Chapter 2: Encountering the Family

"Hello, ma'am, we're at Greece... ma'am? The engineer shouted through the door
"Hmm?" Isabella uttered as she sat up from the cushion in confusion.
"We're at Greece ma’am." the engineer repeated.
"Oh, thank you kind sir." she said through the door. She felt the ship shake as the large man walks to the next door.
Isabella rolls over off the cushion, and grips the seat of her porcelain toilet and heaves her body upward. She waddles over to her attires and slips on her largest custom made white dress. She sets her hands on her stomach and says,
"We're here my babies, you can come now."
She grips her belongings and leaves the little room. As she walks out onto the deck, she looks around. She spotted a crowd of Greek people. She slowly tilts her head, not understanding why they're standing at the pier.
"Everyone move away, and let the folks move off the boat." yelled the engineer. Isabella climbs onto the Greek dock and migrates over to a little village nearby.

She enters the market of Greek fashion and edibles. A little lady stands at the apple crate and looks around. Isabella slowly approaches the lady in a green maids outfit.
"Hello" she said clearly.
"Umm, hi ma’am." the lady looked around some more.
"Mother!" she shouted. A middle aged woman walks over to Isabella and the lady.
"Jesse calm your voice" scalded the woman. She turned to Isabella and extends her arm to shake Isabella's hand.
"Hello ma'am, my name is Athena. Wow! Aren't you a big one!” The woman spun around and spoke to her daughter,
"I haven't been that big since I was pregnant." Athena spins around again.
"Are you pregnant?" she asked
"Yes." replied Isabella.
"Oh good, I would have been worried if I'd invited you to dine with my family." Athena chuckled, "That reminds me, do you what to dine with my family at my barn?"
"That sounds very pleasant Athena" said Isabella.
"Jesse, get the carriage ready to go" shouted Athena, "Oh ma'am, I didn't catch your name...”
"Oh, my name is Isabella."
"Beautiful!" Athena said

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"Alright, here it is my barn!" Athena shouted with excitement.
"Oh I forgot to ask, are you afraid of dragons?" Jesse interrupted
"Umm, I don't think so; I've never encountered one." Isabella uttered.
"Well they’re really nice at our barn, you'll love em'" Jesse’s voice faded as she ran around to the other side of the barn.
Isabelle gulped, not knowing what to say next.
"She's going to get one for you to see." Athena said as she picked the house lock on the door.
Jesse comes running around the corner of the barn, nearly out of breath.
“She’s coming’ mam!” A large red dragon with little purple dots on its skin and a very long neck with a large floppy belly, flops around the barn corner.
“That’s tipsy!” Athena exclaimed.
“I see” said Isabella
The whimsical dragon waddled up to Isabella; she was extremely friendly and very cuddly. “Come on in Isabella, not you Tipsy!” shouted Athena. The large beast smile deviously, she was definitely a trouble maker.


“Isabella, meet the rest of the family, you’ve met Jesse, she’s 17 years old, then there’s Jake my 2^nd oldest son, he’s 10 years old. Then there is my 3^rd oldest son, Kaiden, he’s 8 years old. Then there is my youngest daughter, Alex, she’s 4 years old and such a sweet heart. Oh yes and my oldest Son, he’s out right now, but his name is Connor, he’s 26. I know what you might be thinking, and yes I was very young when I started having kids, 15 exactly, I was already married to Daniel, my husband. Oh and Jesse is getting married in 2 weeks,” Athena lowered her voice and said, “I have been trying to talk her out of it but she won’t budge.”
“Oh, yeah I was married when I was 14.” Isabella said.
“Are you still married, do you have a house in Greece?” Athena said, being nosey.
“Umm, no, my husband sacrificed his life for the dying people in Pompeii, and I just move here to Greece, I kind of don’t have a house.” Isabella said in a miserable tone
“Ohh, I’m sorry to hear all that, and since you have faced such a tragedy, I will let you stay here in my humble abode.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t intrude”
 “Non-sense, you’re not intruding, don’t be silly!” Athena said trying to cheer up Isabella.
“Oh, thank you, can I repay you in any way.”
“Stop, it’s our pleasure.” Athena said, “All you need to do is be yourself and you’ll fit in perfectly, now go get cleaned up for dinner.” Athena rushed her words before Isabella could say anything else to contradict her.

