Pandora Edge, year 12 student at point break high. Daughter of a fisherman father and dive instructor mother, she lived right across the road from the docks, her dads boat visible from her bedroom window.
She often helped out on the boat, cleaning up and doing maintenance. Today her job for the weekend was untangling the fishing nets, which was boring as hell but did earn her some extra cash as a thanks from her dad. It was hot today, and working out in the sun didn't help. She wore a tank top and shorts, slathered the rest of her skin in sunscreen and slapped on a hat to keep the sun from her eyes.
"Oi Kiddo"
She looked up from her fishing net, her dad standing over her.
"Take this and get some drinks will ya? It's getting hot as hell today" he said, handing her a $20 bill.
"Sure, any preferences?" She replied.
"Get me a coke, no sugar"
"Right, I'll be back!"
She jumped from the railing of the boat onto the docks, and wandered up the jetties to go down to the boardwalk for drinks. The beach was pretty packed today, a swimming event was on. The smell of sausage sizzles and sunscreen was in the air, as well as the noise of air horns making the start and end of each race. Most people down at the beach meant the boardwalk was a little emptier than usual today, and those who were up on it were sitting at cafe tables watching the race from above.
Going into the convenience store, she went right to the fridge for the drinks. A Coke Zero for her dad and Ramune for her. She ALWAYS got ramune, the flavour varied but it was always ramune. She had a collection of marbles from the inside of the bottle, and had tasted almost every flavour there was.
"Oi Aries, check it"
Pandora looked up at the sound of the voice she found... so familiar. Across the isles were two people. A tanned girl in a pink and yellow bikini and an... androgynous being? In a tank top and high waisted shorts. They were grabbing slushies and looking at the magazines.
"Aw sick, I don't even read these but I'm getting it just for the freebies" the androgynous one, presumably Aries said.
The girl, she looked so familiar...
Oh wait! She was the girl from camp! Icarus wasn't it? And her friend was... they were both the people from other other night when she was pulling up the crab nets. So they were locals?
Glancing over at them, she looked at Aries hands holding the magazine. Just as she thought, it was the same person from that night. The ring she'd noticed and almost had a heart attack over how similar it was to her grandmothers was on the ravens finger.
Pandora couldn't help but watch them from a distance, knowing they were the ones that she'd seen jump into the ocean the other night. The ones that may have answers to her questions...
"Free bag, poster AND watch? That's a total steal" Icarus said.
"I know, I want more tamagotchi stuff I'm totally getting it" Aries replied.
"I'm getting popteen, obviously. Oh wait- hey they have the new lip smackers!"
The two moved into the next isle where Icarus grabbed a cotton candy lip smacker, a comment from Aries about how she already has a million lip smackers followed. They paid for their stuff, and left the store.
Out of curiosity, Pandora went over to the magazines to see what they were talking about. One of them had a mini shoulder bag, a tear out poster and watch all with tamagotchi prints on them in the plastic as freebies. The ones that Aries was talking out. And next to it was a j-fashion magazine with glittery letters spelling popteen, the one Icarus was talking about.
Curious about the two, but needing to get back to her dad, she paid for the drinks and left to get back. As she made her way back down the boardwalk and over to the docks, she spotted the same two just ahead of her. They were going in the same direction for a while, but eventually they turned toward the aquarium and Pandora went down to the docks.
She needed to talk to them sometime, about what she saw and hope they had some kind of answer for her.
Getting back to the boat she climbed on, and whistled for her dads attention.
"Think fast" she called, tossing him the coke.
He almost dropped it, but managed to catch it before it hit the ground.
"Jeez kid, it's gonna explode now" he laughed.
Pandora put her ramune on the table, unwrapping the top of it.
"More ramune? you're gonna turn into one" her dad joked.
"I'd rather be a ramune in a cold fridge in this heat" she replied, popping the top down and hearing the clink of the marble fall into the bottle.
The two sat at the table for a moment to cool off and drink. Needing a break from the work on the boat for a while. Out of curiosity, Pandora figured she could see if her father knew about anything.
"Hey dad"
"Hm?" He mumbled, sipping his drink.
"That box grandma gave me, it's got a ring in it. You know where it's from?" She asked.
"That one made of wire? No idea. She had it even before I was born. She came here when I was a kid, and to be honest I don't really remember much from before we came here, but I remember she always had that ring"
"I guess I'm just wondering why she gave it to me, I was expecting her to give it to you or mum"
"Probably because you're her only grandchild, she always made such a big deal out of spoiling you, you know?" Her father explained.
Pandora couldn't help but draw parallels between the ring she had, and the one Aries wore. They looked almost identical apart from the charm. And the note her grandma left in the box, telling her to 'finish what she started' had always confused her.
But if Aries had the same ring, maybe they were from wherever her grandmother was from?
That's why she needed to talk to the two friends, it was really starting to look like there was some kind of link there...
YOU ARE READING
Izroulia: Hunt for the Lost Pod
Fantasy[DRAFT 1] In the summer of 2009, on the coast of Western Australia lies the fishing and surfing famous town of pointbreak bay. Known for its scorching heat and extensive ocean wildlife, students are enjoying their last days of summer break before sc...
