• Island of Life

    Intro

    Hey, the name's Edward Stephens.—most people just call me Ed—and I'm what you would call a normal, 19 year old, college student...
    Well, to a certain extent I guess. Let me start off by telling you a little about myself. Like I said before I'm about 19 years young. I don't care much about anything...except girls...and...well more girls. My job tends to take up all of my life, which is fine with me. I have nothing else to do to occupy my time. And there's really not much of a home for me to go to.
    And yes, I do consider myself very attractive. I more or less define it as being a curse considering how girls are only interested in my looks and care nothing about my amazing personality. But what's a guy to do when he has perfect auburn hair, stunning brown eyes, and a handsome demeanor? What girl isn’t into tall, dark, and handsome? But anyways, enough about me, and more about...well...how my life suddenly took a drastic turn for hell.


    The New Job

    It was a day just like any other day—for me anyways. You see, I'd spent pretty much all of my middle school and high school years living on a ship...a space ship that is. When I was about eleven I joined the OJO, “Odd Jobs Organization.” Every now and then we get calls from people requesting us to take on missions that normal companies wouldn't do. Really the only reason I even joined the organization was because it paid well.
    Anyways, like I was saying. It was a day like any other day. My captain, Cassandra, or Cassa as I called her, was sitting at her desk, and the pilot was...well...piloting of course. As for me, I was enjoying what peaceful times I had left. Normally, I knew that when things were starting to settle down, we'd get some crazy call-in asking for us to do some outrageous task. Unfortunately for me, Cassa never declines a mission. That's one of her “policies”; so I'm always getting myself into these random situations. Sometimes I have to ask myself what went wrong in my life that caused me to end up floating around in the middle of space with a bunch of odd-balls.
    “Oh man,” I sighed as I walked down a long corridor to my “room”. It was quieter than usual due to business being a bit slow. Can't say I wasn’t happy 'bout it, though.
    I wondered to myself what I should do with all this free time…
    “I could go take a dip in the pool—or maybe I could call up a girl.” I launched myself onto a nearby couch and stared up at the ceiling. “Ah, when was the last time I was this relaxed?” I closed my eyes and rested for a record of five minutes when I heard a much too familiar voice come onto the loud speaker.
    “Ed! Ed report to the bridge immediately!”
    I wrinkled my nose as if I'd smelled something awful and stood up lazily. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
    Making my way toward the bridge, I noticed that we were moving in on a nearby planet. I quickly looked out the window to take a look. “Looks fairly normal. I wonder what planet it is.” Before I even had the chance to step into the bridge, Cassa was there to greet me...giddy as usual.
    “Ed! I have an excellent job for you,” she said smiling.
    I’m glad she’s so excited about it, I thought fighting back a smile.
    Cassa wasn't a normal captain. Ugh, I wouldn't even say she was a normal person. Although, I think her looks make up for it. She has short, spunky blond hair and green eyes. At first glance you'd probably think she was some kind of super model or something—which had absolutely nothing to do with the reason I joined the OJO. At a glance, no one would ever think that she was insane. And when you're around her, you can never feel sad or down because she's always smiling. And she never walks. She's either running or skipping to wherever she desires to go—sometimes pulling me along with her.
    But I'd say that most of the time being around her is a pleasant experience. Ever since I joined the crew, she's been like a mother or even a sister to me.
    Stretching my arms behind my head, I replied, “Yeah, yeah...so what is it?”
    She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as if she were annoyed. “Hey! You think you could be a little more enthusiastic? You're getting paid a lot for this job ya know!”
    I scratched my head and said, “Don't you mean you're getting paid a lot for this job?” I only got paid 15 percent. Most of it went to Cassa...even though I'm the one doing all the dirty work. Plus she had three other guys like me whom she also sent on missions. They were all older. In their mid-thirties and forties. I didn't really get along with them too well. I’ve always figured they were kind of jealous of me considering all the attention I get from Cassa.
    Smacking me up top the head, she said, “What? You really need to lose the attitude. I always give you 15 percent.”
    Wow. 15 percent. That's quite the motivation. You don't even have to do anything. Of course I didn't say that to her face. To be honest Cassa can be pretty scary at times.
    “Yeah, yeah. I get it. So are you gonna tell me what the job is or what?”
    Raising one eyebrow—that's how she always got me—she motioned with her index finger for me to follow her—which I did of course. I always was a sucker for pretty women.
    “Look out the window, Ed. Tell me what you see.” At the very front of the ship was a huge window.
    As I stared out, all I could see was the planet that I’d observed earlier. What was she getting at? There was always a moral meaning to Cassa's questions, and it normally followed with a lecture about the upcoming mission. She took a lot of pride in her “intelligence”.
    “Um...I see a planet. So what?”
