Anna leads a lonely and troubling life. With many things going on already, she must persevere to win the fight between a mysterious clan of kidnappers and scramble back to her once joyful life and start a new chapter.
A tear escaped her eye and fell onto her black cotton scarf. Another dripped onto the pebbles which glinted in the afternoon sun. She tucked her russet hair behind her ear yet the breeze always took it back. She squinted as she watched the sun disappear into the horizon and a chill fell upon her. Clumps of seaweed slowly lapped onto the beach with the tide. Anna stepped back and wrapped her coat tight around herself. Her mother had bought it for Christmas last year. It was her only black coat, as she was the type of person who wore bright colours and was bubbly almost all of the time. But in this case, she had to burrow into the depths of her wardrobe to find her dark clothes for the funeral earlier that day.
It was most upsetting, all Anna had wanted in life was to make people happy. Yet she wasn't even the most content despite the fact that she was with Ryan, the love of her life, for five years.
She took her cold pasty out of her pocket and took a bite from the crust. She remembered Ryan joking about her strange way of eating pasties whenever they had bought them from the bakers and strolled down to the beach whatever the weather. He would put his expensive umbrella over her when it rained. But one day the ferocious gales snatched the umbrella out of his hands and they never got it back. “What a waste of money!” He had said. He smiled then they raced home in a downpour.
A swooping sound above her drew her back to the present, where a herring gull plummeted toward her and plucked her lunch out of her hands.
“Darn seagulls”. She kicked a stone and turned to see a tall man staring at her. He had deep blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was wearing a grey and black stripy scarf and a long coat. Her eyes widened. “Ryan?” She stepped closer but he disappeared right before her eyes. Her vision became blurry with tears and she grasped the cuffs of her jumper. She stood there for a while with her eyes squeezed shut. Then she took a deep breath and opened them. The herring gull with her pasty had attracted all the other birds which were now gathered in front of her. She could feel her feet freezing as the tide sloshed into her boots and water leaked in. They all edged closer until she had to race through the water and off the beach to get away.
She trekked along the sandy pavement which led her into town. Her cheeks felt prickly after her face had been exposed to the strong winds and sand for a little too long. Her friend from the flat above her was hiking up the steep hill with two large boxes filled with books in her arms. She peeked her head round a box and called across the street “Hey Anna! Could you give me a hand with these boxes?”. Anna walked briskly towards her then she took a box from her arms. “So where are we taking these?” She said as they walked up the hill. “Oh, Drew asked me if I had any books that I didn't want so he could fill some shelves in the bookshop so I brought a load down from the basement for him but I didn't realize that they would be quite this heavy!” She said all in one breath. “Sorry that I called you over, you probably have better things to do than heave boxes up a hill with me!” Fran laughed as they opened the stiff door of Drew's Compendium of Books and set the boxes on a desk.
Anna exhaled and a cloud of dust spread throughout the store. She rang the bell at the counter and a voice called from the back room “I'll be there in a minute!” then a crashing sound made Fran and Anna flinch. “Agh!”
They both looked at each other then Drew came out with messy hair and said: “Shelves are falling apart. It's the woodworms you see, they've eaten right through! I'll have to find some metal ones”. He quickly dusted the desk then said: “So you have some books for me?”
“Yep, I'm glad I can finally get rid of them!” Drew took the boxes into the back room and Anna headed for the door. Fran stopped her and said, “Hey, you ok?”
Anna sighed “I'll be alright” and left. Fran watched her hurry down the road like an angry mob was chasing her.
“I do worry about her, you know” Drew came out of the storeroom with almost white hair from the dust.
“She doesn't seem to know what to do with her life anymore. She used to be so cheerful and lively, now all the colour has drained right out of her.”
“I think she just needs some time to figure out what to do”
Fran glanced at Drew's uncertain expression and leaned on the arm of the sofa.
