He was sitting patiently on his seat, antic.i.p.ating when this plane going to land. Later on, he could finally have a glimpse to the country he will be going to live from now on.He looks outside of the window and a small island caught his attention. The island looks beautiful from this height. The shape of the volcano that erupts long ago left a beautiful form, like was perfectly molded by unknown.
A half hour pa.s.sed and their plane finally landed in Mainland International Airport. He was 12 by then. No one of his few relatives wanted to take him in after his aunt shot by her abusive boyfriend. He was there that time, hiding while calling 911 to help her aunt, but she was dead when help arrives.
He lives with his aunt after his parents died. For now, he doesn"t want to remember about his past.
A flight attendant escorted him towards the exit door and he immediately began searching to that familiar face but barely he could remember. He was grateful that there is someone willing to take him in.
"Quinn!"
He followed the sound of that voice. He choke when he recognized the person who"s waving at him, Landon Young. He is his father"s Junior as Environmentalist and Biologist in a university.
"How was your flight? Is it okay? Isn"t too long? Are you hungry?"
Landon Young, he asked too much doesn"t wait for him to answer the first question. When Landon noticed that he was about to cry, he messed up his hair then hugs him tightly.
"Don"t worry, from now on, everything will be okay."
The words he said is what gives him hope.
"Let"s go, let"s grab some food to eat first then we will go shopping in the Mainland City Market. It was the biggest market in the city. Is that alright?"
He just nodded at him. Landon keeps talking to him, which no one actually did before. He was often left alone; he eats alone, sleeps alone, sits at school cafeteria alone, walks to school alone, and left home alone.
But right now, Landon holds his hand while they were walking to his car in the parking area of this airport.
He stays looking up and listens to Landon Young while he was telling him different stories he cannot understand very well.
After they"ve done buying a lot of stuff from the market, they now traveled for ten hours and arrived at St. Claire Port.
He learned that Landon Young owns a fis.h.i.+ng boat, and that made him excited. A few men began moving the boxes to the boat and when everything is ready, they began sailing the salt.w.a.ter towards the Hiryuu Island. Landon teaches him how to maneuver his fis.h.i.+ng boat, and talk about the characters of the wind, the behavior of the clouds, and the ocean.
They arrived at the island after 6 hours of sailing. It was about the sun to rise on the East. He realized, it was the island he saw from the sky. From there, the island looks like a comet. Every time he saw a comet or a falling star, he will call it, a Solaris.
The island is his Solaris from now on.
Landon brought him to his house. It was an old house he inherited from his great-grandparents. Then, there he meets Hannah Young and she was five months pregnant.
"Hi, Quinn… come on, I prepared some breakfast. I know, you both hungry now."
Hannah Young is beautiful. She smiles warmly.
From then on, he lives on the island with the Young"s. Landon brings him along every day to plant trees on the dying mountain. He taught him a lot of things about the soil, the water, the wild animals, and everything about this island.
The couple treated him like he was part of the family. Hannah enrolls him at Hiryuu Middle School and his adviser named Dina Chang. She was also pregnant like Hannah but said, her due is soon.
A couple of months have pa.s.sed and the trees they planted are growing well. During weekends, Ruben Chang will help Landon to plant more trees along with their neighborhood. Then they will go fis.h.i.+ng in the lake to grill them for lunch.
Hannah and Dina would be there as well. His teacher already conceived to a girl they named Joanna.
"Quinn, when your mama Hannah gives birth, you can already imagine that baby like Joanna."
His teacher Dina told him. He stared at Joanna who just sleeping all the time. He imagines when Hannah gives birth, her daughter would surely look like Hannah.
"Have you already prepared a name?"
He heard Dina asked, Hannah. Hannah smiled at her friend.
"Actually, I cannot decide what name am I going to call her," Hannah replied.
"Quinn," Hannah called him. "What do you like to name the baby?" Hannah asked him. They already found out it was a baby girl.
He was surprised that Hannah asked him about it and wanted him to name her daughter. He looks at the adults who waited for him to answer.
"Go ahead, Quinn." Landon encourages him.
"Ca.s.sandra…" he answered.
"Oh, Ca.s.sandra," Hannah seems thinking about it. She looks at him then smiled. "What a beautiful name, Ca.s.sandra." Hannah touches her b.u.mp and gets excited.
"Oh, she likes it!" Hannah announced. Landon touched the part where Ca.s.sandra kicks.
"Quinn, come on!" Landon invites him to feel Ca.s.sandra"s kicks too. He takes his hand and put at Hannah"s b.u.mp.
He felt Ca.s.sandra"s movements inside her mama. His heart filled with happiness, and he looks forward to the day Ca.s.sandra would come out into this world.