Alana Bowen returns a few days later to inform me that I was staying in Hawaii with the Sharland family. As much as I was happy to be staying in my hometown to stay with people I was still getting to know, the thought of it made me nervous living with strangers.
My friends stop by when I was being discharged to hand over a bag for me with some of my belongings, mostly clothes. Kailani informs me the funeral for my family is in a few days. The thought of attending it scared me, wondering how I will react to my family's deaths to whom I don't remember. And how will I react when I see my relatives there? How do I tell them that I don't remember them? But at least I will have Lex and Kailani so I don't feel too awkward around so many strangers.
They stay with me until the Sharlands finished work. I sit in the back seat of their black SUV, staring out at beaches as we drive along the coastline, trying to place my surroundings in my memory. My own hometown was unfamiliar to me, and I wonder for a moment how I was going to be able to survive here when everything was a blur, and whether or not if Dr Sharland was right that living here will help my memory. I push the negative stuff out of my mind, and think about how my life will be when I move into the Sharlands' home. I think about Tyler, who I have yet to meet, wondering how he will react to my arrival. Aylin and Dr Sharland, who I have to remember to call Nick now that I'm going to live with them, said Gabe was really excited about having me stay with them. Tyler, on the other hand, didn't seem to care as much.
Nick pulls up into the driveway of his house beside the ocean, parking it behind a red pickup truck. It was a one storey house painted yellow. A garden surrounded the house, filled with red, orange and yellow hibiscus, and tall palm trees were at the front of the house.
I sit there in the backseat, twiddling my thumbs, unsure whether or not if I had made the right choice about coming here. I climb out of the car a few minutes after the Sharlands did. Nick opens up the boot and takes out my luggage for me before closing it again. Kailani and Lex promised to visit me soon to give me more of my belongings.
Aylin puts an arm around my shoulders. "Welcome to our home, Ruby."
I grab the whiteboard I was holding and wrote, You have a nice home.
Nick smiles. "Thanks Ruby. I'm glad you like it. You're going to enjoy it here, especially with the beach behind us."
We head inside. As soon as we enter, we find Gabe and Kaleen on the couch dressed in their swim suits, kissing. They quickly jump a part when they realised we had just walked in.
"Mom, Dad, hi," he quickly says, his face turning red from embarrassment. Kaleen's face does the same.
I wanted to laugh at the embarrassing looks they were giving us from walking in on them, but I decided not to when I see the serious looks both Aylin and Nick were giving Gabe. I don't know what I would do if I had my parents walked in on my boyfriend and me.
"Gabe." Aylin shoots him a warning look.
Gabe stands up from the couch. "Sorry." He turns to me and smiles. "Hey Ruby, it's good to see you again. Welcome to our home."
I smile, writing on my board. Thanks again for inviting me into your home.
Nick puts a hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to keep thanking us, Ruby."
"Where's Tyler?" Aylin asks her son.
"He is out with Shannah," Gabe answers.
"Okay, well I'm going to get dinner ready. Are you staying for dinner, Kaleen?"
"I would love to stay, but I can't," Kaleen answers. "I have to get home soon. I'm taking care of my brother and sister tonight. Mum is going out with some friends."
Gabe puts his arm around his girlfriend's waist. "Would you like me to come over and help you baby-sit?"
"You won't be going anywhere tonight, Gabe," Aylin says. "You have the English assignment I asked you to do yesterday, and you didn't do it. I know you didn't do it today so you're going to spend tonight doing it. Otherwise there will be no surfing tomorrow." She disappears into the kitchen. Her husband follows her.
The three of us stand there in silence for a moment. Making sure his parents couldn't hear him, Gabe complains to me about how his mother is his home schooled teacher. On her days off work, where she works three days a week, she teaches Gabe. She used to teach his brother as well, but he has finished school now. Gabe disliked school. He kept wishing that he could surf all day long rather than doing any kind of school work.
"So how have you been, Ruby?" Kaleen asks as she turns to me, giving me a friendly smile.
I return the smile and wrote, Okay, I guess. I'm just nervous about being here.
"Don't be, Ruby." Gabe smiles at me. "We will take good care of you."
All I could do was smile. I didn't know what to say to his comment, especially when I barely know the family so I had no idea how everything will turn out to be. I don't think Kaleen or Gabe knew what to say either, so the three of us stand there in silence.
Kaleen breaks the silence, saying she needed to go. She kisses Gabe goodbye, waves to me and walks out of the house.
