The Demon Mate

Chapter 1

   The ocean's awfully grey. I didn't remember it being this dismal when I visited here when I was a kid. Maybe time changed my perspective of looking at things. Or it may be that I'm not as innocent and carefree as I used to be.

  Curled up in the back seat of the Black Ben Dad prepared for me to be driven into his home town, I looked out across the grey ocean, and an equally grey sky, looking for a horizon that was hidden in the fog. The sea looks very similar to the color of dirty mop water, the type you find in the janitor's closet after he's done his dirty and distasteful work. Now, that's not to say I think his work is horrible. I'm just the type to not want to touch a mop ever, and would contemplate offering cash bribery. And I'm honest enough to admit that. Though the weather still goes back to that description I gave and stand by. Needless to say, it's dismal.

   Don't get me wrong, I love all types of weather, but when you have to sit in the back of a car for four hours to go to your new home, and you aren't addicted to your phone, you automatically look out the window. And if all you see is a world of grey, it's only a matter of time until you become brain dead.

   Your mind first tries to play these frivolous games, like find a shape in the sky, or see how many words you know, or make up new words. But after each new game, you become more and more bored, like a wasted toy that's lost its allure from when you first opened it. And then you sink into the grey, grey stupor that I'm in right now.

   I sigh and curl up even more in my seat. I left the city because of the hustle and bustle of life was unbearable. Not to mention noisy.

   Also the people. Too many people. I don't know how Dad or Nathan or Henry, my two older brothers, managed to work in that city. I guess somebody has to work to keep the money rolling in. Though there is the family heritage, and dad is the CEO of a multi-billionaire company, he still insists on working. Nathan and Henry as well, Nathan being a doctor and Henry a lawyer.

  I would never be able to do any of those jobs, seeing as how I'm not smart or a good leader. But I guess whatever floats your beer bottle, man. Cut up people and argue all day. Just have fun with it. Besides, there are other things about that city...

   I'm pulled out of my thoughts when the driver, Mike, says, "We're about there Cayce. You should start to be able to see Handerville soon."

   "Oh, okay," I reply.

   I may be negative on the inside, but on the outside, I try to be professional. Polite, kind, and professional. I put my legs down from my seat and smooth out the black vest that I'm wearing over my white collared shirt. I'm wearing matching black pants and boots. My shoe size is pretty small, only a seven, and it matches my height, a mere 5'5".

   Not the shortest, but not the tallest. My black color theme matches my hair color, which is, you got it, black. My palish gross skin does little to add to my overall appearance, but that can't be helped because that's what I am. Pale, black-haired, tiny, and very taciturn. Oh, and well-bred. Cayce Vance, at your service.

  My bored eyes that are scanning the landscape notice a much-anticipated change. The road we're on begins to slope downhill, and instead of farmland on my right, crops of trees have begun to pop out, eventually becoming a forest. The sea to the left is unchanging though. Hounding us with it's dull and grey garments. Today the sea really is an old man.

   We drive through the forest for a while before the road curves to the right, and for the first time since my tenth birthday, I'm able to see Handerville, nestled in a green blanket of trees, and the ocean biting at the edge of town. The tiny town has neat streets running in perpendicular format, but snaking off into dissonant curves near the edges of it.