CHAPTER 31 (part 1)
By noon, the storm had cleared up entirely, as if it had never been here at all so Damon kept his word about taking me out to his old hang out spot. We were in his truck again, driving down the mountain to some unknown destination.
“So where exactly are you taking me? What is this place?”
“Just be patient and you’ll see.”
“How much longer until we get there?”
“We just started driving,” he said, exasperated.
“I know, but I’m really anxious…and bored.”
“Well, take a nap or something and by the time you wake up we’ll be there.”
“I’m not some toddler that takes naps in cars. Besides how long would I even get to nap for?”
“Alaure, don’t make me regret taking you with me.”
“Fine,” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest, “But seriously how long?”
“About an hour.”
“Thank you. See how hard was that?”
He rolled his eyes and ignored me, but from my peripheral vision, I could see the slightest smirk on his face. I shook my head and smiled to myself. That boy just loved to mess with me.
After a few minutes of silence, I couldn’t help myself anymore. “Don’t you have any music?”
Silently, with one hand on the steering wheel, he pulled out an AUX cable and his phone, flipped through his phone and handed it to me with the music player open. There were quite a few familiar songs here and there, but mostly because they were mainstream songs that came on the radio all the time. Curious about which songs he liked most, I went to his “most played” playlist. Confused, I asked him, “What kind of music do you like?”
He shrugged. “A lot of different genres.”
“Yeah, I can definitely see that. You’ve got everything from hip-hop to electronica to indie rock.”
Finding a familiar song, I selected “Apartment” by Young the Giant. As the song opened up I began to sing the first stanza but stopped after feeling subconscious about my voice. I was more of a shower singer anyways. Silently, I listened to the guitar part between the stanzas while I gazed outside at the scenery. Most people would get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again, but each perspective seemed different to me. It seemed like I could never get over the beauty. You could never have too much of it.
“On my way to your apartment, I write for fear of silence. You carved a boat to sell my shadow
now I walk alone,” Damon began to sing.
I gazed at him in an open mouthed smile of disbelief and shook my head. He smiled encouragingly at me.
“Alright, alright.” He sang again.
As the chorus started we both sang it together, “I hit the sidewalk and this is how it starts. Hide in a raincoat when things are falling apart.”
We continued to sing the rest of the song, laughing together and exaggeratedly playing the air guitar in the part towards the end and laughing giddily again when the song ended.
“You have an amazing voice Damon!”
“I thought I told you about my music passion a long time ago.”
“Well when you were telling me about your wild career choices you said musician but I thought it was one of those thing you say when you’re a kid, like becoming a firefighter or whatever. I didn’t think you had actual talent in the field.”
“Well now you know I suppose.”
“So do you think you could play this song on the guitar or something?”
He shrugged, “Maybe. It would be kind of hard considering I don’t play much anymore.”
“How many years did you play for?”
“Probably about 12. I got pretty good at it too, but I don’t practice like I used to.”
“Well you should change that. Playing an instrument is a great skill to have.”
“Oh god, you sound EXACTLY like my mom! She said the same thing to me when she forced me into piano lessons.”
“Well your mom was a smart woman then,” I smiled.
“Yeah…she was,” he murmured with a far-off look. “Oh hey, we’re almost there!”
I looked around but it I didn’t see anything distinguishing. “How do you know?” I asked.
“I came here a million times when I was younger. I have every tree, every rock memorized.”
“Are you going to tell me now where exactly ‘here’ is?”
“Nope.”
“Wonderful.”
We drove through an unpaved dirt road in the forest that seemed to lead to nowhere…or maybe off a cliff. If I hadn’t become more trusting of Damon I would probably be accusing him of planning to murder me out here. When the path became too narrow, Damon stopped the car. We both got out and began to walk with him leading the way. We walked theought the last few trees into a small clearing where a stream flowed through the cracks of ice
“We’re almost there,” he announced, “It’s much better here in the spring and summer, but obviously it’s still winter and it’s been a while since I’ve come out here.”
“It’s still breathtakingly beautiful,” I assured him. Following the stream, we watched as it gradually widened.
After a good 25 minutes I was about to complain about my feet wanting to fall off when Damon stopped abruptly in front of me.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked anxiously.
“We’re here,” he said. Although his back was turned, I could hear the grin stretched across his lips.
“Ah! Finally!”
“Close your eyes,” he ordered.
“But why,” I frowned as my shoulders slumped.
“Just do it.”
I sighed,” Alright Nike advocate.”
He rolled his eyes and grinned just before I closed mine. I felt the air of his hand waving around in front of mine.
“They’re closed doofus.”
“Then how did you know I was testing it?”
“Because I can feel it. Now hurry up. If you don’t trust me then you can cover my eyes with your hand.” And he proceeded to do just that. I felt a gentle push on my shoulders and let Damon guide me to God knows where.
“What is so important here that you have to—“
“Open your eyes.”
I blinked a few times, letting my eyes adjust to the change in lighting. “Oh. My. God.”
We were standing on a cliff that overlooked a valley surrounded by mountains and embedded with large hills. Pine trees peeped though the pristine white sheet along with some rough patches where the rocky mountains were exposed.
Slightly behind me to my side was a gushing waterfall which poured into a lake below. The sun was shining through in just the right places, a very picturesque scene.
“Oh my god Damon, I never want to leave,” I whispered, my eyes never once leaving the scenery, “A lifetime out here wouldn’t be enough for me to take in the glory of this. It’s like something out of a dream.”
“Yeah,” he whispered back, just as much in a daze as me, “You’re right. I could never get enough of this place.”
