Kiss of A Titan

Prologue...

Soon I was about to lose consciousness inside the water and everything seemed to have slowed itself around me. I was no longer fighting hard to save myself even when I felt the need to since I was slowly being dragged down the depths of the lake by the gravity of my weight, and my numb limbs have succumbed to the lifelessness of a dead corpse. Charlie had gotten up from where she lay but she could no longer see my arms above the water surface and was now crying in fright as she pressed herself against her knees on the bridge. She was scared that she was going to witness the death of someone she barely just knew.

I thought all was lost as I was drowning slowly in the water with the idea that no one was going to save me from the liquid jaws of the surrounding water. As time wore on, the still darkness began taking control of my senses and engulfed me completely till my limbs were unable to move nor could I even say something as tiny bubbles of water kept escaping from my mouth to the surface, taking out the air left to sustain my body.

And then a splash of someone diving into the water came unexpectedly.

Like a fish he swarm below the sea, Instincts of a dolphin he found me, Sinking below, almost touching the sea floor, And I saw him staring no more.

But he swarm to her despite the sea currents, His lustrous face glistened with radiant hope, While his hair fluttered like many ropes of black mass of seaweeds glued to his head And his straight chin had no beard.

She saw her reflection in his bluish iris, As he paddled himself down for eternal bliss, Overcoming the bottom depths to save her From consuming too much water.

Cloaked with Poseidon's virtue, His firm arm grasped hers so true To his demand, he pulled her up Towards the surface where she hiccup.

After pressing down on her chest with his palm right where he had laid her at the bank of the lakeside and there, he gave her a lifesaving kiss twice on the lips to revive me back into the land of living.

***

It was early June that my Aunt and I as well as her two children had to arrive at Houston during the mid summer. Coming to Houston was one of the toughest decisions my Aunt had to make and I was primarily the reason for her to make a decision about where her family and I would spend the following winter after the season of summer will end in a couple of months.

To my Aunt, Houston was far from one of those of her favorite places she wished to spend with her family like the beach in Hawaii where she really loved to visit in North America during the holidays particularly Christmas holidays not only because none of the people dwelling there related to us but because she never liked any of the folks living within borders of the small town and it was actually because of me she had to put up a false smile of friendship each time we saw some of the town folks we met on the road while coming, waving at us as a gesture of a warm reception my Aunt loathe whenever she saw them on the road.

It kind of reminded her of a compromise she had to make to leave her place of comfort to a town where the buildings at every neighborhood were less appealing to us just to have me attend a new school of which I wasn't sure if I was ready to see a whole new bunch of teenagers like myself living in boring town with nothing but older people roaming around the streets. We had arrived in the town in our car and had circled round town searching for the humble abode where we'll spend the night after driving a couple of miles all the way from Georgia to a small town whose population was barely half the size of those living in the city metropolis of Atlanta.

But with the right navigation and a keen observation of the neighborhood, Aunt drove us around the eastern side of town and somehow got to know where the house she paid for might be located but little did she know that the houses in neighborhood all looked the same while I, covering my entire face with a red hood with my ears partly blocked with the earpiece I glued to my eardrums after finding its way through my way black hair that lay spread at both sides of my face since the journey started, was at the back seat with her two children observing the surroundings as we drove by. They seem to care less about the fact that we were almost getting lost and had made a lot of wrong turns in the search for the house since they were playing childishly whilst Aunt kept circling us around the neighborhoods in her black Chevrolet.

I didn't bother too much of the fact that she kept steering us on the wrong route to the new house for I was enjoying the sight-seeing of the houses we passed by including every tree that we drove past as well as the music I was listening to and it wasn't until we arrived at a dead end before she realized that we have lost our way in the new town which seemed a lot quieter with no one in sight after driving for almost half an hour since we arrived at our destination. Even the children have somewhat turned their friendly play into a serious fight by the time she knew we had driven into the wrong neighborhood and there was no one in sight to call and ask for directions.

"Keep it down, Tom! Gosh, you guys keep driving me crazy,” She exclaimed in sheer frustration as she pulled over from the main road and parked the car by the side of the sun-baked street.

"Mom, Nora's being a nuisance,” Tom remarked.

"No, you're, Tom!” Nora retorted.

