Price Family Book Store (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1- Sleepy Saturday

The shadowy, blanket-like sky of an early Autumn night cautiously edged its way across the view overhead, taking to hiding beyond the distant shorelines surrounding the small island. Far above the land, it seemed as though the coal-black clouds knew that sunlight had begun its pursuit across the sky to chase them aside and that its light was approaching fast. Naturally, as the glimmering sunlight reached its desired destination to kick-start the Saturday morning, it shone through the windows of the citizens in a crowded town, dazzling those who still resided within their walls. Many had stirred some time before, the delayed light of the season's morning acting as their signal that the day ahead would seem long, considering most had to both arrive at and leave work in the dark while the sun sprinted away from the chilling nighttime later that evening. With this came the busy traffic, those with morning shifts hurrying along to get to work. It brought a sudden surge of life throughout the streets, as though everything excluding the grumbling, work-bound civilians had still been left asleep until the enlightening sun ascended. Teenagers rolled over in bed, avoiding the blaze that seeped in through the tiny opening in their blackout curtains, some parents perhaps taking it upon themselves to make the opening wider, rousing their tired children early that Saturday morning.

The high street of this town was patterned with an array of shops and stalls, all crowded around one another, but seemed to all fit perfectly in their arrangement. All buildings in the street were of varying sizes and appearances; they were different in small ways, perhaps one had mismatched bricks or a more slanted roof. Somehow, the way in which the buildings differed added to the life and excitement that fuelled the surrounding environment and people. To many, the high street was the best place to spend their free time; browsing stores, eating outside on a hot day and admiring the decorated scenery around them, be it watching the bees surrounding the hanging flower boxes or watching one of the many hanging flags dancing as a breeze hit it, taking its hand and pulling it along.
The glass door to one of the stores opened slightly later than all of the others, the cafes and clothes shops having already been opened up an hour or so prior. The name of this store was 'Price Family Book Store', displayed in large, cursive lettering, sure to stand out, on the windows and on a sign that a kindly woman placed outside. She was a rather short woman, her decent posture showing her standing straight with a height of only maybe 5 foot and 4 inches. At her shoulders hung her long, brown hair and lighting up her features were her pale, blue eyes, yet as she turned and entered the shop, they seemed to glow ever brighter with joy as she exchanged a wide and gleeful smile with the young man she now found herself looking up at. The quaint, little store barely needed more than one person managing it at a time, however, it was clear that these two, in particular, were always willing to run the family shop together.

"You surprised me this morning, Connor," the little woman smiled at her teenage son. "You got here before I did and got everything sorted very quickly. The shelves are looking very tidy at the moment."

"The books are only standing upright, I've not put them all in the right places yet," Connor Price raised his shoulders in a shrug, his lips pulled into a sweet and delicate smile as he responded to his mother, not faltering for a moment as she placed her hands on his shoulders, scrunched up her nose with a smile, and causing him to let out a short chuckle.
Connor was a boy of fifteen-years-old, and was the son of the store's manager and owner. It was obvious that the two were related; much like Nina, his hair fell to his shoulders, his locks always somewhat messy, a tangle in his ash-brown hair almost inevitable in between his wild and untameable curls. Their smiles mirrored one another's, the boy inheriting her lips, and for some more proof, both mother and son possessed the same nose, very slightly turned up at the tip, but otherwise quite a cute feature to add to their faces. Although, it wasn't difficult to tell that he'd been given the good fortune of not being so short, standing taller and thinner than his mother, whose own height only gave her the chance to be level with his shoulders.