Chapter one: Farewell Pompeii

"My gorgeous, you shall leave before you perish" Joseph softly whispered in Isabella's ear.
Lady Isabella softly opened her eyes. Her rose colored lips spoke with slight emphasis.
"I can't leave you here to breathe your last," she paused for breath "I have infants inside my stomach, and I love you with my all my heart. Gathering up and departing is not an option husband."
Lady Isabella sealed her eyes shut, and a little tear trickled down her flawless cheek.
"Mistress, it's getting darker you'd better hurry!" Alicia had a anxious apperance on her face.
"Off with you Alicia, the misteress needs a moment!" Joseph didn't look pleased.

Isabella rushes up to her wardrobe and pulled out her white floral dress and quickly slips into it.
"There's no time to spare, run as quickly as you can toward the dock and get as far away from Pompeii as you can" Joseph uttered.
Isabella move her head in a vertical motion signifying that she understood his comprehension.
She focused right into his eyes, and slightly tilts her head, as for he does the same. Her perky red lips lightly touchs his mouth. Joesph's lips practically touching Isabella's he said,
"I will miss your soft lips against mine." Isabella pulls away from his mouth,
"You don't need to say that, just come with me; we can nurse our children together." Isabella's auburn eyebrows sympathetically raise upward.
"I'm a soldier, a fighter, I can't leave Pompeii knowing that I didn't help anyone but myself and my wife."

They gently meet again, this time with more strength.
"Now run to the pier, there is only five more boats that are going to set out"
He wrap his hands around her waist and directs her body facing the dock. His arm moves up and finger extends pointing to the islands around Pompeii.
"Don't go to the shores, you will still be trapped with ash; have the ship take you to another country," Joseph leans in close to her face to make sure she apprehends him "Now run my lady, run!"
His hands releases grip, and Isabella glances at him, picks up the front of her dress and begins to sprint towards the white indistinct objects ahead. Isabella twists her torso facing her husband at the top of the hill and shouts,
"I will love you forever!"
"I will love you forever as well my darling!" Joseph yells back.
He stand still at the top of the hill watching his wife for as long as he can until the black air takes over his sight of her.
He turns around and runs back to the rest of the civilization.

Isabella tries to look for her husband at the top of the hill, but it's impossible to see past the smoke. She is in a line to get on the ship to greece.
"Excuse me, ma'am, you next" said a nice greek man.
"Thank you" Isabella tried saying through her tears
"Umm, it's fifty nummus ma'am" mumbled the engineer of the ship
"Yes sir" Isabella responded after wiping her eyes. She pushed her hand into her pocket and grabbed the coins he requested.
"hmm, thanks; pick any quarters you want." his deep voice muffled.
She walked on the ship to find four other Pompeii citizens sitting on the wooden deck.
"Hello" uttered Isabella. An uncomfortable silents fills the area.
"Do you know where the quarters are?" she said with an impatient tone. A sickly looking lady pointed at a little door leading to a hall of doors.
"Thank you" Isabella murmured. Her delicate hand gripped the gilded doorknob. There were doorways leading into the quarters the mechanic was talking about. Isabella thought for a moment,
"He said to pick anyone that I want." she pushed open one of the doors and found a large cushion on the floor and a little white toilet in the corner.
"I guess this is my room." she said aloud. She put her items in the left corner of the room. Isabella shut and locked the door on her way out to the deck.
"Everyone go to their quarters and wait until I start the engines. I'll come to everyone's quarters and get you when we're safely away from Pompeii." the engineer shouted.
"It's going to be a long ride." A nice greek man said.

Isabella strodes to her mini room and sits on the cushion. She lifts her dress and starts to rub her stomach.
"We'll be safe in Greece my babies, we'll be safe." She said relieved
She puts her dress down, stands up, and walks over to her wooden window. Her cocoa eyes stares at the erupting volcano and speaks aloud,
"I love you Joseph" she whispers.