Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 1

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 replaceing 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 replace 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 replace anyone around like we had hoped she would after walking a few meters away from the parked