Riptide - An Outer Banks Fanfiction

Chapter 2

"You are my sun,

my moon,

and all of my stars."

- E. E. Cummings

. . .

Rip began making her way off the road and through the trees. The walk felt like an age passed before she reached a small two storey house. It was the only house within miles but Rip didn't mind venturing so far out to it every day.

Nature was fighting a winning battle of reclaiming it, vines winding their way up its peeling faded pink walls. She had to get around to repainting it soon. She'd been meaning to do it for weeks now but had never managed to find the time. Walking up the two porch steps, she noted the first step was being rotted away. Another job that she had also failed to get around to. She needed to her act together or someone would seriously hurt themselves one of these days.

Rapping on the door, it wasn't long before it swung open revealing a dark skinned woman with greying hair. Her face had the wrinkles of time but Rip had always thought she was beautiful, if the Cut was personified she thought Gloria would be the perfect woman to represent it. Rough around the edges sure but beautiful all the same.

"Hello Gloria." Rip smiled.

"You're early." Gloria stated. She was a no-nonsense kind of a woman but that's what Rip liked about her. She was always honest. Her nose crinkled up slightly. "Girl, tell me you weren't stupid enough to drink? The stink of beer's on you."

Rip cringed, cursing John B in her head. Gloria didn't miss anything. "No. My friend spilled his drink on me."

Gloria raised her eyebrows almost like she didn't believe her but pushed her door open further. "Well you can march yourself on over to the bathroom and clean yourself up. You ain't having my babies whilst you stinkin' up a storm like a smugglers bar."

Making her way inside, Rip couldn't help but smile. She had always loved Gloria's house. It was like stepping back into a place that time had seemed to forget and there was something charming and nostalgic about it.

Old black and white pictures covered most of the walls with a few faded colour photographs dotted around. Generations and generations of people that made up Gloria's ancestors. Children playing together, men working the land, women smiling holding babies in their arms. Rip often wondered what Gloria felt when she looked at them. To be surrounded by so much history, knowing so much about the blood that had been carried down for decades to make up the person you were today. Just the thought had Rip feeling a sense of being a part of something so much bigger then herself.