"Stop lying, you twerp,” Tom rejoined but Aunt yelled at them.

"Shut the hell up both of you!”

"But mom, she started it,” cried Tom, not willing to obey his mother’s instructions.

"I don't give a darn who started it but both you should keep it down this instant!” She ordered but Tom was still stubborn as ever. Their noisy argument arrested my attention and I took my eyes from the streets to look at the faces of the two culprits. 

"This is so unfair,” He said to himself as he shifted further away from Tom on the seat, a little bit closer to me and peered at me. His dimpled cheeks turned pale the moment his eyes met mine and lowered his head in shame of being defeated as he felt the heavy weight of the unfair treatment from Aunt weighing heavily on his countenance. I could see tearful drops of water gathering in his eyes.

As long as I had known Tom apart from the fact of being my Aunt's first born, he was an adventurous kid who always stuck to his own point of view and was never willing to accept others opinions including that of his own mother despite being a seven years old kid with a black droopy hair that covered every corner of his head except for his ears like that of a monk and had chubby cheeks which greatly enhanced his cuteness whenever he smiles childishly. I also knew him from hanging around with naughty kids around his age back in our old neighborhood which explains why he was way smarter and earlier stubborn to his mother than he looks on the outside.

"Suck it up, young man and not one more word from you,” Aunt warned and got ready to leave us stranded in the car at the corner of street near the sidewalk.

"Why did we stop? Are we out of gas or something?”

I asked Aunt, pulling away one of the earpiece from my left ear but she didn't say anything. Instead, she took the car keys and went outside of the car. Then she walked over to where I was sitting close to the window at the other side of the car and stood near the window looking around to see if she could see anyone in the quiet street but she saw nobody.

"Rosalie, it looks like we have lost our way around her,” She said, looking frustrated.

"What?!” I exclaimed.

"It's really quite surprising, right?”

"Yeah, I thought you knew the way to the house.”

"I thought I did but now....I'm not so sure,”Aunt answered. She looked worried but I chuckled even when the situation didn't call for it, “Why the laughter?” She questioned.

"It's hilarious that you brought us all the way here only to get us lost in a deserted town,”

I answered. Although she didn't find it amusing, she still beamed a smile at me.

"You know this is no time for jokes,” she said.

"I know, but I just wanted to make you feel better.” I said peering at her on the face.

"Thanks for trying but it isn't helping at this point.” she said and moved a few meters away from the car.

"So, any solutions to solve this problem or are we gonna sit here and stare at each other's faces?” I asked.

"I've got quite a few ideas but things ain't looking good for us.” she said still feigning disappointment.

"What do you mean?”

"Unfortunately, there's no one around that know the neighborhood pretty well. So, you'll stay in the car and all you have to do is to watch Tom and Nora while I go take a look around to see if I can get proper directions so that we can get out of here.” she explained in frustration and brushed aside loose strands of her neatly tied ponytail away from her forehead with her left finger while she placed her other hand on her feminine curvy hips.

Aunt wore a black trousers and an unbuttoned gray jacket that exposes busty boobs which was covered by her tight fitted dress whose fabric was soft and had sleeves that covered both of her elbows but the dress made her look skinnier than the way she had looked in the morning before we set out on the journey to Houston.

"Sounds okay to me,” I said without thinking.

"Good, I'm counting on you, so don't let the kids out of your sight," she ordered.

"Got it,” I replied.

Then she brought her face closer to the window with her hands on the top of the car, way closer that I could see mild wrinkles ravaging her pretty facial skin by the side of her and her gray iris stare boldly at my face and took a peep at Nora playing with her doll while Tom was sitting down quietly in a sober mood he had drifted into ever since he was reprimanded by Aunt.

Then she looked at me and said, "I'll be right back, so don't go anywhere.”

"Mom..." Tom muttered.

"Rosalie's in charge, so, stay right there, I'll return as soon as I can," she said and walked away leaving us behind inside the car. Tom and I watched her as she went, trekking back the way we had come earlier from where we sat at the back seat inside the car till she was out of sight taking a left turn to another lane when she didn't find anyone around like we had hoped she would after walking a few meters away from the parked

We waited patiently for the next fifteen minutes inside the car anticipating her return from wherever she went to but she was nowhere to be seen nor did we hear any of her footsteps from behind and the heat inside the car was increasing with each passing minute.