I don’t know how much time passed in silent contemplation, but I’m pretty sure I was about to fall asleep from the total calm and exhaustion mixed in my body.
Damon must have noticed because he called out my name. “Alaure, don’t fall asleep yet.”
“Mmm? Why not?” I mumbled.
“We’re not done yet.”
“More?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, more.”
“But I’m too tired. I don’t even want to walk back. Can we just camp out here?”
“Not unless you’re up to being prey to bears and wolves, or dying of frostbite.”
“Make a fire,” I suggested.
He sighed. I heard his footsteps approach me, but I didn’t expect him to scoop me up into his arms.
“Alright, we’re going.”
“Home?” I paused for a moment. The word felt odd on my tongue. Home. It was my home too now, wasn’t it? It was without a doubt a rather dysfunctional home, but I did consider it to be my new home.
“No, not home.”
“Ok,” I shrugged, leaning into his shoulder. I definitely wasn’t going to complain about him carrying me. Even from when I was a kid I used to love being carried. I used to pretend to fall asleep in the car so that my mom and dad would have to carry me back inside to my bed. This was back when everything was perfect and we were a happy family.
Even through the layers of clothing and my numb nose I could smell his alluring scent. I snuggled into a more comfortable position enjoying the feel of his arms safely wrapped around me and the firmness of his chest under the fluff of insulated clothes. Yeah, I was definitely enjoying this too much. Maybe my unusual happiness was leftover from the euphoric feeling I felt earlier. Maybe it was something more. Whatever it was, though, I was basking in it.
Damon carried me down a steep incline and I found that we had ended up at the base of the waterfall that was next to me before and allowed me to stand.
“Wait here.”
He walked behind the wall of water and disappeared into a cave behind it. A few moments later he came back out, dragging a small, beaten up rowboat with him.
“Up for a boat ride?”
“Umm…sure?”
“Good because if you said no, I’d drag you in anyway," he smirked, dragging the little row boat by a rope to just where the land merged with water.
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
He shrugged, “I’ve used it for years.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. It looks like it’ll break if I sit in it.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s extremely sturdy and durable.”
“I’m beginning to question your motives for bringing me out here again,” I said crossing my arms.
He sighed, “If anything happens …well, I promise I’ll keep you safe, okay?”
I hesitated for a moment, but dropped my arms to my sides, “Fine,” I sighed.
He smiled, “Good.”
He settled the boat into shallow waters where there wasn’t a lot of ice and helped me in. Using the paddle, he pushed away from the sides and into the steady current.
I shivered a little as a gentle breeze blew past. I wish I was still warmly protected in Damon’s arms, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It would be so incredibly awkward.
“So…I promised I would tell you about my whole involvement in the business, the backstory as to how I became involved with it.”
“That you did.”
“Hum, I’m not quite sure where to start. I suppose I can start with my father. I’ve already told you that I never wanted to take over Vanguard Technologies, but my father wanted the company to go down to me,” he sighed, “This whole story really is a huge mess.”
He rubbed his forehead and sighed again. Seeing his discomfort, I stood up from my side of the boat and sat down on his side, placing my arm comfortingly around him and leaning in. I was tempted to tell him that he didn’t have to tell me, that I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable or like he had to tell me, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I desperately wanted to know.
“I didn’t want to go into business when I was younger, mind you, I love what Vanguard Technologies has grown to be and I love the company now like an artist loves his paintings, or a writer to her long worked on novel, but I’ve already told you in the past I didn’t want any part of it in my younger years. Honestly, the company should have gone to Bax, but my father didn’t want any of that.
I should probably tell you that Baxter is actually my brother, er—well, half-brother. I know it’s kind of confusing since we call each other cousins. We don’t really like to talk about it, so we just refer to each other as cousins. Neither of us knew when we were younger. As it turns out, my mother had been having an affair with my father’s brother and out of their infidelities, Bax was born. So I guess Baxter was deemed to be a bastard from the moment he was born. Funny how that works huh?” he chuckled darkly.
“I loved my mother though,” he continued, “and I don’t blame her for what she had done. You see, my father had always been a work-a-holic, only ever concerned with his company. He stopped paying any attention to my mother and I. Some father he had been. I suppose I should be somewhat grateful though for the fact that he provided us with every necessity and want…well every want except for time to spend with him. His negligence affected my mother severely. At first it was okay. My mother just spent most of her time coddling me and giving me the attention my father lacked to give. Those times were where all my fond memories of her come from. She taught me a plethora of different things, but once I started school, things began to change.”
“Wait, there’s a school here?”
“Oh sorry, I should have mentioned, this is back when we lived in Seattle. Although the house I stay in now still existed, it was more of a vacation home back then. My grandparents lived here much earlier on. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, well when I began to go to school my mom became rather lonely…that’s where my uncle came into the picture…and well they began seeing each other regularly, secretively of course.
With my dad barely ever home, he didn’t notice what going on until my mother got pregnant. Actually, even then I don’t think he was sure. He found out eventually. I don’t know exactly when or how, but one day my mom wasn’t there. My father didn’t elaborate and refused to elaborate. All he said was “Your mother is gone.” I still don’t know what happened to her. I assume that he probably killed her which would be the reason why Baxter was left behind.”
“So how does any of this lead up to your tension with Bax?”
“Patience, Alaure,” he smiled,” I’m getting there.”
Well it's late where I am, it's been too long since I've updated, so I figured I'd just put up whatever I have even though I really wasn't going to stop here.
I'm really REALLY REALLY REALLY SORRY about the wait. I feel like I'm always apologizing lately. Hopefully this chapter and the next will be worth it though.