Jonathan Mayers: Origins

Chapter One

20 Years Later….

It was the middle of the summer, and the Mediterranean sun was crashing down on the city of Palermo, in Sicily, with all it’s force. The air was being distorted and was shimmering in the heat, and the animals had long since abandoned their daily task of stuffing their mouths full of grass, and had all congregated under trees in the fields where they were grazing. Even the inhabitants of the city, most of whom had grown up in the heat of the region, were forced to seek shelter inside for fear of passing out. Everyone agreed that with heat like this, it was going to be one of the worst summers the island had ever experienced.

It was under these conditions that Jonathan Mayers was forced to walk home under. He was on his way home from the law firm where he worked as an paralegal, and although he normally took the bus home, he had left his wallet, with all his money, on his dresser at his house, leaving him to walk, an arrangement which he was not particularly pleased about.

Mayers had lived in Palermo for as long as he could remember, although one could look at his features and tell he wasn’t from the area, even though he had adopted the tan that most of the residents by birth wore. He had no parents, in fact he never knew them; instead, he had been raised by an Indian, Sunil Chandler, whom he affectionately called Sunny, a name which the neighborhood had taken up as well. How exactly Sunny ended up taking in the boy had been a source of debate in the past, but the general idea was that he had picked him up in some foreign orphanage before moving to Palermo. It never bothered Jonathan, since Sunil had been a wonderful replacement for a parent, and he was the only person that Mayers trusted completely.

Jonathan was normally a well-mannered, soft spoken guy, but walking in almost unbearably heat for an extended period can change even the best of us, and by the time he was nearing his home street, he was drenched in sweat, and in a generally bad mood. A group of girls, who had been struck by his pitch black hair, jet black eyes, and irresistibly chiseled face, got their giggly afternoon greeting returned with a glare and a sour nod. If there was anything that Mayers hated, it was disturbances to his regularly scheduled life, and so far, the afternoon had broken the laws of everything he stood for.

Unknown to him, it was about to get much, much worse; however this time…the entire fabric of his existence was about to be shaken.

When he finally got home, Jonathan was greeted as he usually had been for practically forever; by the sight of Sunny seated on a wicker chair on the front porch, awaiting his arrival. Upset as he was, Jonathan couldn’t help but smile affectionately, as seeing Chandler always had a calming effect on him. Sunny was short, with dark, brown, curly hair; dark brown skin, and a plump physique that gave him the appearance of a jolly, middle aged fellow. The only thing that was off about him was his eyes, or more specifically, his EYE, for the left eye was covered by a black eye patch. Sunil claimed that he had lost it when he was a young man, working in a factory back in India.

The first thing Jonathan noticed was that Chandler was not his usual self. His smile seemed forced, as if he was carrying some sort of burden but didn’t want to show it. Jonathan thought to himself that maybe he found the wallet on the dresser, and was upset about his irresponsibility.

“ Good Afternoon, Sunny,” said Jonathan in greeting as he climbed the steps to the porch.

“Took you long enough to get home. I was beginning to think maybe you made some plans to sleep out and didn’t tell me” returned Sunny, with just a touch of sarcasm buried in there.

‘So I was right,’ moaned Jonathan to himself, ‘ He is upset about the wallet.’

Out loud he said “ Yeah..well...walking home is kinda hard you know…especially..with this sun and all.”