PROJECT MORTUUS : Love's End

Chapter 1: Two Different Worlds

Maria Morris was a bold and confident young woman with near-goddess quality looks. Wide or subtle, her smile could shatter any man's confidence and turn him into a puddle. Her pale blue eyes lay on her face like timid pools of everlasting beauty. When she walked, she walked with conviction despite her occasional clumsy stumble. 

She made her presence known when she entered a room through her flamboyant personality and stunning looks. Not only was she drop-dead gorgeous, but Maria was also a tall girl, standing at six foot one inch. 

She had a soft expression, full lips, and wavy hair. It was a truly lethal combo that made her super popular. She obviously did not need to wear what she did since even a garbage bag would look good on her, and she knew it, too. 

Maria came from a well-off household in the suburbs of Crater Hollow, just a short walk from Longburg High, where she went to school. She lived with her single father, who cared deeply about her. Maria had never really known her mother. She passed away when Maria was very young, but she never knew how. 

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Dad. I can drive myself." She'd laugh every time he offered to drive her to work and kiss his cheek before leaving for her job at the small café down the road from her house. 

"I know." He'd always reply. "And you stay away from that Morgan boy."

Her dad had never approved of her boyfriend, Peter Morgan, and only considered him nothing but trouble. Mr. Morris thought of him to be like a siren, someone who seemed to be excellent but evil deep down. 

Peter Morgan was a quiet young man with thick jet-black hair that he usually had recolored to a brownish, highlighting his pale peach skin and making him seem cartoonish. His soft emerald eyes were a source of calmness. With one look, you'd be hooked. In honesty, he was the spitting image of his father, one of Crater Hollow's most outstanding scientists, Alexander Morgan. 

Alexander Morgan was a genius scientist in little Crater Hollow who valued his family much more than his work. Unfortunately, he met an untimely end at the hands of a gun.  

Despite this, most people hardly notice Peter and see him as a nerdy kid. He was rather bookish, though kind and funny, but often overlooked due to his alcoholic mother. Peter lived in a trailer park outside the main road to the town that crossed over the Crater Hollow Bridge. 

His clothes were often tattered, his face was covered in cuts and scrapes from working at the lumber yard, and the abuse he received from his mother. He'd frequently sleep on the streets to avoid his mother's abuse when she was incredibly drunk. It had pretty much been him against the world until he met Maria. 

"GET OUT OF MY DAMN HOUSE, YOU LAZY, DISRESPECTFUL ASS!!" His mother would often scream at him from the door and throw an empty bottle of vodka or whatever alcoholic substance she was drinking at the time. 

Later, he would sneak back in through his open window while she lay on the couch, surrounded by bottles of beer and burned-out cigarettes, the T.V.'s blare doing nothing to wake her. She was a heavy drinker and a violent blackout drunkard. 

This was almost every night, but to Peter, it was normal. He'd just cry himself to sleep and then do it over again the next night. 

"Why don't you just leave her already, Peter? She doesn't deserve you." Maria would tell him as the two sat and sipped their coffee together in the mornings and talked about life. Sometimes their friend, Annastasia, would join them, not because she was asked. She just kind of appeared. 

"Yeah! You should leave that bitch, P.J.," Annastasia would add, giving her third-wheel advice as usual despite no one asking. Peter would always roll his eyes at the "creative" names that Annastasia would always give to his mother, which, granted, was quite befitting. 

Peter would wrap his arm around Maria, "I'm fine, really, Vee." She knew better than to argue with him about it. He'd smile and kiss her cheek. 

He was a good guy but could have been better at standing up for himself. Peter would then leave a tip and a small origami animal he made from his napkin before he left—something like a pig or a cow or possibly even a dragon. 

She loved those little origami animals he made. They were one of her favorite things about Peter: his ability to turn trash into beauty. He was usually a quiet young man, nothing like the girl he loved. Maria was much more outgoing. They made the perfect couple, but most people were somewhat jealous of them. 

That was a typical morning for them, but today was something different. In fact, for a while, everything was different but not nearly as distinct as it will be.