The First Day: Innocence

The First Day: Innocence, is the first chapter in the serial As The Sun Sets

Author's Note
''Please note, I wrote this to be read, not to gather dust. Please give me your comments and questions in the discussion page. Any feedback would be appreciated.''

The First Day: Innocence
Just outside Lumbridge, there was a marshy area, with hundreds of ponds dotted around it. Ponds without fish, that no one really cared for. One of these ponds has three features that sets it apart from the others. The first one is the sunlight. Whatever position or angle the pond is in, it shines like a gem in the sunset.

The second feature is the tree. The only palm tree in Lumbridge, it was not in the best condition. A storm had bent it over the pond a while back, and it never straightened. It made a perfect bench, one that was feet above the water's surface, one that three friends sat on everyday. The third difference is the one that led them there in the first place.

Conor, Aqua and Evan had sat on the tree for years. Everyday after school, they would get the homework done and spend the rest of the day how they wanted to (although sometimes faith and parents intertwined). When it neared sunset, they would head out to The Tree, eat ice cream and watch the sunlight reflect of the water.

Today was no different. Evan was at the very end of The Tree, his shoulders brushing off the dying palm leaves. Beside him, Conor sat. Aqua was at the beginning of the tree, almost sliding down. It was a configuration they always kept, for whatever reason.

Anyone watching would have been alarmed at the three kid's contrasting hair: Evan's was a shock white color that came down the back of his neck, beside him was Aqua, with her black messy hair that sat atop her head. Then there was Conor, who's hear was naturally spiky, and bright orange

If anyone had asked them how they first found the tree, they couldn't have told you. They were seven or eight when they started coming, and now they were thirteen (except Evan, who was fourteen). That's four or five years. Who remembers that far back?

"What I don't understand is why you'd stop doing what you love" Aqua continued. "Why would anyone choose to stop helping people and to become a burden? And why would other people celebrate it?"

Conor thought a little before replying. "Well, he'd worked for the guard for thirty years. They wanted to show him how much they appreciated him, how much they'd miss him"

"But why stop in the first place?" said Aqua, shaking her head. "It makes no sense"

"It makes no sense to us" Evan ventured. "He could have some disease we don't know about, maybe a grandchild that needs caring for".

"Maybe..." said Aqua, shaking her head again. "It doesn't seem likely to me. It's as if-"

"Why are we talking about this?" Conor asked. "We're kids! We should be talking about sports, and how much school sucks"

"Well, we can talk about whatever we want, can't we?"

"Yes, but why would we want to talk 'bout retirement"

This time it was Evan's turn to shake his head. "I dunno..."

Silence....Then;

"Your thinking about something, Evan" Aqua said.

"Hmm?"

"Don't "hmm" me, your thinking about something. Something else. What is it?"

"What am I thinking right now?"

"Yes!" she half-shouted, impatiently.

Evan stood up carefully on the Tree, so that Conor and Aqua had to crane their necks upward to see him. "I'm thinking" he pointed south, "what's over there?"

"Well" Coroxn said, remembering the map in school. "More swamp, then a mining area....and then the sea. They teach it in school, if you ever listen"

"No, not like that" Evan frowned, shaking his head. "I mean........what's it like? What does the ore look like? What does the air smell like? Is the marsh over there the same as the marsh here? And the sea...........I've always wanted to see the sea, to feel it, to really look at it, and understand what it is"

Conor thought back to the encyclopedia of knowledge inside his head. "Well, the sea is a body of water that-"

"No no NO!" Even shouted, nearly overbalancing into the water. "I don't want to hear about it, or read about it, I want to go to it! Explore it, play in it, talk to the people who live by it! I won't be content the way you are, with your books and facts, and figures. There are somethings I need to see for myself"

He slumped back into a sitting position. "And I can't, because I'm trapped here. Trapped in Lumbridge. I'm too young to get a job, my parents would never let me go......But even that's not what's stopping me. I could get past that. But it's you....You two" He gave them both an odd look. "I couldn't leave you guys behind".

As The Sun Sets is continued in The Second Day: Ignorance