Eye Contact by Heron Djenne Canvasback

Chapter One: Half-Life

A tourist-style covered boat drops off sixteen underprivileged troubled teenagers. They pass through the Atlantic Ocean and into U.S.A. territory archipelago islands with artificial islands. The territory's name is Costa Puerto.

The Island of Costa Puerto in itself is a blend of the styles of carpenter gothic, gothic revivals, Spanish colonial, American federalist buildings, Neoclassical, Art Deco,  soft Portuguese style, mission revivals, baroque, brick gothic, adobe brick, and stucco and plaster.

The public areas within Costa Puerto have shacks, beach huts, resorts, cabanas, and, plazas, river-walks, boardwalks, bazaars, city gardens, parks, avenues, roundhouses, pergolas,  terraces, boulevards, alleyways, courtyards, architectural arcades, pavilions, follies, living walls, and promenades.  Earth structures, wooden structure, stone structure,  levees, and vernacular buildings are preferred for nonessential buildings in waterfront areas; this is to reduce pollution during natural disasters.

The teenagers are ushered off the boat through port security. Then they move into a colorful school bus, clearly spray-painted by local artists. They finally arrive in Fleet's Down, an agricultural town in Shipwreck County. This become apparent to the teenagers as they see farms, crop fields, farm animals, shipping piers, civics buildings and public buildings, workers, tractors, silos, windmills, granaries, breweries, barns, farmhouses, local shopping centers, and so forth. There are also a few small beaches.

They go through Oasis' security checkpoints, forfeiting their labelled carry-on bags as well. They're outside, sitting down in another courtyard.

"State your name, something about yourself, and your offenses," a lady with glasses, a clip board, and serious nails taps on her foot. According to her name tag, she is Mrs. Barns. She's the Oasis Adolescence-Adulthood Transition and Development Center's welcoming committee. "You all are seventeen. and were flown in from the mainland United States."

A girl with an athletic body, full lips, olive skin, hazel eyes, green and white dreadlocks, a Monroe & anti-eyebrow speaks with a French accent. "I'm Selene Godspeed. I'd been homeless in Paris since I was five. I have Schizoid Personality Disorder. I'm here for drug possession and prostitution. I have dual-citizenship, and I was caught in L.A."

A girl with popcorn kernel hair, malt eyes, and an industrial piercing speaks. "I'm Fallon Falcon. I have Epilepsy. I beat Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I'm from an atheistic home with domestic violence in Michigan.  I'm here for battery, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon on my good-for-nothing asshole father."

"There will be no swearing," Mrs. Barns warns.

A thin boy with hazel doe eyes and short spiky black hair speaks. "I'm Genesis Stasis. I was raised by my grandpa in Colorado. I'm an erotomanic, with ADD, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I'm here for bootlegging, and acting in underage porno."

A boy with tousled cola hair with brandy eyes, and a beauty mark on his neck and right cheek speaks. "My name is Legacy Ulysses. My parents mutilated and mutated me from an early age, making me be both an illegal sperm and a black market organ donor, all for cash in Idaho. I have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Huntington's disease. I blackmail people for the money, because my parents won't give me any of my disability money."

A boy with Dandelion-like bleached strawberry blond hair and paint-water green eyes speaks "I'm Octavius Curio. I was raised by my stepfather in the projects of New York. I'm here for home and bank robberies and grand theft auto. I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder."

A girl with Galena eyes and sesame hair speaks. "I'm Jessamine Germaine. I ran away from home; I'm from the suburbs of Delaware. I have an enlarged heart, Asthma, and I'm passive aggressive. I'm here for gang violence."