I stood there in silence with Gabe. He stares at me rather than saying anything at all, which made me feel even more nervous than when I first arrived. I couldn't meet his eyes without feeling uncomfortable, so I glance around the living room, taking in my surroundings. A brown three-seated couch and matching arm chairs on either side was centre in the room, circling the wooden coffee table with a vase full of purple flowers in them. The furniture faces the Plasma TV that was mounted on the wall. To the left side of the room was a bookcase full of DVDs, and another one beside it filled with books. A computer desk was near the glass sliding door leading out onto the back deck. I can see the backyard outside, as well as the ocean. The computer was on, showing the desktop background which contains a picture of Gabe and his brother surfing. Around the room was full of photographs of the family.
"Well, I better go and start my assignment before my mother tells me off for not doing it," Gabe says after the long silence between us. "God, I hate English." He walks off in the direction of his room, leaving me alone.
I wasn't alone for long. Nick comes back into the room, taking me on a tour of the house. He shows me the room I was going to stay in. It is right across from Tyler's room. The room originally was used as a guest room. Nick said he had fixed it up for me to stay in. It feels nice and cosy in here. The walls were painted a cream white just like the rest of the house. I like the bedspread. It was a light blue with yellow and white frangipanis printed on them. There wasn't much in the room, just a dressing table, chest of drawers and a built in wardrobe with the double bed in the middle of the room.
Nick puts down my bag beside the door. "I don't know how long you will be staying with us, Ruby, but you can decorate the room anyway you want it to be."
I smile and sign 'thank you', which Aylin had taught me the other day.
We leave the room.
"Hey Ruby, do you want to meet Scales?" Gabe asks.
I turn around to face Gabe who had just come out of his room. Wrapped around his shoulders was a dark brown snake with light brown patterns on it. The snake begins to curl around Gabe's right arm. I let out a small scream.
Nick laughs, patting my shoulder. "It's okay, Ruby. Scales won't hurt you. He is Gabe's pet snake." He turns and walks towards the kitchen.
I write on the whiteboard. What kind of snake is it?
"Scales is a three year old Ball python," Gabe answers. "Would you like to hold him?"
I stare at the snake, not sure if I wanted it around my shoulders. What if it didn't like me and chokes me? I shake my head, but Gabe insists I hold it. I allow him to place the reptile around my shoulders. As he places the snake around me, he tells me to stay relax. I wasn't sure how I could stay relaxed with the reptile on me. I hold my breath, watching as Scales wraps his tail around my left arm and then slithers the rest of his body around my other arm. After a few minutes I let out the breath I was holding in, relaxing once I realise it wasn't going to hurt me.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" I hear an unfamiliar voice say.
I turn to see a teenage boy walking through the glass sliding door, holding onto a surfboard with red, white and blue stripes. He wore blue and white board shorts with a black vest. He must be Tyler.
I hear his parents say something from the kitchen, but I didn't quite hear what they said. He then turns to walk in our direction. He stops a few feet away when he spots me with his brother. He stares at me without saying anything.
"Tyler, this is Ruby," Gabe introduces us.
I smile at him.
Tyler doesn't smile back. "Hi." He stares at Scales around my neck. "You aren't afraid of Scales?"
I shake my head. Scales was harmful just like Nick had said. Even Gabe told me there was no reason to be scared. Even when the snake started to tighten himself around my arm, I still kept calm.
Tyler continues to stare at me. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, but looked as though he wasn't so sure about me. Without saying anything, he walks into his room and closes the door.
I feel as if my heart had been stabbed. I wasn't sure why I felt hurt with the way Tyler acted towards me. I mean, everyone else was friendly. Why wasn't he being friendly? Didn't he like me at all? Wasn't he excited about having me here?
Gabe takes Scales off me, wrapping the snake around his neck. He sees the hurt on my face. "Don't mind Tyler. He sometimes acts like that towards new people. He is just unsure about you at the moment. He is sick of people using him only because he is famous. Don't worry. Once he sees you aren't using him, he will talk to you."
I feel better knowing Tyler will be friendlier later. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be famous and then be used just because you're a celebrity. Gabe tells me that Tyler is a pro surfer while he is an amateur.
Gabe wanted me to follow him into his room. I do, staring at Tyler's closed door as I enter Gabe's room, which looks as if a bomb may have gone off. His clothes were scattered on the floor, and it looked like no piece of clothing was even in the drawers or wardrobe. The walls were covered with posters of surfers and in one corner of the room he had four surfboards against the wall. There was also a shelf with trophies from competitions. He walks over to the tank beside the window and places Scales inside.
"Sorry about the mess," Gabe apologises. "I haven't got around to cleaning my room yet."
I smile, writing on the board. It's okay. It doesn't bother me.
Gabe smiles, sitting down at his desk, and opens up his laptop. He turns to look at me while he waited for his computer to start up.
I write out another question about him and his brother. How long have you and your brother been surfing for?
"Oh, we have been doing it mostly all of our lives. I'm going to be a pro surfer like Tyler when I'm older."
