The love of time

“Angelo this has to stop,” a beautiful woman with toffee brown curls says. She was clutching a bundle to her chest. She would stroke the bundle from time to time as her green eyes held him captive with a begging look.

She glances at the man. “I cannot stop loving you Elena,” the man Angelo says. He had light skin, and dark alluring eyes. His hand shook as he was trying to hold her hand but stops himself as she says;” this infatuation has to end.” Her eyes held no emotion. Her toffee brown hair with caramel stripes blows in the wind.

Angelo looks at her in disbelief and says” is it Saint Elena I am talking to?” His eyes darken at her stillness. To his great surprise she takes his hand. Her stillness had made him believe for a split second that she didn´t love him.

The two lovers held on to each other as a man walks in on them.

“The Great bishop wishes to talk to Sister Elena and Brother Angelo,” the man says without any kind of emotion on his pale face.

Angelo and Elena follow the man. They are lead to a great hall.

I have this strange dream again, this time, Brother Angelo and Sister Elena had both been in it. I usually only see Angel, that is what I call him. I know something about him but the things I know is a little unclear and cloudy.

I have just made it through the year with my grades and job. I live in a sleepy little town. The sun was baking down on me, as I was raking the garden for Mrs. Thomson.

“Chace, you are such a help around,” Mrs Thomson says in her cheery tone.

“I just like to work,” I say as Mrs Thomson walks back into her house. I like working for her. She is my mother´s old friend and I see her like an aunt.

After I have picked the weed up and trimmed her bushes. I walk into her living room and says I am done for today.

“Mrs. Thomason, I did all you asked of me,” I say as she just smiles and says” I know you did.”

She pays me and I look down to see 200 more in cash. I look at her in wonder and say” this is too much Mrs Thomason.”

“I know but your mother told me about your exciting idea to go to Venice,” Mrs Thomson says.

I was shocked that my mother had told anybody about my trip. My mother Rose never told anybody about our lives to other people.

“Oh, Thanks,” I say and smile at her.

After that I think about Kellie my girlfriend. We had planned this trip to Venice for months now. She really wanted a romantic trip and I love to give her one. We have been together for a year now.

I had just packed my things as my mother comes into my room. She has these amazingly blue eyes and slick blond hair.

“Chace dear, I hope you have packed everything, but if you forgot something dad and I will send it,” mom says as she looks at me all worried.

“Mom, I am not ten anymore and I will take care, and Kellie with be there,” I say as I sound a little annoyed at her.

She starts to cry and I hate to see that. She has a hard time letting me go since we had an accident on my 10th birthday.

We were on our way to the zoo and mom was driving and dad was sitting beside her. We got hit by another car really hard. I hit my head so hard that I was unconscious for two days. She blamed the whole accident on herself, and now she is afraid, that I will get hurt when I take off by myself.

“I know that - “mom says in her low tone. She had this way of looking concerned.

She helps me put my things into the suitcase and says” I hope you have fun and dad and I will drive you to the airport tomorrow.”

Just as she says that my phone went off. The display says Kellie. She sounds distanced.

“Chace, you and I have been going out of awhile and I don’t feel the same for you anymore,” Kellie´s words seem to get lost in my head. I felt my legs go numb.

“Kellie, are you breaking up with me?” I knew it was a stupid question, but I want to hear her say it straight to my face.

“Yeah I am,” she says without holding anything back. After that I hung up the phone.  I was left with a heartache that just stung like a bad bruise. I know I should have felt something was wrong, but I put it off my mind.  I didn’t tell my parents about this but they would find out soon enough.

I woke so early that the stars were still visible in the sky. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep but sleep wouldn’t come my way.

I was so frustrated that I started to walk on the spot. I had heard about this advice” if you cannot sleep do not lie in your bed but start doing other things.”

So I try to tire my brain out.

The trip to Venice was my dream maybe because my mom and dad met each other in the city a long time ago.

I have this guide book on Venice, and I started to look up places I wanted to see. I like to have my stuff tidy and neatly done. My mom calls me a perfectionist, but who is she to judge when she is even a bigger one then me?

My dad is the one in our family that does not clean up so much. He is more the laid back type of guy.  Walking in to the living room to read sounds good in my ears as I walk there.

I was just about to read about the Golden House in Venice as my dad walks in.

“Can’t sleep my boy?” My father Leon asks as I look at him. He is a dark haired man with a gray kind of brown eyes in a certain light.

“No,” I say grimly and he says” I know that feeling; I had the same as I left to go to Europe for a year.”