I didn't bother too much about it because I was sitting next to the window while Tom and Nora were already sweating by the time I noticed that Tom was getting fed up with the hot temperature caused by the sun in the sky and little did I know that he wanted to leave the car without my permission. His desire to escape from the car was deeper than I had thought and had compelled him to desperately want to exit the car through the other side of the car when he saw that I was paying less attention to him.

"Make some room", he whispered when he encountered his younger sister near the door but Nora shook her head in sharp refusal to his demands.

"Na-ah, I don't want to. Use the other door", "Rosalie's over there and she won't allow me out of the car, so move aside before she catches me", he murmured, keeping his voice down. Both kids looked at me and saw me nodding my head to the music I kept hearing from my cell phone which got them perplexed and wondering what kind of song I was listening to that had fully enchanted my thoughts of which they couldn't hear thanks to the earpiece I placed in both ears. I wasn’t even looking at them but I was staring at the yard outside still lost in my world of music.

After taking a brief moment to read my actions, Nora decided to let him pass.

"Fine but you'll have yourself to blame if Rosalie gets in trouble", "I'll take my chances. I can't stand this heat and need some fresh air outside", "Suit yourself", she said and shifted aside for him to venture outside. He forcefully pushed the door open and wanted to crawl outside but the sound of the door of the car opening had caught my attention in spite of the fact that the music was loud in my eardrums. At first, I thought aunt was back from scouring the vicinity and I suddenly saw him about to crawl out of the car from the back seat.

"Tom! What the heck are you doing!"

My words stung him and he froze like an ice stature in his attempt to make it out of the car while Nora pretended as though he wasn't even there.

I took my eyes off Nora since she wasn't the one sneaking out of the car and kept them glued to Tom who couldn't move from where he was quite unable to go ahead with his illicit intentions.

"Get back here, this instant", I ordered, taking the earpiece from my ears.

"But, Rosalie, I need some fresh air, the car is too hot for me to breath" he said as he slowly squeezed himself back to where he sat down on the seat.

"Then you should have told me. What part of me being in charge did you not understand, huh?"

"I didn't mean not to tell you", "You should have tried requesting for it", "I wanted to but I didn't want to disturb you because you were busy listening to that song", "But you did anyway. If aunt had seen you outside, I would have taken the blame for it. Didn't you think about that?"

Tom lowered his head and looked a lot more guilty than ever before. Nora suddenly intruded, making things worse for poor Tom.

"He didn't listen to me either when I told him about it", "Shut it, Nora. Nobody asked for your opinion", he retorted in bold defense and they started quarreling again.

"I can say whatever I want and you can't stop me", Nora replied and pulled out her tongue in a funny way that her cheeks become puffy when her tongue came out of her mouth.

"Oh yeah?"

"Stop it, you two!" I commanded, very irritated at their warring conversations. They obeyed but Tom sneered at Nora who felt cheated at the brief end of their fight.

"You guys fight a lot, you know that?"

"I guess so", Tom answered.

"He's the annoying brother and I really dislike his naughty attitude", Nora gave a sharp reply that got me giggling but Tom wasn't happy with her remark. Feeling defeated, He frowned and folded his hands against his chest in anger before resting his back further on the seat. I could clearly understand that he was upset by what Nora said because of the sullen scowl that appeared on his face after he got furious and I was about to say something when Nora shouted on top of her voice which interrupted what I was gonna say to angry Tom.

"Mom's back! I can see her, Rosalie", she said gleefully with all ecstatic excitement and with her shrill thin voice resounding loudly into my ears. Tom and I joined her to peep through the glassy windscreen at the back of the car only to see aunt strolling towards us, accompanied by some older man wearing green shorts and a tennis jersey, in his late sixties. It seems to me she must have strolled to the tennis court coincidentally during her lone search for anyone who might know the area very well.

They walked briskly to the car while we watched them wondering what must have gone wrong and they ignored us even though they saw us looking at them until aunt stopped outside the front door of the car where she stood facing the stranger. We all turned to face their direction and from where they stood, I could clearly see that the man was right next to her with his hands akimbo. He was wearing a headband around his forehead which was almost covered by the loose strands of his gray hair while his beard was pretty much unkempt which horrified his wrinkling visage. Their chattering became louder the moment they arrived at the car.

