Swimming With The Current (Wattys2015)

Chapter 1

Olivia Anne Colbert, AKA me, was born on August the Thirteenth, in a little seaside village called Port Mallory. My parents owned a small house with three bedrooms, green shutters, evergreen colored roofing, and white brick on a privately owned beach that we like to call 'Colette Bay', after my Great-Grandmother, Colette Colbert, who immigrated from France in the early 1900's when she was a girl. The only girl in the village of Port Mallory who could speak fluent French and little English, she spent much of her time by herself. Then one day, something extraordinary happened. She was given a gift by the ocean. But nobody else in my family wanted anything to do with it, and after she was given that gift, she was told her descendants would have the chance to choose if they would like to have the same gift when they turn fourteen.

My parents never told me what the secret was, and they never spoke fondly of my great-grandmother or Port Mallory, either. My parents weren't the humble small town type, they were big city penthouse daydreamers. So when my Dad finished his associate's degree at Port Mallory Community College in business, he on purpose found a job as in land as he could in Chicago, and when I was eight, we moved away for good.

My parents hoped I would never be able to recieve the gift if we moved to Chicago, but they still warned me. It's a dangerous gift, Olivia. You should never accept it, Olivia. Your great-grandmother only accepted it because she was selfish, Olivia.

Never accept the gift. It's as simple as that.

My older brothers, three of them in total, all grew up with that advice and succeeded. They graduated high school, my oldest brother Charlie recently had a child with his wife, Marie, and has graduated from college recently to study architecture and the second oldest, Daniel, is engaged and is studying to be a therapist. Meanwhiles, my youngest brother, Andrew, decided to move back to the oceanside where his heart was and found our old home up for sale. He bought it.

My parents call him a disappointment.

But I call him brave, to be a rebel. I admire him. Our parents had decided to leave to Chicago because they aren't very nostalgic people, but Andrew isn't like my parents or monotone brothers. He has is own path that he sets out for himself, not my parents.

So when Andrew asked if I could move in with him, I said yes. My parents said no.

Of course they know nothing at all about my hopes and dreams. Like, who's going to watch over me while I'm on the plane? Is moving right now at a crucial time in my education (AKA summer) really a good idea?

Yeah, just got to hate them.

"For the gazillionth time, Olivia, we say no." Mom says, her blonde hightlighted hair standing in a clumsy bun on top of her head threatens to fall. "I'm sorry, that's the way it is."

"It isn't fair! You guys never listen to me!" I start to get angry, but then I remember that if I want them to treat me like an adult, I should act like one. "Listen, I really don't like Chicago. It may be the place for you guys, but it isn't for me. Just one summer at Port Mallory. If I like it, then maybe you can let me stay. If I don't, then I really guess city life is the life for me and I was wrong."

"Well . . ." Dad rubs the stubble on his chin. "I don't know."

"We'll think about it," Mom starts, and I smile slightly. "But you have to prove your responsible enough for this."

"Alright." I say. "Well, goodnight, and I'm going to call Andrew before I go to bed."

"Okay." Mom calls behind me. I didn't want to go to sleep though, I planned to Skype with Andrew the whole night.

Finally, things had begun to go my way.