She Sells Seashells

She Sells Seashells- Chapter 1

Clink, clink, clink. The money dropped into her cash register. Money that she would never get to keep.

Marney sighed inaudibly as the customer paid and left her shack, if you could call it that. She was plain tired of her job. She loved collecting the lovely seashells, sand-dollars, and starfish, but after selling them she felt guilty somehow.

Yet another tourist father came into veiw, anchored by two small begging children. He grudgingly paid her a bill for two small shells, then left, the whining kids still in tow.

Why can't I be normal and have a life? Marney's thoughts drifted to an idea that had been pulling on her for a while now. While no one was looking, she could sneak the bills from the register, creep over to that lonely cave, and then climb onto it and no one could see her there, so she'd make a break for it.

No, too predictable. She needed a wild escape plan that her manager couldn't see. Her manager, also her step-mother, gave her ownership of the small shack that she ate, slept, worked, lived and breathed in. It was a small lean-to, with a crumbling wooden roof built upon two short wooden pillars. A small sleeping-bag, as well as a raggedy wooden chest, decorated the shack. A wooden bar held smoothies, as well as all of her sea shells that she was selling right then. Almost everything was crumbling, old, and wooden, curdosy of Sarah. It also held up the cash register, that her step-mother took her rightfully owned money from.

Marney sighed again as yet another tourist came up to the bar and ordered a smoothie along with one of her favorite seashells. Marney's heart twisted and jumped in her chest as she watched him take her shell away. Just another thing that was taken away. Her mom had died in a car crash when she was twelve, and her dad remarried then died. Her snotty step-mother forced her to become part of her business on the beach, making her collect seashells then sell them to the tourists. She had to go deep-sea diving, collect by the cove, and go snorkeling to find the perfect ones. Then her "manager", Sarah, took the money Marney made and used it to by makeup. Was it fair? Not at all. Did she have to do it until she was eighteen and was able to escape her guardian in one year? Of course.

Marney was jarred out of her thoughts as someone cleared their throat right in front of her. It was a customer of about twenty.

"I'd like to have a strawberry-banana smoothie, with one of your lovely seashells. You pick it out for me," the man said. Marney stood in shock. The man's eyes were as blue as the ocean, his hair in a purposefully-not-trying style, and his tan skin and pearly white teeth made him hot.

Marney realized she looked like a love-struck dork, so she blushed and made the smoothie quickly, forgetting to put the lid on. The strawberry goodness spewed every which way, managing to get all in Marney's hair, shirt, and face, but not spilling a drop on the marvelous-looking customer.

He shook his head, gracefully vaulting over the bar and helping her clean up the mess. Then he took a seashell, slapped a bill onto the now-clean bar, and walked swiftly away, just like that. Marney stared after him in shock, realizing that she had never even learned the handsome man's name. But now he was gone, probably forever. Or so she thought.

{A/N: do you like it? Should I keep on writing this story? It's going to be short, hence the term "short" story, so about seven parts or less. Please comment, vote, like and fan, and check out my other book, Journey for the Gem. Thanks for reading! Love, ridingrl :) }