Whisper Bay: Oliver & Chloe: The Beginning

Intro & Secret Places

Never again!

It didn't matter what Aralia was saying as she stroked my hair soothingly, like a mother with her child. I admired her maternal instinct, God knows I'd never experienced it, but in that moment, it didn't matter how she tried to comfort and assure everything would be okay. It wouldn't. My heart ached and I could hardly breathe as my body shook with rapt tears. I should have been used to it by now, to those terrible words, the laughter, and the snide remarks. It was all I had experienced since arriving in Whisper Bay. But it was the graffiti on my locker that had finally shattered me:

SLUT!

I should have been used to disappointment and a broken heart, but I was a fool. A fool who believed in love, and that somewhere out there, was someone to love me. I thought he was the one. I thought this place would be different. I was so wrong. I was always wrong.

I could taste the tears on my lips as I tried to take jagged breaths, the sounds of my wails echoing off the walls of the cave. This was our place - Aralia's and mine, our secret, the one place we could hide and escape the world. Tucked into a small outcropping along the northern coast of town, accessible only during low tide, it was a place few would dare to venture. Yet we did. It was the only place we could breathe, where the reality of life couldn't penetrate or harm us.

"It will be okay, Chloe. It'll be okay," Aralia continued to assure, her hand still in my hair.

"I will never let anyone in again!" The words were barely recognizable through my blubbering.

"You don't mean that Chloe."

"Yes, I do. I do! Never again!"

Secret Places(partial)

He cannot be more than forty. Surely not more than that?

I'd been asking myself that question for a year and I still didn't know the answer. Patrick Pettigrew, my boss and the manager of The Music Box, was gorgeous. He was six-foot-two, broad shouldered, and had sandy blonde hair with a few odd strands of silver dispersed throughout. His smile was like sunshine in the early morning, and his goatee was always immaculate. He even had a killer tan from hours of surfing every day. Surfing was the reason why he never opened the store, and why I always did. This morning however, he was breaking protocol and holding a meeting before the store opened for business. He never had meetings, and his desire for one now had us all on edge. There were rumors that the store was under threat of closing. There was talk of new owners who wanted to close down the current location and move the store to the new strip mall. The Music Box was the largest stand-alone record store in Whisper Bay, hiring many of Kranmer High's students, like myself. I was eighteen and an assistant manager, not too bad if I did say so myself, and only after a year of living in the quaint seaside town. If the rumors were true, the owners would pay a higher rent, have a smaller store, and need fewer employees. I was as nervous as the others were. I needed this job more than any of the others did.

"Good morning guys," Patrick's gravelly voice broke into my thoughts. "Sorry for the delay. I was waiting for someone, but he's here now." He turned, looking over his shoulder at the young man who stood behind him. I could see my coworkers' eyes shifting around me in confusion. Who was this guy and why was he so important that it required a meeting to tell us?

"Alright guys, we have a new member to our team. As you know, Jaimie left us for college last week, so let me introduce you to my nephew, Oliver Pettigrew. He will be joining the roster from today forward."

He looked over at me, and right then I couldn't help but be distracted. Patrick had beautiful eyes.

"You'll need to readjust a few things, Chloe, but I'm sure you can make it work." I nodded my confirmation as he continued. "Oliver has recently returned to town from Los Angeles, so I'd appreciate it if you guys would make him feel at home again."