AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is TRIGGER WARNING for this chapter! There is a mention of death and hints at self harm. Just be aware! It comes at the end of the chapter!
Chapter 28:
Zelena's POV
Robby had hesitated, sparing several glances back but still he follows behind Tory and my eyes watch the pair walk away indefinitely. The crowd that had grown around us slowly dwindles until there's no one but a pair of curious cops who approach the adult men for answers. Eventually the younger of the two circles back to me, inquiring upon my safety and if I knew the men behind me. I wordlessly nod, replaying the image of my two friends walking away in my head.
Sensei Lawrence interrupts my haunting with a question I thought would have an obvious answer at this point. "Your dad's Ryan Carter?"
"Believe me, I'm not happy about it." My words taste as bitter on my tongue as they sound when my lips push them through. My arms cross over my chest the second he walks around front of me to be the exact center of my vision.
The bald man Robby had glanced at like he knew who he was pipes in. "I always wondered what happened to him."
I stare straight ahead, where the crosswalk Kreese had used to exit the scene he created, lies. I don't want to meet Sensei Lawrence's gaze, knowing I'd be forced to face my unprocessed emotions. "The same thing that always happens to the people Kreese digs his claw too deeply into." My head abruptly turns to face him. An intrigue dances in the man's eyes. "He's rotting away in prison. Where he belongs." There's a finality to my words, ending anymore discussion about the topic of their Cobra buddy.
My eyes return to the street before us, then to the left where the crosswalk I'd used to get here from the parking structure is. Prepared to leave, I stuff my hands into my front pockets allowing my fingertips to roam the inner material of them to give me something new to concentrate on. "Zelena," Mr. LaRusso begins, heading my direction from behind the bald man.
"I need to get some air. Go on a walk." I interrupt him, walking backwards a few steps to avoid being stopped easily. I turn and quickly walk away from the men, heading directly for the staircase leading down to the sand. The further down the steps I get, the more I get stuck in mental quicksand. Part of me wants to reach for external help before I go under while the other part of me wants to re-enact bad habits and keep it all to myself.
I push forward and when I reach the final step, I move off to the side. I unzip the backs of my ankle high sandals, tugging them off and picking them up by the sides via looping my left index and middle finger between the straps. The second the soles of my feet slightly sink into the grainy texture of the new area my eyes flutter closed. I amble forward, reopening them a few seconds later to ease envisioning where I am headed instead of blindly running into someone.
The burden of my thoughts weigh upon my back, slowing my speed and allowing me to sink more into the sand with the pressure of my heavied footsteps. But I trek along, moving diagonally to get closer to the waterline. For as crowded as it is on the pier, it's pretty dead here. I think to myself, observing the very limited crowds of people scattered all about here and there along the sand. And a lot of them are here with their closest friends. My arms cross over my body again, shielding me from the water's breeze that suddenly feels incredibly icy.
Water drizzles across my right foot, overspilling from my left as the really small tide covers it. I then stop walking, realizing I'd absently reached the waterline and I am fairly alone. "Mom, I really wish you were here." I whisper to no one in particular while my eyes draw directly to the various heights of waves crashing into one another. "I feel like the ocean right now. My sense of calm seems to be constantly destroyed by one huge wave after another and the lulls are always hovering over a deep end." The tears blur the differing shades of blue the water before me holds. "I am barely keeping my head above water. And I don't know which lifeline is actually attached to a life guard."
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In My Blood (Eli Moskowitz/Hawk FF) (Cobra Kai)
Fanfiction"...be fearless and stand up for what's right even when it is the hardest thing to do..." Perhaps it was poor advice whispered softly in Zelena Bloom's ear while her mother carefully cradled her between her arms as a child. Some sense of sweet nothi...