"We are here", "Yes, we are. Anyway, thanks for the heads up", she said, smiling at the stranger.

"Don't mention it. Just trying to help good folks find a better place to live in Houston", "And you really are doing a great job", she commended with a broad grin across her face.

The man scoffed and combed his hair with his left fingers. Then he looked the other way to see if anyone else was watching them. "Nah...I'm just making sure no one gets lost around here. There have been cases like this, so ...I ...huh just wanted to make sure you and your kids don't turn out to be victims", "That's nice of you, you're a cop, by any chance?" he chuckled.

"Well...No, I'm just a guy who lives around here", "A philanthropist. It's good to meet one", She nodded in affirmation to her deductions.

"You could say that. I...huh…gotta go continue playing…so...huh I guess this is goodbye then", "Yep. See you around", "You as well", he said and walked away. He took a quick glance at us watching from inside the car and went his way down the same lane they both came from.

Aunt entered into the front seat of the car and sat behind the steering wheel. I didn't wait for her to ignite the car engine before asking questions her two children know too well to be adult talk.

"Found the house?"

"Uh-huh", "Where was it then?"

"Way back. We had narrowly missed it when I took the wrong turn and landed us here", "It's a relief we finally got to know where are going", "It sure is. By the way, did the kids behave while I was gone?" she asked this time around and turned around on her seat to check if there's would be doubts in my reply. Thankfully, Nora had forgotten about the stranger and had resumed playing with the item that had been the bone of contention between her and her brother earlier. I thought everything was back to normal until aunt started asking questions.

"They did. Sort of", "But something is strange," aunt replied, peering at her discovery and I suddenly felt anxious about what she had noticed from the expressions of her two kids.

"Why is Tom silent?"

I heaved a huge sigh of relief after she said her observations.

"Maybe he's been a good boy", "That's so unusual and unlike him. He's always been restless and often talks a lot. Now he looks like a humble man who just lost his tooth", I giggled at aunt's joke but Tom remained quiet blankly staring eye to eye at his mother. I could clearly see the aunt's bluish iris meeting at a visual point with that of Tom's pale brown eyes.

"Please don't mind him and let's get out here", "You are right about that. There's a lot of heat in the car but I need to take a power nap before driving us out of this place", she responded and turned around resting herself on the seat while facing the other way.

As for the tennis ball player, he returned back to the court to finish his game only to find out that his friends had long ended the game and they as well as his son who was watching from the bench the entire time he was having fun playing some rounds with his opponents though he was holding a racket as well, were already getting ready to depart.

Two of the deserters met him at the entrance of the tennis court with all their stuff inside their duffle bags as they were on their way out. One of them stopped to see him briefly while the other left heading to his car which was parked across the street.

“Terry, are you tired already?”

“Sorry, man. I feel exhausted and I got a call from my wife telling me to come home”, “Alright, catch you later”, he said, giving Terry a handshake. Then he looked past Terry’s shoulder and saw his son putting their stuffs in the duffle bags he brought with when coming to the Tennis court earlier in the morning.

“Yeah, later, you were fantastic in today’s game and I wondered why you didn’t tell your son to join us”, “I have my reasons”, “Good luck with that”, Terry replied and walked away. He strolled further into the side of the lawn court and walked up to his son almost getting his things ready for departure. For some minutes, he stood watching his son arranged the rackets as well as

“Richard, that was quick”, “Where did you go with that lady?”

“Uh…that’s nothing, she's just someone who got lost looking for a house around here, are you done yet?”, “Almost done”, Richard replied and tucked the last vest into one of the zips of his duffle bag.

“I’m done, let’s go, Dad”, “Alright, son”, he said, patting Richard’s back and carried the two bags using the straps on his shoulder. They both walked out of the court, heading straight to a black Pathfinder automobile which was parked beside the entrance of the court. Richard opened the truck and kept the two bags inside before joining his father at the front seat inside the vehicle.

His dad drove the car out of the vicinity back the way he had returned to the court and drove past us. I saw their car as they passed but I didn’t see the man whose aunt came to the car except for his son who glanced at our saloon car as they drove by heading to another side of the neighborhood till they were out of sight.