Does Tyler like being a celebrity, especially with the way he is treated by people?
"Yeah, he likes being it. He just doesn't like people using him just so they can be friends with him and then get the juicy gossip about him to spread to the world. In the past he had made friends who decided to gossip stuff about him on the internet. Tyler is really personal and doesn't like revealing personal stuff to people."
Electronic/dance music begins playing from Tyler's room. I don't recognise the artist who sang it, but I really like the beat. It made me want to dance along to it.
"That's David Guetta," Gabe says, like he was reading my mind as I tried to figure out the artist. "He is Tyler's favourite artist."
I bob my head along to the music, writing on the whiteboard. It has a good beat.
"Yeah, it does. Well, anyway, I should start working on this English assignment before my mom gets mad with me. I will talk to you later, Ruby."
I smile at him and leave the room. I head to the living room and just stood there. I wasn't sure what to do or where to go. Nick and Aylin were in the kitchen making dinner and both brothers were in their rooms. I decide to walk around the house again to find something to do. I head to the game room, which had a television, along with some gaming consoles and a shelf full of X-box and Playstation games. One of the things that caught my eye was the Grand piano, which was on the other side of the room.
I walk over to it, running my fingers over the black wood, wiping away the dust, which looked as if it might not have been used in years. I run my fingers alone the keyboard next. There was something about the instrument that I like, but I wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was because Kailani said I used to play it before my accident. I wonder if I still knew how to play or would I have to learn how to play it all over again.
"That's my wife's piano," I hear Nick say.
I turn to face him where he was standing in the door frame.
He smiles and walks over to me. "You can play it if you want."
I look at the piano. I wanted to play it, but there was just one thing stopping me. My fear of not being able to play like the way Kailani said I used to. If I had lost my memory of everything in the past then it was mostly likely I would have forgotten how to play, wouldn't it? Or would that be a different part of the brain where the knowledge I learnt to play would be?
I shake my head, writing, I don't want to play. I probably can't even play anymore.
Nick put a hand on my shoulder. "When you feel like you're ready, Ruby, you can play. Who knows, but you might still be able to play."
I give him a half smile. I want to believe what he was saying, but to me it felt like I have lost everything about myself. I don't even know who I am or what I like. I don't even know the people around me.
"Come on, why don't you come into the kitchen and help Aylin and me with dinner?" he asks me.
I agree to help them. We made mini pizzas on English muffins. Aylin calls Tyler and Gabe into the kitchen once we were done, sitting around the table. I sat across from Tyler. He kept watching me as I ate and I couldn't work out why. I kept thinking that maybe I had something stuck in my teeth or a string of cheese was hanging off my chin, but there was nothing.
I help Aylin wash up later. She said I didn't need to, but I volunteered to do it anyway, just so it would give me something to do. I could sit on the couch with Nick to watch television, but I didn't feel like watching anything.
Once I finished helping Aylin, I decide to head to my room. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do in there. Maybe I could unpack a few things. As I past Tyler's room, I notice his door is open a crack. I couldn't hear anything coming from inside. I figured maybe he had left the room. I wonder if he would mind me having a glimpse of his room.
I push open the door to find it empty. I wonder where he had disappeared to. He had left the light on in his room so I guess he would be back soon. His room was a lot neater than his brother's. Like Gabe, he had four surfboards in one corner of the room and he had a shelf stack with trophies and even a few metals. He had posters of surfers and one of a movie called Soul Surfer above his bed. On his desk was his opened laptop with a picture of him and some blonde hair girl displayed on his desktop background. Also sitting on the desk was a tank with some branches inside. I peek through the clear glass to see a tiny green tree frog sitting on a branch.
"What are you doing in my room?"
I jump, quickly turning to see Tyler who had just walked into the room. His hair was wet where he had just gotten out from the shower. He had some droplets of water on his chest, wearing only jeans. He also wore a bone fish hook around his neck, which was attached to a black lace.
I was about to open my mouth to speak when I remembered that I couldn't.
"Who said you could enter my room without my consent?"
I stand there staring at him, too afraid to even move. I was afraid to even pick up my marker and write on the whiteboard.
He steps forward. "You aren't snooping around for something and then sell it on eBay, are you?"
I continued to stare at him, unable to tell him my answer.
"Answer me!" he demands.
The tone of his voice scares me and I knew I had upset him. I felt stupid for coming in here. I don't even know why I did. I guess I was just curious about seeing what his room was like. I should have asked him, but I didn't. I just let myself walk into his room without his consent.
I'm sure Tyler hates me now.
I felt tears filling my eyes and I wasn't even sure why I was crying when it was my fault for coming in here. Maybe it was the tone of his voice that scared me.
Without writing on my board to tell him why I was in here, I walk out of the room before I made him madder. I disappear into my room.