Endless Sea

Chapter 10: Eugene

April 13th, 1856

Nettie blabbered about her schooling as she and Howard walked down the street,

"Yesterday we finished reading that David Blight book I told you I was reading, and I practiced my guitar and my knitting with mummy. And also we learned about the new Baron in Kent. Mummy got sent a personal letter from Great Uncle Raymond about it! He doesn't write us a lot, he writes cousin Muriel a lot but never me and I think it's because they're more closely related but I don't know." Nettie rambled as Howard carried her purse for her.

"Noelia." Howard stopped her,

She stopped. "Yeah?"

"Didn't you want to buy some shoes or something, I thought that's why we went out." He said, wanting to go home sooner than later because it was his only day off and he was quite tired.

"Oh! yes, yes thank you Howard for reminding me!" Nettie smiled. "Hm." She looked around, looking at the shops nearby. One called 'Bunyasarn Woodworks & Jewelry', Nettie looked up at the sign. She hadn't noticed it before.

"Come along Howard, let's go there. I want to see what they're selling." She tugged his sleeve, they walked across the street to the small corner shop.

Howard held the door for Nettie to walk inside, looking around the small store. There were shoes, toys, jewelry, watches, and other knick-knacks. Everything was so perfect and flawless except for a few small paintings marked for three shillings each. So expensive for a painting that was not that great.

Nettie went around looking at the different shoes, being completely focused on them until a small boy came out from the door behind the counter. He wasn't very tall, he had warm beige skin and deep brown eyes with short black hair that slightly fell in his face. Nettie stood still, staring at him for a moment with a flustered look.

Howard glanced at Nettie, following her eyes to the young boy as he cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you staring at him?"

"No reason!" Young Nettie said, her face burned red as she blushed. She got her little fan out of her pocket, fanning herself as she tried to catch the boy's attention.

He was too focused on counting money on the table, repeating numbers to himself quietly before stopping and starting over every so often. As if he had lost count.

"Oh Howard look at him, he's so elegant," said Nettie, holding Howard's arm.

Howard frowned, a bit confused. "Him?"

"Yes," She quietly replied, smiling.

"Well, you should go say hi then." Howard grinned. "Maybe he likes you too."

Nettie's face grew shocked. "What! No, no, no Howard I can't do that. That would be humiliating." Said the girl.

Howard took her hand, walking to the counter with her as Nettie grumbled and whined for him not to. "HELLO!" Howard spoke loudly to the boy at the counter.

He looked as if he had jumped out of his skin, startled by Howard. The boy looked up at Howard, trembling slightly as his eyebrows wrinkled. He said nothing.

"This is Noelia, and I'm Howard. What's your name?" Howard introduced himself and the extremely flustered Nettie next to him.

The boy continued saying nothing, the three stood in silence as a tall figure lifted from the table in the room behind the counter. Despite the door being open just a crack, the tall shadow loomed in the darkroom and slowly approached the door.

"What do you want." They said, stepping out of the door. It was a dark man, golden skin with darker eyes than the boy. He had short black hair and defined cheekbones, but his most obvious feature was the fact he was larger than the door. Almost the height of the ceiling. He was at least seven feet tall.