POINT BREAK|

ρoιnт вreaĸ : seven

"You're so stupid!" Someone says and instantly I recognize it as being Kai. But Kai isn't dead.

So I'm not dead?

Realization sinks in and my body begins to recognize the world beneath me: the scratchy and wet feeling of the sand, the slight warmth the pokes at my toes, and hands, hovering against my chest.

"How's she doing?" Becca asks, just as a bunch of coughs and water spurts out of my mouth.

"She's not dead," Kai says. I groan between the coughs, struggling to breathe right. Kai's strong hands lift me up and I'm hunched over, his hand running over my back.

"Geesh, Taylor are you alright?" Becca asks. I'm still a bit disoriented, but I'm recovering. I nod my head slowly.

"I'm fine," I say, my voice rough. "What happened?"

I look up to find Kai standing on his knees and staring down at me, his hand still rubbing against my back. "What happened?" He repeats and snorts as he moves away."You were forcing the surf instead of-"

"Kai!" Becca gives him a look and he sighs. I know I had anger toward them. But it was misplaced. Besides, Kai saved my life, how could I be mad?

"Sorry," he says with a sigh. "Saw you go in. You were good until that second wave. It crushed you and you went under. You like spaced." He says as he shakes his head.

"Yeah, we stopped by Lana's and she said you just left." Becca inputs.

"Well thanks, I'm okay now though. So, you can just leave me." I say and start to stand. My head feels heavy and I feel a bit sore. My knee hurts and a warm like trickle builds.

"Shit, didn't notice that. You cut your leg pretty bad." I stare down at the incision in my knee and the blood.

"Crap," I say as my mouth turns dry. I let Kai hold me up.

"We should get you home," he says and I don't disagree.

"Where's my board?" I ask him, looking around and not finding anything.

Becca looks down and so does Kai. "She's gone Tay, gone with the wave."

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Lana wasn't particularly thrilled when she saw my condition upon opening the door.

"Your mother's going to kill me," she said as she opened the door.

Twenty minutes later, my leg's bandaged and I'm sitting in bed. Kai and Becca promise to drop by the next to to check on me, but really I don't think I can bother facing them.

I can hear Aunt Lana telling them goodbye before the door closes. Minutes later, there's a knock at my door.

"Come in," I say. Aunt Lana smiles in my direction and comes over, taking a seat on the bed beside her.

"How're you feeling?" She asks.

"I feel great," I say to her, offering a roll of my eyes.

"You don't look like it." She reaches forth and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Taylor, what happened? What made you leave like you did?" I shrug and look down at my fringers.

"I don't know, I was just upset."

"Upset about what?"

"I don't know Lana! Everything!" I sigh with frustration and press my hands to my eyes. I can feel the tears wanting to come. "Mom is getting rid of Lana's things." I tell her. "She's just getting rid of her stuff like it doesn't matter! But it does."

"I can only imagine what you're going through," she says as pulls me into a hug. I welcome her arms, pressing my head against her shoulder.

"She doesn't care. She doesn't care at all."

"That's not true Taylor. I'm sure this is hard on your mother. Do you really think it makes her happy to be putting Kayleigh's things away?" I pull away and offer a pout.

"Then why does it seem like it's so easy for her?"

"Because she's trying to be strong Taylor, strong for you. I'm sure she never wanted things to be this way." She reaches across and wipes away the tears from my cheek. I follow along and wipe the following ones away with the back of my hands.

"Losing a sister is hard, but I'm sure losing a daughter is just as hard. Don't you think?" There's a certain sadness I can locate in Aunt Lana's eyes. I can recognize it as a look I've seen in my own eyes.

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"Taylor," Aunt Lana says, her voice soft as she nudges me awake. "Kai is here to see you." I furrow my brow and try to figure the time. My leg stings when I turn on my side to catch a look. It's three in the afternoon. "Aren't you going to get up?" She asks me. I don't want to, I'm emotionally exhausted and I don't have time to work up anything for Kai, nor do I have the energy to find something to wear or make myself presentable. I shake my head and pull the covers more over my head.

Aunt Lana sighs, I listen for the sound of her shoes as she exits the room. Just a few minutes later there's the sound again, except the shoes are heavier against the floor.

When I peek from beneath the covers, Kai is staring at me.

"What're you doing in here? Get out!" I groaned and turned on my side, biting my cheek against the pain.

"I came to talk."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you. My life kind of sucks at the moment."

"Is it really that bad? That I dated Ida?" I sit up suddenly and stare at him.

"Believe it or not playboy, this isn't about you! I had problems before I met you."

"I'll say!" He quickly retorts and my cheeks burn with anger.

"You don't know anything about me."

"You're right, so why don't you tell me. What do I not know?"

"My sister died, my mom is getting rid of her stuff, I don't have any friends and just when I started to like you, you make a fool of me!"

Kai's jaw clenches and unclenches. He looks like he's ready to walk out, or combust from the defferent emotions he had. Eventually he comes over and takes a seat. "You didn't tell me your sister died."

"It's not something I like to talk about." I say as I cross my arms and look away.

"Why not?" I'm surprised at the tenderness in Kai's voice. "You're obviously worked up about what your mom is doing, but maybe that's because you haven't really accepted losing her."

"You don't know anything."

"I know about loss Taylor. Don't be selfish. You're not the only one struggling." It feels different hearing it come out of Kai's mouth than my aunt's.

"So what're you saying? I'm a bad person?"

"No." He says and turns my chin so I'm looking at him. "I'm saying, it's okay to feel out of control and be angry and sad, but you can't let those emotions stop you from having a life and moving on."

"If I move on, what about Kayleigh? Everyone just wants to forget her-"

"Taylor, moving on doesn't mean forgetting someone. You have to live, you have to be happy and accept the memories you and your sister made. Do you really think your sister would want you to give up your life, because she lost hers?" Kai drops his hand, and it lays against mine in my lap.

"So what're you going to do? Are you really going to spend your time in bed, wasting your life and holding on to the past?

I lick my lips and stare down at our hands, loosely entwined.

"No," I finally say. Kayleigh wouldn't want to see me this way. I can't let her down.

"Good," Kai says with a smile. "So what's the first thing you'll do?"

"Well," I start, "first I'm going to apologize to some people and second, you are going to finish teaching me how to surf because I've got a competition to win."