Whenever I walk the path to home, my feet hurt. There are always thousands of tiny little rocks scattered in a path from the creek, and every day I ask myself why I don't just toss them away. After all, its only a couple dozen meters worth, why not just clean it up?
But when you're so accustomed to seeing a particular sight for so long, no matter how annoying or drab it is, it feels like a part of home. If I were to brush it away, it would be like stripping away my roof, or to mow my grass until its just bare dirt.
One day some men came to my creek to try and block it off because they wanted more water on the side where they live. I didn't try to stop them, after all I was already outnumbered and exhausted from a days work. I guess I could same I'm glad they came around, because that's how I met the Shats.
The Shats are sort of famous on The Shore. They're kind of like the people at school who can do advanced math, but choose to take a regular math class instead so they can get an easier grade. The Shats are rumored to be all related, coming down from the builder of City Hall, which is where all the important decisions on how to run The Shore are made.
Taylor Shat gave a lot of the people who work around and in City Hall some funding to start companies and restaurants in exchange for a piece of their future profits. She was a smart woman; the companies were all successful because of the amount of people who visit every day. Every business that opens up, more people flock to the Hall. More people come to the restaurants, then more people at City Hall and more money for her.
The reason Taylor needed people to come into City Hall was simple. Taylor wanted the Hall to expand far beyond The Shore and into land, away from the beach. She wanted multiple Halls all around the US so she could use the same formula to gain money back in The Shore.
Well, she succeeded, and soon enough she was the richest women in the States. Even now her descendants are prospering from her riches and popularity.
The men instantly backed off from my water when they noticed them coming. It was like watching them shrink into their clothes.
Of course this reaction wasn't a surprise for them. They sort of looked amused looking at the men silently walking away, like they weren't planning anything in the first place.
The Shats shifted they're tired looks to me. People say that they think that this generation finally is starting to differ from Taylor; they always look calm and neutral, and I don't think I've seen them flex their money yet. I haven't gotten a close look at them yet, but now that I have a clear view at them, I realize they do seem kind of different. All of them have the signature thin eyebrows and dark hair, but otherwise it's hard to connect any lines between them and Taylor.
Now it was my turn to shrink. Even if I didn't respect them or think they had any power that I didn't, it was still unsettling to see them all just staring at me.
But then I realized who I was. I was Colin Lane. No one would ever earn my respect after the Shat family forced us off. If they were to contain us in a small area of The Shore, they might as well keep out of it.
I narrowed my eyes as I noticed this. A tiny flicker of fear in they're eyes gave me confidence. No one comes near this part of The Shore but me.
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I should explain.
Back in the "Taylor Times" as they call it, my family was basically an outcast. We didn't go to City Hall to eat. We didn't go swimming at the beach despite our prime location. We never had any parties or talked to anyone. We lived a solitary life, and most people considered that a problem. A lot of people just assumed that we were all lonely, horrible people.
But this isn't true. What a lot of people don't know is that we Lanes are like all normal people.
