Hey. Mom’s really starting to get embarrassing, so I’m going to take her below deck to help her re-do her makeup a little before we get there. You good on your own?” she asked with a bit of sarcasm coloring her words. Dusk was the older sister, yet Dawn always seemed to think she was the fragile one. Dusk was pale and delicate, but definitely not fragile. She watched as Dawn took their hysterical mother down to the lower deck with David following close behind the two. Dusk look back out towards the ocean as a cold sensation came over her. She rubbed up and down her arms as goose dumps appeared.

“Hello,” Dusk heart stopped at the hum of his voice, as she turned to a pair of light blue eyes, nearly grey, staring back at her. His blond hair moved with the wind giving him the look of still motion pictures, which made it hard for her to look away.

“Hello” Dusk said back in a low tone.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you” he said, yet the smoothness of his voice and light grin on his face made her believe otherwise. He leaned forward on the rail keeping his eyes on her.

Dusk looked down and took in a deep breath before speaking, “I’m fine” she said nervously.

“That’s good” he said. The boy seemed to be trying to figure out what to say next as Dusk studied him, “So you’re a new student at Rupert Ivan Prep” he told her, “or how we students like to call it, rest in peace academy.”

“No,” Dusk said shaking her head as she laughed at his joke, “I’m a new student at New Haven Prep.”

He looked at her for a moment completely surprised by her answer, “Are you sure?” he asked Dusk looking slightly confused.

“Yes.”

He looked at Dusk questionably. His expression changed to something closer to sadness as he continued to stare out towards the ocean, “Oh” he whispered so low she could barely hear him. “It would have been nice to be going to the same school.” He gave her a half –hearted smile. It seemed to Dusk that where she was going to start school seemed very important to this boy, for a deeper reason that she wasn’t aware of. She stopped him when he turned to leave.

“Wait.” Dusk tapped his elbow and stared up at him as he straightened up to his full height. Wow! She hadn’t noticed how tall he was when he had been leaning against the railing of the ferry. “The…there’s two school’s here on the…um…the island?” Dusk asked, surprised at her self.

Since when do I ever stutter? She thought to herself.

He looked down at her hand on his arm and smiled, “Yes” he answered studying her closely now, “and you’re positive you’re going to the right one? You’re sure you’re not going to Rupert Ivan Preparatory school?”

Dusk nodded confused by the way he kept asking her that question. She let go of his elbow as she looked away changing the topic of conversation, “so… where’s the other one?” she asked, fascinated by this new found knowledge of another school on the island.

He leaned in closer to her face with a smile that made it hard to breathe. He was the prefect height for her- for any girl. He was so close to her face that she should have been bothered about the personal invasion of space, but she didn’t really mind. He lifted his hand to her face, hesitant at first then brushed some loose strands of her hair behind her ear as he whispered, “Maybe I’ll show you where it is someday.”

He pulled away grabbing a bag that seemed to come from nowhere. He placed it on his left shoulder, as Dusk stood there completely flustered and red. The ferry landed at the island and Dusk felt suddenly sad that they had made it to the island.

“See you around NORM,” he said over his shoulder smiling as he took off from the ferry. He looked completely isolated as he walked away all by himself up the road in the other direction from where the main road was. Dusk watched as he walked up to a man dressed in a black suit with a clipboard and showed him some ID. Only one other person from the entire boat that she noticed went in the same direction as the boy with the light blue eyes. Dusk was suddenly very curious to know where this other school on the island was. She kept staring at him, until she couldn’t see him anymore. She was shocked to find that even though he had been gone the chills he had given her hadn’t seemed to go away.

“Who was the hotness?” Dawn asked her sister, nudging her on the shoulder as she did.

“Just a boy that was on the ferry”

“Just a boy? No honey, that boy was all man! That was a beautiful specimen of the male species.” Dawn proclaimed, “By the way your blushing I can tell he is definitely your type.”

“Who’s your type, sweetheart?” Sara asked.

“No one mother. Dawn’s just being her usual self.”

“Dawn stop bugging your sister. Go with your father.”

“Fine” Dawn said.

Sara put her arm around Dusk’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze, “Don’t let your sister bother you. You’re going to like it here. I can feel it. And please keep an eye on Dawn;” Sara asked her oldest daughter, “You know she can get a little crazy.” Dusk nodded as Sara took out the passes for the ferry boat.

It seemed the only way to enter the Island was if you had a guest, visitor pass or you had a school ID on you. You had to show the ferry man you were from one of the two schools located on the island. Dusk noticed as she watched the ferry man checking passes. Those who didn’t have a pass of any kind had to stay on the ferry.

“Talk about major privacy” Dawn said watching the ferry man and island security as well. They grabbed their things and walked toward the only bus parked there. The bus looked like some futuristic solar powered vehicle. Dusk noticed as David loaded their things into it. The ride itself wasn’t very long but long enough to give them time to see some of the island scenery. New Haven Preparatory school was located on the back of the island, which was why the girls could only see the top of the school from their beach house. “Maybe there’s like some secret government thing on this island?” Dawn said winking at Dusk.

“Wow Dawn!”

“What?” Dawn asked, “That could totally happen.” Dusk laughed at her sister as they continued their bus tour of the island with their parents. They nervously waited for the first view of their new school.