That October Night

Chapter 15

ONE STEP.

Two steps.

Pause.

Five steps forward.

Eight steps backward.

Although I was physically doing this; it seemed as though my life was mocking me. I was supposed to be moving on, moving forward, but that look in my mother's eye tugged me into three months ago. It made me feel exactly how I felt that night.

Diminutive.

Demoralized.

Desolated.

I pulled on the sleeves of my hoodie and took small steps until I felt the warmness of the water.

"Ray, one step at a time, even if that means taking small steps," I whispered to myself as my eyes fluttered close.

Living here might be temporary, but I actually enjoyed living near the beach. The fresh salty smell was calming and the crashing of the waves against the rocks lulled me into serenity.

Far off the horizon, the flaring hues of the sky melted perfectly into the ocean, luring me to go further. I walked deeper into the water until it was up to my chest, the sand sinking between my toes.

My body willingly danced to the music of the waves as they overlapped each other. My peaceful reward for obeying the waters was satisfying.

This is exactly what I needed.

"Tweets," I heard a voice called out. Already knowing who it was, I turned with a smile to see my brother eagerly taking off his shirt and walking over to me.

"How was it?" I asked.

"Juggling practice and trying to catch up with school in order to graduate is devastating but hard work pays off."

He swam around me and then dunked my head with a loud laugh. I tried tackling him, but Chris was much faster than me. After a few minutes of goofing around Chris asked me, "Oh yeah, why is mums home so early?"

My shoulders immediately dropped at the mention of her. "She's the last person that I want to talk about right now."

"Uhh...Ummm.....I asked her where you were and suddenly she was tight-lipped, and now you don't want to talk about her? What's going on, Tweets?"

"Instead of welcoming Kat like Kat's mother did to me; she talked her down because she's a teenage mother. Apparently Kat's 'bad company'."

Chris scratched his head and he truly looked confused. His eyes were like mirrors, always reflecting his surroundings. I was only a few feet away from him and could vividly see myself and the water in his eyes.

It was almost like Hakeem's except Hakeem's dark brown eyes reflected his emotions.

"I don't get it. She never had a problem with our old friends. I mean they weren't bad company, but they did some crazy shit. Being a teenage mother doesn't automatically make a person substandard."

I scoffed, licking the saltiness off my lips. "I was beyond infuriated so I'm sure my eyes had changed color. When she looked into my eyes it's like something snapped 'cause then she looked... I don't know. I can't even explain it. I just know that was not the mother I know because she even called me an imbecile. I hope things work out with Kat tomorrow."

"Something's not right. Do you want me to talk to her?"

I shook my head, waving the suggestion off. 

Maybe mom's behavior was a symptom of her 'sickness' which still was not a valid enough reason to bombard her bad-day-at-work-or-whatever- attitude on Kat. I just hope that she doesn't try to convince me to stop being friends with Kat because that was not going to happen.