The Currents You Create

Contracts

EMMA

"Well I would swim but the river is so wide, And I'm scared I won't make it to the other side

Well God knows I've failed but He knows that I've tried

I long for something that's safe and warm, But all I have is all that is gone

I'm as helpless and as hopeless as a feather on the Clyde."~ Feather on the Clyde, Passenger

A few weeks passed before Kyle could meet with my lawyer and me. I knew what I was doing was essentially bribing Kyle, but I didn't really care about Kyle. I knew what I wanted; a future for my children. I didn't care what I had to do...I was going to get it.

February 10th passed without me even remembering my own birthday. No one called or messaged me to wish me a happy twentieth. The only sign that anyone remembered was a few posts on my Facebook wall from people whom I didn't know. Those trivialities didn't seem to be important to me anymore.

February 19th I sat waiting patiently in a lawyer's office in Charleston, South Carolina with my lawyer, Angie Patterson. Why was I in Charleston? I found the toughest lawyer I could. Her practice was based in the beautiful city where I had grown up for several years. I came to her and she promised me she would do her best to help, even if it meant going to the United States courts to press charges. However, she was there mostly there to help draw up the documents and act as a witness to the signing.

No matter how much I tried, I could not relax. I was as tense as I had ever been in my life. I knew talking to Kyle on the phone was hard, but seeing him face to face would be harder.

I can do this. We're fine. We're fine. He can't do anything to me with her here.

"How are you holding up, Emma?" Angie peered over her paperwork.

"I'll be fine... as soon as this is over."

KYLE

"There goes my life. There goes my future-my everything.

Might as well kiss it all good-bye.There goes my life"~ There Goes My Life, Kenny Chesney

Dan, Woody, and Will kept asking me if I was okay. When they discovered what a predicament I was in, they freaked. Woody and Will didn't say much on the subject. I think they thought that because it wasn't their business they shouldn't get involved. Dan, on the other hand, insisted that he come with me to meet Emma and talk, before I got myself into further trouble.

Dan and I flew into the Charleston International Airport the day before we were supposed to meet Emma and her lawyer. We spent a sleepless(at least for me) night in a hotel near Folly beach. Even the sound of waves couldn't keep my mind from racing. I sat up scrolling through every social media profile I could fond of Emma. Who is she? If this is really going to happen I need to know a little bit about her. I don't even know how old she is.

I bit my lip in concentration. It appeared to me that she never went on any of the cites, and I learned pretty much nothing. I looked through all the pictures she was tagged in from her mom's and dad's profiles.

The sun began to just barely light the east and I decided to go on a walk on the beach. A few runners and dog owners were out, but there were few at that. I walked to the end of the pier as I contemplated what I was about to do. What the hell is wrong with me? I'm now twenty-nine years-old. I wanted to do so much more before I got tied down by kids. There goes my life- everything I know is gone.

I returned to the hotel at about seven o'clock. I had until noon before I had to meet Emma. I slipped into bed and finally dosed off.

-------

"Kyle?" Dan whispered. He sat on his bed and leaned over to mine to tap my shoulder.

"Hmm?" I moaned from my sleep.

"It's ten-thirty. You need to wake up. We can't be late."

I knew he was right, so I resolved that my slumber was sufficient. I stumbled out of bed and got dressed.

When we got to the Lawyer's office, a woman led us to the room where Emma and Mrs. Patterson sat.

I couldn't believe my eyes. I analyzed Emma's appearance. Her long hair was gone. It only came to the length of her jaw bone. It was loosely curled. Her bloodshot eyes where surrounded by rings from sleeplessness. Her skin was white with a light hue of yellow. Her lips were so chapped I wondered how they weren't bleeding. She looked up and in her I eyes I saw fear- the same fear I saw in her eyes while she begged for mercy. She looked like a scared, sickly rabbit, shaking uncontrollably.

EMMA

"Been running from a pain in me, A feeling I don't understand,

It's holding me down"~ Fear, Blue October

The door opened and I saw Dan walk in followed by Kyle. I felt like my heart stopped and terror filled my veins. How can I do this if I can't function properly in his presence?

I thanked God for Angie. She spent the majority of the time explaining what Kyle would be signing and what exactly everything meant.

Kyle made it clear with his back handed comments that he didn't want to be there. Dan seemed to just observe everything and give moral support.

I tried my best not to make direct eye contact with Kyle, or Dan for that matter, so I just kept looking over the marriage license. It's just a contract, nothing more. I won't even have to see him very often with all the touring Bastille does. It's just a contract.

KYLE

"You could could greet her with the fortune in your hands, or be buried with our boot marks in the sand"~Annie Oakley Hanging, Dan Smith & Ralph Pelleymounter

Emma barely said a word the whole time we were there. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't the only one there, who didn't want to be there.

I begrudgingly signed the license. Emma followed suit and Dan and Angie signed as witnesses.

As Dan and I got up to leave, it hit me full force. I just signed a marriage licence to a woman I know absolutely nothing about.