My dad told me it was his best experience. I hoped my trip to Venice would be a memorable to me.

“Don’t worry about your trip,” he says as he walks over to the kitchen. He grabs the handle to the refrigerator and takes out the milk.

“Do you want a glass?” My dad asks as he pours himself a glass. I nod.

We stayed up and talked about travelling. It is such a long time since I have really talked with my dad. He is kind of reserved and in his own world most of the time.

He somehow knows about Kellie and me. I do not know how he does it. He did not look at me with pity or anything else. My father told me to just hold my head high. He was right. I never let myself down over a girl before.

After our talk, I go to bed all tired now. I close my eyes and drift into dream land.

I woke to my alarm going off. I hit the snooze button but I had to get up. I put my one leg down to find myself a little dizzy still. Man, I hate to wake up all dizzy and just asleep still.

My suitcase is packed and all I need is to get on the airplane. My mom and dad where both making breakfast.

“Moring Chace,” mom says as she puts a plate with toast and butter down. We eat and after that I am put into the car. The drive to the airport is slow because the traffic is horrible on Mondays.

In the car my mother asks about Kellie and if we were to pick up her. I answer no and my mom seem to want to hear more and says” did you fight with her?”  I look at her in disbelieve and say” no, she and I hit a dead end.” Meaning we broke up.

Why do I feel empty and very hollow at the same time? I have never been that great with feelings or expressing them. I know when I was really sad or angry but now I just feel…? My mom seems to have caught my silence as an answer to her question.

I had just gotten my suitcase checked in as I say goodbye to mom and dad. Mom was so worried and dad was just his usual calm self.

Finally I was on the plain. I got seated beside a very attractive girl with long brown hair. I was about to ask her which time we would land as her phone went off. The caller must be her boyfriend.

I stop my liking for the girl. I have never been a guy to chase after a girl in a relationship. I close my eyes and just wait for the plane to land.

 

 

2: Chapter 2 St. Angelo

II
St Angelo
 

I walk out of the plane all jetlagged. I so need to get a bed and lay down. Looking through my contact list to find the hotel I booked.

I got into a cap and it drove me to the harbour. I got a map of Venice and was shocked over the map.  The map looked like a fish riding a wave.I came to my hotel little outside Venice’s centrum.  The hotel was a three stars hotel. My father had taken a pity on me and given me some extra money. I checked into the hotel and after that I went straight to the harbour to take a ferry to Venetia’s centrum. The first thing I wanted to see was St Marcus Square.

The boat ride was an eye opening experience as boats was the transportation device here. The way they sailed over the water and how people did not seem to wear life vests. Boats were like cars in water. The ferries in themselves were filled with tourist and some locals but the locals would take line 2. These ferries lines are like lines in the tube in London if you ever have been there?

I took the line LN from Punta Sabbioni. It was not easy to find out with was what line.The boat came in to harbour as people started to mingle out. I was nearly run over by a group of Japanese tourist. They walked so close that you felt all jammed. The first thing that caught my eyes was the Doge Palace, its white façade with majestic carvings; all this held me rooted to the spot.I took my guide book up to see if it mentioned anything about this place. I was in my own world when a bag lady stopped me. She was old and shabby looking.

The way she was talking to me was not understandable for me. I didn’t speak Italian but I caught one name,” Saint Angelo.”

She thought it was my name. I shook my head at her. She must be out of her mind. After more un-understandable words her Italian suddenly changes. I could understand her.

“Young man, you are related to St. Angelo,” The old lady says like it was a statement. She looks more like a gypsy by the minute. She has these mesmerizing eyes.

“You have the key to finding Venezia’s greatest treasure,” her voice is still misty. I felt like I was in a bobble of smoke and we were the only people around. The noise of people around us disappears and only became this muffled mumble.

“What will I do with this treasure?” I ask dumbfound. She smirks at me knowingly. “Being related to a saint gives you power to save this world from being drawn into darkness.”

“What darkness?” I ask again with irritation in my voice. She was giving me half answered replies.

 “See those people?” She says as she points over to a strange looking crowd of people.

They were white and cloudy looking.  Misty and wore old fashion clothes. I had seen them before. When I look closely around me there were a lot of them.

“They are only dressed up for the masquerade ball,” I say as I find that the most logical explanation. 

She sighs and says” you have to look closely and close up your logical way of thinking.”

I try again and this time I see them, they are dead looking. Their skin bluish and sickening, kind of choked. I had never seen someone that blue before.

“How?” I ask with wonder.

“You must know about the pest that hit Venice twice,” The gypsy says. I know that because that was in my guide book.

