Black Pier; Chapter 1: Arrival

Black Pier Chapter 1: Arrival



“Goood morning Black Rock Falls it is 6:30 in the morning on this gorgeous Saturday July 17th. Today’s forca-“

The cheery morning announcers report was cut short as Richard rolled over sheets and all groggily to come face to face with his alarm clock which was the killer of his mood each morning, and blindly rested his heavy hand on its top then groped at it until he found the circular with an indent in the middle button which he gladly liked to push to shut the announcer up. He then turned slowly onto his back in the silence and faced the ceiling opening his seemingly like five pound eyelids for the first time today to see only blurriness for a moments time then the ceiling clearly. He thought of the day to come in his head.

“Ughhh why does it always seem like my life gets worse everyday? Ughhh I hate my jobbbb.” He then smacked one of his pillows over his face and let out an exaggerated moan, he was yearning to go back to sleep even if it was for just another five minutes, but he knew he was already on the verge of getting fired from the marina he worked at for being tardy and not selling enough boats to support the marinas monthly quota. He needed this job because this was his only source of income unless you counted the scratch off tickets he often bought but spent more than he profited. After five minutes of just starring at the blackness the pillow over his face produced wishing it was his eyelids closed and he was sleeping again, he stopped pretending, roughly grabbed it in the center and threw it across the room with no caution for its projectory hearing its landing only after hitting a blank wall. He then continued this most charming morning process by throwing the covers to the side. He very slowly lifted his head from his pillow then his back and was now sitting up. He hunched over and hung his head but brought it right back up and put his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes trying to tell them they were now on duty. He finally swung his legs over the side and got out of bed and engaged in his daily morning routine. Shower, dress, eat breakfast, and then say goodbye to the piece of crap apartment he lived in. He then tiredly walked from his apartment in his jeans with his teal blue polo shirt showing the marinas name in the top right corner tucked into them snug, across the parking lot to his car which he dragged his body into limb by limb. He drove a 97’ maroon Toyota Camry which an old friend had given him when he was getting a new car for himself ten years back. He couldn’t afford a new one at the prices they were now and days and this one was already paid off so he couldn’t complain. He jabbed the key into the ignition missing it once but stuck it on the second attempt and turned it until the engine gave a rough spitting like sound but he was used to it and knew it was nothing to worry about. He shifted it into drive and pulled out of the parking lot that was situated next to the apartments carelessly. His life was in a rut and he knew it. He drove the same way to work for as long as he worked at the marina, that is down pine road which is the road his apartments were settled on then down 7th street (where a local small Stop n’ Shop that he bought necessities from was located) which merged with main street (which was very busy and over populated during the summer) then a right on Betzer lane after a mile on main street then finally turning left onto Pier View Boulevard which was where Deller Marina was situated, his second home. The marina that he worked at wasn’t the only one on the strip, there were five others spread out along the ten mile road yet it didn’t decrease the competition between each other. He didn’t know why he chose to work at that particular one or even a marina as a matter of fact. Maybe it was because he thought it paid well at the time and was close to home, yet anything that paid was good enough for him. Plus he had a fascination with the piers which influenced his choice. But now six years later he considered it the hell hole of his life for five days a week, six when it was summer. He arrived ten minutes after he had left his house so it was 6:55, five minutes before he had to clock in. So he turned off the car and just sat relaxed in his seat in the silence staring at the ocean and beach the marina and parking lot overlooked. He then heard a faint engine of a car pulling into the parking lot, steadily growing louder as it neared then pulled into the spot next to him. He automatically knew who it was without having to look. It was Jeff his boss who was sales manager here. Jeff was an okay guy but to Richard he always seemed a little too nice or happy. He then heard the sound of Jeff opening his door and the faint ding, ding, ding, ding.., his brand new Chevy Malibu made to let the driver know a door was open and then the quiet bam of him closing the door. Richard hadn’t looked over at any point and he didn’t care to, he was still staring blankly at the ocean producing its constant waves and thinking of how vast and worry free it was when all of the sudden he was brought back and jumped when he heard Jeff had knocked on his passenger window. He turned his head slowly with a look of annoyance, only to show interest as far as Jeff knew but he was really looking because he wanted to see what stupid tie he was wearing today. But to Jeff they were collectables. He was wearing a green tie with a leprechaun on it; he’d seen that one before. He then raised his head slowly and looked up at Jeff’s face to see why he had knocked on his window. Jeff was ten years younger than him, had a full head of black hair and was always clean cut. Jeff was looking in with a smile and waving at him. Richard put on a fake grin and lifted his head up slightly as a sign of hello. Jeff then put his right hand into a fist parallel to the window and imitated a cranking motion to open his window. Richard reached over to the passenger door and for some reason with his seatbelt still fastened and manually rolled down the window which took a lot of energy seeing as how early it still was to him. He then retreated back to his seat head still turned to Jeff.

“Did you see that Mr. Deller has stopped in for some reason?” Jeff said trying to get Richard excited but failed at.

“No I didn’t.” He actually didn’t realize that there was another car parked about fifteen spaces down facing parallel with the main road, while Richards’s car faced the ocean. Jeff then started to talk in his way-too-cheery for morning voice again.

“Yeah I’m gonna head inside early and say hi. You should start coming in soon too.”

“OK, I’ll be right in.” He lied but it must have satisfied Jeff because he left his car and walked off to the building giddy, but Richard figured when you got paid as much as Jeff did for sitting in his office all day you’d have an extra little jump in each step.

“What an ass kisser” he said to himself shaking his head with no emotion on his face. He then shifted his brown eyes down to the cars clock, it read 6:57. Only two minutes had passed since he arrived. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day. He pressed in the button on the side of his seat with his thumb to release the grasp of the seatbelt, he then turned the car completely off and took the keys out of the ignition and opened the door. He had to manually lock his car because his wasn’t new enough to have auto locking technology. He stood up next to his car and let the cool sea breeze blow through his thinning hair. He took a deep breath of the air and exhaled, he then stretched raising his arms above his head interlocking his fingers and pushing the knuckles connecting his digits and his hands out hoping to crack them because he knew he’d be cooped up in the building all day unless some customers stopped by and that wasn’t usual because everybody already bought their boats in May and June, so he would be stuck in the building with Mr. Deller the owner who he liked and Jeff for the day. He couldn’t wait.