Bitten

one

 With a huff, I pushed my blonde, slightly wavy locks out of my face, furrowing my slightly darker blonde eyebrows together, causing a crease to appear in between said eyebrows. My GPS had quit working, and I was getting deeper into the forest, losing reception. You'd think a tropical island would have palm trees, sand, and five-star resort hotels, but the island of Bliss was much different that you could infer.

 Sure, there was sand, and palm trees, actually, on the outskirts of the island. It's hot, and sunny, and totally tropical. It was a dream paradise, but as you went further inland, evergreens and oaks started to sprout, as well as birches, and dogwood trees. Fifteen minutes of driving in a crammed rental car later, I was fully engulfed into the rainforest. Why was there a rainforest in the middle of the Caribbean? Was this some part of global warming?

 Frustrated, I grabbed my phone with the intention to make a phone call to the person who had hired me for the position at a job that I was working really hard to get to, but I had no service - whatsoever. I could scream. I huffed and tossed my phone into the passenger's seat of the vehicle, pressing on the gas pedal further. If I followed this road, I was sure to come across some sight of the family home, right?

 I'm Claire Law, and I'm twenty years old. I may seem a little out of sorts, or overreactive, but please trust me when I say that I'm not usually like that. I'm a university student, studying English and English Literature at Bliss University, which I had passed on the way to this place, where I was supposed to be working. To go to this university, though, I needed some sort of income to pay off my tuition.

 Naturally, I looked for an employment on websites like Craigslist, or Indeed, searching in the Bliss Island area. Unfortunately, there weren't many postings, but one that seemed to be untouched by anyone was a posting for a Live-In Nanny, and I just had to get it. The employer interviewed me through Skype, considering I hadn't yet left my hometown of Chicago, and I snagged the job so easily, I felt lucky. I immediately packed my bags, convincing my mum that I would be fine, and left to Bliss on the next flight out.

 Now here I was, totally and completely lost in the middle of no where. But the lights up ahead showed promise. The tiniest car ever invented lugged on, and soon enough I came to a sign engraved with the family's last name - ' Constantin '. A chill ran through my skin as a raven flew dangerously close to the windshield, but once it was out of sight, I urged the car forward, down the driveway. What if this was the wrong driveway, and I was actually going into the family's cemetery or something? What an eerie thought.

 Thankfully, I was right to turn when I did, because after a few seconds of driving, a lit-up, old-fashioned manor came into view. Manor, or mansion? It was black - all black. If you turned off the lights, it would be camouflaged in the darkness of the night. The driveway was gravel, but it didn't take away from the marvelously creepy structure in front of her. In awe, I parked the rental car in front of the house, switching the ignition off, and sitting back in my seat.

 My jaw wasn't dropped, but you could tell that I was awestruck if you looked at me. I slowly got out of the car, a little hesitant to actually embrace the fact that I was here. I was in Bliss, and I got to stay in some creepy looking, but still freaking beautiful, manor. I opened the door to the very cramped back seat / trunk, and pulled out my dark blue suitcase, and light green duffel bag. I didn't need to bring much from home - I could always build up my wardrobe here. 

 I dragged my suitcase along with me after closing the back door to the buggy, and hoisted my duffel bag up on my opposite shoulder to even out the labor to some extent. I stepped up the black cherry wood stairs, and walked across the expansive front patio to the double doors that posed as the front entrance to the house. I rested my suitcase on the ground, and inspected the doors. They were wooden as well, just like the rest of the structure, and on either side were frosted windows, as well as a doorbell on one side. There was also the option of the door knockers on either door.