 I nod to her and she look relieved over that she did not have to explain the story.

“Are they six feet under?” I ask and she looks puzzled and I say” are they dead?” To that she nods.

“They carry the pest with them and the only way to stop the pest from spreading again is to find the treasure,” she explains to me.

“If I say I go and find this treasure, how will I find it?” I ask.

“Young man, you have one of the keys to finding the treasure and Elena has the other,” she says sounding like it was the simplest thing of all.

“How will I find her?” I ask trying to look at it with an explorer’s eyes. She grinned at me and says” you are starting to understand. She is related to you and her name is Elena Santino. She works at one of the cafés in Venice´s Centrum. She has very light skin, black hair with curls and amazing blue eyes. Elena is also related to the two of Venice greats Saints.”

“That is all fine but how will I get her to listen to me?” I say with an edge of frustration. I hardly believe her at first so how was Elena going to?

“Again you think to logical that narrows your view on things.”  

She sighs and says” give me your hands please.” It was more like an order. I did because she looks so alarming.

She turns my arm around and strokes her finger over my wrist. I watch as black paint seem to rise from my own skin. I give a gasp as I watch the paint or ink turn into a symbol. The symbol was a fish riding a wave.

“The map of Venice?” I ask/exclaim all shocked now. She nods and says” this is only half the key to finding the treasure.

“Elena will have the other part but there are more keys that must be found, before you can find the treasure,” She says smilingly. She gives me one more look before letting go of my hand.

I look down at the ink fish with wonder. I had never in my life had a tat. I was not a big fan of tattoos, but this fish meant something.

Whatever the treasure was, it was something of great value. When I look up again to ask her one last question she was gone. Why the hell do all strange people always vanish, when you want to ask them very important questions?

She was gone and I was standing in a crowded street. I sigh and start to look for cafés where I hope to find her. I walk from café to café. I had not seen her yet and I was beginning to think that the lady was crazy.

I ended down a last street and there is a cozy looking café. I walk in and sit myself down. There were nearly only locals in this café and three tourists, I one of them. Suddenly a young girl comes out to take my order and I know she is Elena Santino. She is just as the old lady said she would be like.

She looks me over and before I could say my order she says” hallo what can I do for you?”

Her English is perfect. She looks at my stunned face and says” so?”

“A coffee please with milk,” I say quickly. She nods and walks away. She was a beauty far more then Kellie my ex-girlfriend.

She returns with my coffee and says” here you go.”

Before she left again I say” is your name Elena Santino?”

She looks surprised now. Her blue eyes scan me over and say” it is.” It was short. Her face had turned back to a more calm expression.

 “This may sound strange to you, but I am in family with you,” I say, I didn’t want to try to explain that hard part yet.

She looks with surprise and says” I have never met you before.”

I have nothing to say to that. What is your name?”

“I am Chace Shaden”, I say as I hold my hand out to shake. She looks at my hand and shakes it. This must be the oddest thing for her, that I am a total stranger saying her name and knowing that we are related and she does not know.

Elena has this curious look but after awhile she says” I ask my grandfather if he knows you.”

She walks out back. They were talking about me and I did not understand it this time. That was strange because I had understood Italian when the old woman talked to me.

She came back and says” yes I am related to you but far out.” She looks like she had accepted the fact that I was in her family somehow far out.

“Please stay here and we can talk after I finish my shift at working,” she says as she hurries back to serve the new customers. I stay in my corner and she came to me at the end of her shift.

“Chace, what are you doing in Venice?” Elena asks me with a curious tone.

“I am on holiday but what I am going to tell you will sound unreal,” I try to sound calm about what I was about to tell her.

“An old lady told me about a treasure, and I am related to a saint and you are to. You have one of the keys to finding the treasure. She wanted us to find it because the ghosts of the two pest period have risen again to spread pest over the world.” I was amazed how calmly she took all this I was telling her. She must think more open minded than me.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Elena says as I must have looked wondering or confused.

“I am just amazed how you can take this story so lightly,” I say. She grins with her blue sparkling eyes. I felt a pull in her eyes but nothing like when I had fallen for Kellie.

Elena was still a stranger to me but I was starting to like her.

“How come you are so good at English?” I ask all curious now.

“I was an exchange student in America for a year,” Elena says as its very logical explanation. I felt a little envy towards her, I always wanted to see the world but my parents never let me.

“I take this is your first trip out of your country?” She seems have figured that out on her own.

“It is and I have no idea what to see” I say feeling a little embarrassed to admit that. She just smiles this brilliant smile and say” welcome to Venice.”