    She rolled her eyes and smiled wryly. Her eyebrows pulled slightly closer together revealing a small crease between them. “Look closer, Edward. There are billions of humans and other creatures inhabiting that planet. It's not just the planet that you're seeing, Ed. It's a home.”
    I let out a sigh and leaned against the window. I waited to see her expression change, but her eyes were glued to the planet, that same thoughtful smile on her face. And as much as I hated ruining the perfect mood she so easily set, I tapped three times on the window to get her attention. She turned toward me expectantly and shot me that “Cassa Look” as I called it. She knew exactly when I had something sarcastic to say.
    “Wow...that was deep, Cassa. So what makes this “home” any different from the others?” She narrowed her eyes and punched my shoulder playfully, then skipped over to her “Captain's chair”.
    “This is an “A” ranked mission, Ed.”
    An “A” ranked? Cassa remained silent in order to give me a few moments to collect myself. I'd never actually taken on an “A” ranked mission before. I'd never been given anything over a C ranked. She would normally get one of the older and more experienced guys to take on the A and B ranks.
    An “A” ranked mission meant that it was probably a life or death task, and in all probability, we were responsible for more than just our life. Why she'd chosen me for this one I wasn't sure. I'd always kind of hoped for more dangerous missions considering I was always up for some adventure. But now that I'd been given the opportunity, a knot formed in my stomach and I suddenly felt the urge to throw up. I didn't know if it was out of fear or excitement...or possibly both.
    Pushing my hair back nervously, I asked, “So what exactly does this mission involve?” The anticipation was killing me.
    As if she'd been waiting all day, with a sideways smile, she said, “I'm glad you asked. A man by the name of Henry called in the mission. He says that he wants us to protect a certain member of his family.”
    What? Protect a member of his family? It didn't seem the least bit adventurous or exciting. I'd taken on body guard missions before, and they were all boring...and cheep.
    “What's so dangerous about that?”
    She shook her head and sighed as if I'd let her down. “No clue. You know very well it's not in our policy to ask more than the information given to us.”
    Yeah yeah...another stupid policy.
    “All he said is that this person is extremely important to their island and that there is a gang out there bent on killing him. Apparently this person's death would have major repercussions.”
    I shot her a glance: are you kidding? What is this...Final Fantasy?
    With a sigh, I said, “Okay, okay...when do I start?”
    She smiled happily and skipped over to the window. Clapping her hands together joyfully, she yelled, “Today! Isn't that great?”
    I leaned helplessly against the window. I’d had a feeling my break wouldn't last very long. I had literally just gotten back from a mission the day before after some guy got his prized trophy stolen by some crazed lunatic.
    “Mr. Henry already rented you out an apartment and even enrolled you in the local college!” I felt my jaw suddenly drop to the floor.
    College?
    Apparently the expression on my face didn't do much to hide my distress. Cassa quickly ran over and gently cupped my face in her hands. “Ed? Are you alright?”
    I stared vacantly into her eyes, searching for the right words to say. But I couldn't bring myself to speak.
    “Edward! Say something!”
    Say something? Then suddenly....it hit me.
    “Wait! Local college? Apartment? Exactly how long is this mission going to be?”
    Cassa leaped backward instinctively at the tone of my voice.
    I'd caught her off guard. But it didn't take long for her to recover. After all...it was Cassa I was yelling at.
    When she crossed her arms, I knew that it was a mistake to complain. After all...it's in her policy to never complain about a mission. But instead of giving me some sarcastic response, she said something that was even more annoying.
    “As long as it takes.”
    I think I almost passed out at the mere thought of that comment..
    “As long as it takes?” I asked through my teeth. It surprised me at how hostile the words came out. It's not very often that I question Casa's order.
    And although she sensed the hostility in my voice—and I'm sure she could see it on my face—she did her best to ignore my attitude.
    Pursing her lips, she stared longingly back out through the window. “That's right. It could be a few days, a few months, or even a few years.” She waited for me to interject, but I was too busy being completely confused to say anything. “But nonetheless, you are taking this job. Besides...I think it's about time you enjoyed the college life.”
    I audibly released all of the oxygen in my lungs, not knowing that I’d been holding my breath the entire time. I just couldn't make sense of her words. Maybe she was just trying to get rid of me.
    I rolled my eyes toward the same window Casa was still staring out. The green planet inching closer and closer.
    The college life? How am I supposed to enjoy a college life when I have to protect some guy? Besides, what's so “odd” about this job anyways. There's plenty of people who'd hire to protect. And “A” ranked? Yeah...right.
    “Whatever. Just drop me off. Like you always do...don't even worry about me.” I said. No emotion present. Just a blank stare. Perhaps that way Casa would see how cruel she was being by sending me on this mission.
    But of course with Casa it was a lost cause.
    “Okay!” She jumped gleefully up and down.
    I was expecting at least a little sympathy, I thought helplessly to myself. I knocked my head against the window. I’d been defeated.
    Again.