The Beginning (Intro) : A Tale Of Yesterville

[Pythor 1,354]

                           THE YESTERVILLE SAGA       

                                                  INTRODUCTION       

 

 

It was a normal day in Greydale, California. The sun was just peeping out over the horizon, throwing early morning shadows onto the landscape. It was forecasted to be a high of 88 degrees that day, a normal temperature for that area in mid August. A few surfers were already making their way across the main beach of the town. The wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean stretched before them, and the spraying surf roared with a passion. All about the town, people were waking up and getting ready to start their day. This particular day, being a Friday, energy abounded in the bodies of children and adults alike at the prospect of the fast approaching weekend. 

 

A flock of small songbirds made their way along the main the main street of Greydale before veering west, eventually alighting on a medium sized oak tree situated in the backyard of a brightly painted home. Less than fifty feet away from the oak lay a bedroom window with the shades drawn only partially closed. Oblivious to the person sleeping within, the birds sang with gusto for a few moments, then flew off, most likely to repeat the process atop the branches of another tree. However, the damage had been dealt, and a loud groan issued from the bedroom. Presently, sheets were flung back and creaking floorboards welcomed the man as he stood up.

 

Markus Arthur Rhodes was a strongly built man of 28 years. He was on the shorter side, standing 5'9, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in quickness and smarts. His hair was a thick dark brown and he wore it high off his forehead, slightly parted to the right. At the moment it was severely messed up, having the appearance of a man who had been in a tussle with a gorilla. 

 

Mark had lived the greater part of his years in Greydale, and had a well paying job as the head of a local newspaper team. He was single, living in a small but cozy two-story home about a mile inland from the coast. His passion was for his job, and he went to the office every day with a relentless force, pushing his reporters to their maximum potential. His leadership qualities were the cornerstone of the undertaking. The effect was a thriving business that supplied not only Greydale, but also nearby coastal towns, with the weekly news. 

This particular morning Mark had pressed snooze on his alarm clock a few too many times, finally being aroused by the unfortunate group of birds. Friday was what Mark called a "sleep-in" day, and he allowed his employees to arrive at the office an hour later than usual. The clock on his shelf read 7:14, leaving Mark about 45 minutes until he had to be in.

He quickly showered and got dressed before heading downstairs to grab a quick snack. A granola bar and a cup of coffee later, Mark was in his red Chevy Volt driving towards the coast. On a good day it took him 7 minutes to drive the mile to the office, and today was no exception. He pulled into the front lot and waited a moment to drink in the view before exiting the car. A hill ran down from the lot to the beach line and beyond lay the ocean. Up another small hill on the opposite side of the lot stood the office. The whole wall facing the ocean was glass, providing an excellent view for those inside. Mark would never get tired of staring out over the ocean, watching the seagulls swoop down and the surfers frolicking. To the left down the coast was downtown Greydale. It was a decent size, with a population of 50,000, most of whom loved within 3 miles of the shoreline.

 

As Mark gathered up his belongings and ascended the staircase to the office door, a shout came from somewhere off to his right.

 

"Morning Mr. Rhodes!"

 

Mark turned to find a teenage youth in the process of hauling a bike up the grassy slope from the beach. 

 

"Ah! Good morning Nick. Win the baseball game last night?"

 

"Yeah actually," the boy grinned. "I didn't think we had a chance against them."

 

"Nice," Mark replied with a smile.

 

By this time the lad had reached the parking lot and, with a wave, mounted his two-wheeler and rode off towards the road. Mark waved back before unlocking the glass door and slipping inside the building. 

Nick Walwright had been an intern this past summer, working a couple days each week for the newspaper. He had a good work ethic, and Mark regarded him in high esteem.

As of yet, none of his reporters had arrived, so Mark headed straight to his own room in the west wing, and deposited his backpack beside his desk. Almost immediately he heard a door slam and what sounded like someone humming a tune. Presently, a head popped through the door to Mark's room.

    

"Morning Del," Mark said, looking up from the notes scattered out on his desk. 

 

"Mornin Mark. Just so you know, Freddy called me earlier this morning, said he wasn't feeling well."

 

Mark fiddled with his pen. " Oh, okay. No problem." Then, looking back down at his notes, added "You got everything ready for the release tomorrow?"

 

Delfin nodded. "Everything is in order and ready for print."

 

"Perfect."

 

Delfin Jade Werner was the company's second in command. He was 2 year older than Mark at 30, and a good five inches taller. He had been with the newspaper since the beginning, a little over four years ago, and was a close friend to Mark. Known for his quick eyes and catlike reflexes, Delfin was the team's editor, carefully scrutinizing every minute detail associated with the writing process. Unbeknownst to him, he would play an important role in the events to come.

 

---

 

About an hour later Mark set aside his papers and decided to get a coffee refill. By now all of his employees had arrived and Mark was greeted as he strolled into the main office room. 

 

"Mark, hey!" a blond haired man waved from across the room.

 

"Richard! Morning bro," Mark replied as he pushed down the coffee machine lever. 

 

"Mark, wait till you hear this," the blond exclaimed, gesturing for the other to come over. Mark finished filling up his mug, tossed out the cream cup, and walked up to Richard's desk. 

 

"Take a look," Rich swivelled his computer so Mark could read the writing on the screen. 

 

"Hmm," Mark mused, surveying the headline. It read "New Virus Found on Hawaiian Islands: Scientists Claim it Can Have Beneficial Uses." He proceeded to read part of the first paragraph, which went on to relate how this virus could be a potential cure for cancer. Mark's thoughts drifted off to his 58 year old father, who had been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. Lately, he had been in a lot of pain, and Mark had visited him often, bringing his dad much needed comfort. 

His revere was snapped by a pat on the shoulder from Richard. 

 

"This could be it, ya know."

 

Mark looked up from the blank spot on the desk he had been staring at. "I hope so," he smiled weakly. 

 

He received a couple of questioning glances from some of the workers before Mark returned to his office. He tried to forget his dad for the time being, as he pondered over some possible stories for the next newspaper issue. The sun shone in through the glass wall, turning Mark's dreary thoughts to a general gladness of being alive. All was well in the office. It was a good day. Little did he know that this happiness would be short lived. A storm was about to break loose. Within 24 hours his life, and everyone else's life on the planet would drastically change. 

 

 

------------------------

Hope everyone enjoyed this segment of the The Yesterville Saga. A shoutout to Hippin_In_Hawaii for starting this shared anthology idea. Feel free to build off this story and use the characters in the best way you deem fit. Below is the discord link for the Tanki Shared Antholoy server.

https://discordapp.com/channels/528681564440231939/528681565073440782

[kaisdf 3,320]

Article approved.

 

And so it begins...

 

Really nice calm, relaxed opener. You nail the friendly, descriptive narrative style, good job!

 

Really sorry for taking so long to approve this - looks like we need our own Mark Rhodes :P

 

 

Edits:

• Line Break vs. indents: I started by adding line breaks, because I feel they just add some necessary separation to break it up. But, considering line breaks around text, and the lack of indents around the end of the piece, I just made everything into a line break for standardisation.
• "Hey morning Del" is an interesting greeting. Changed to "Morning Del"
• Replaced line of hyphens with [.hr]

[Lose 881]

is it time to write this already? 

 

great intro.... it seemed so happy until the end :P

[P.4.R.K.O.U.R 329]

Delfin saw that you wrote "most of whom loved within 3 miles of the shoreline." And he doesn't love typos...

 

Well written.

[Person_Random 4,991]

I'm oddly bad at reading comp... i was starting on my work and then i noticed that i had several leaps of logic