The Magic on the Island #Onceuponnow

Part 2: First Chapter

 

After our plane lands in Hawaii, we gather our things from baggage claim then head outside to catch a taxi. This place is gorgeous! It looks just like how it does in the movies and in pictures. Palm trees and lush green mountains with a smoking volcano to my left, beaches with sand as white as fallen snow stretching all around, and the most exotic flowers I have ever seen. Across the way from the airport, I can just barely make out the turquoise and aquamarine waters lapping up against the shore. My breath has truly been taken away, I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life.

"The view is amazing, isn't it?" I look over at Daniel who hailed the taxi and just finished helping the driver load the bags into the trunk.

"It really is. I can't believe you get to see this every time you go outside." He smiles and holds the door open for me to get into the taxi.

"That's okay, you don't have to do stuff like that. I'm a feminist I don't have people open doors for me, but thanks anyway."

"Oh! Okay, I wasn't aware of that. I'll keep it in mind." I walk around the car and get in. As we drove towards the astonishing mountains and the smoking volcano, I saw more of Hawaii. After about ten minutes we drove through this area where there were a ton of laid back, but fun looking stores. This is definitely a place I'll need to stop by on a later date. Besides the cool stores, we pass cafes with surfing or beach themes and a few gas stations. But the thing that really catches my eye is a bronze statue of a mermaid with her hand stretching up, as if she's trying to rise to the surface. She's placed in the middle of a round stone walkway that looks out onto the beach. But before I can notice more we are driving down a lonely road into the edge of the mountains. All the vegetation is colored gorgeously and I roll the window all the way down to inhale the fresh island air.

We turn off onto a narrow drive that leads to a beach house. A beach house, seriously? What's next, are there going to be movie theaters and bowling alleys in there too? If they put me up for adoption because they "couldn't take care of me", then what the heck is this? Before me, sits a decent sized tan beach house. The front of the house faces the driveway and the cluster of trees, while the back looks out at the ocean. The front porch has two white beach style lounge chairs and a few small marine life statues intertwined with blooming hibiscus flowers. Now I'm mad, how is it that they couldn't take care of me yet it looks like they're living the life! Nice house on a beach and two incomes most likely.

"This is a nice place you have here, big and on the beach. It must have taken forever to afford this." The words leave me almost bitterly. I didn't want to say anything too drastic without hearing their reasons as to why, but this is just too much I can't help it. A look of complexity comes over his face, he can hear the bitterness oozing from my voice, and it's obvious what I want to know. But it's also clear that he isn't ready to spill the beans, which aggravates me even more. I've waited all these years to know my birth parents and when it finally happens, I can't even get the truth. But that's fine, I'm going to drill him with all the questions I need answers to so bad he'll think it's an interrogation. I don't want to do it that way, but if he won't work with me then I'll work with my wits and sass. They've always been a team I can rely on. I'll give him one more chance for us to discuss the truth civilly before I look for my own answers.

The taxi pulls to a stop right in front of the house and as we get out I notice a statue with the hibiscus' isn't a manatee like I first thought it's a mermaid. What's with this place and mermaids? Daniel pays the driver and as the taxi kicks up dust driving away he turns my way a big goofy grin on his face.

"Welcome to your new home! What do you think?" The way he's smiling and all extra joyful makes me smile a little too. Even though something's being hidden from me I know we can make this whole thing work.