An Ocean of Consequences

Chapter Ten - Pt. One

(1501 words)

The following morning was strange. I woke up to a quiet house and did not know what to do with myself. Everyone was avoiding the subject, trying to keep from confirming the fact that two people were missing.

T and Valin spoke by the door. Serah sat next to me on the couch, tracing the scar on my knee while I braided the hair along the edge of her face. She seemed fine—she always did, as long as I could keep myself together. Right then, I was not feeling much of anything.

Serah was supposed to start school tomorrow. The boys and I had to figure out how to make things as normal as possible for her so she could continue to function. I did not know what to do.

"We're going to market today, right?" Serah asked T and Valin. "It's market day."

I grimaced. The last thing I wanted to do was go into public. My face would be hard to hide, my mood impossible to change for a crowd.

"My last market day before school. I need my lunch boxes and snacks, and I'm supposed to have my favorite dinner after my first day, remember?" she asked.

I had not remembered, and I felt guilty for it. I needed to be there for Serah now more than ever, but I did not feel up to it. "Could you go without me?"

"We all have to stick together for the meantime. And, we'll have a lot more company, unfortunately."

"We can't send someone else with a list?"

"How am I supposed to pick out what I want if I can't see it?" Serah grumbled. "You said we were going to go."

"Maybe it would do us some good to get out of the house for a bit," T suggested. I glance at him sideways as I secure the end of Serah's braid. She trotted off to grab the bags from the kitchen.

I sink back into the couch. "I don't really have a choice in this, do I?" T shook his head with a frown.

We walked down the parallel from our house toward the market. I hated going this way, mainly because it passed by so many political family homes. That, and it enters the market from the most populated side—the side where people like to stand and chat rather than just shop and leave. It was the way my family went every time.

"What are these things?" T asked as we passed over the large metal cover embedded in the ground.

"There's a big tunnel where all the water goes when it rains, and it falls from the cliffs over there!" Serah seemed so excited to teach T something for once. "It's pretty. I'll show you!" She took him by the hand and pulled him along.

"Serah! That's a far way away!" I called to her. T smiled back at us as they ran off, but I could not return it. They ran farther ahead toward the broken cliffs.

Valin and I continued our slower gait. I looked up at the ridges of the marble buildings peering over the edge of the plateau. My stomach turned when I thought about what may happen up there. What may already have happened without me knowing. I crossed my arm to keep from twisting my fingers and focused on watching my sandals kick the pebbles along the path.

"Are you all right?" Valin asked me. When I looked up at him and he tilted his head to the side.

"Yes," I said. He looked at me as if I had not finished my sentence. "I'm trying not to think about it. About what might happen to them."

"What about what happened to you?" he asked. "You act as if what your mother did to you was justified."

My hand lifted to my bruised cheekbone absent-mindedly. I looked back down at my feet and gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Is it normal to beat your children here?"

"It's not unheard of." For a teenage boy, maybe. It was rare for a woman, though it seemed to happen to me more than I cared to admit. "I disrespected her. She is my elder, the person who gave me life, provided for me. And worse, I did it to help you. There's no excuse for that."

"So you said something she felt was rude, and she hit you multiple times. Yeah, seems fair." Anger tinged the sarcasm in his words.

In the cause and effect of that event, I could not see how any of it was avoidable. Maybe if I had focused on my family rather than chasing after the beautiful man beside me. But there was no chance of that. Valin was beyond attractive—he was gravity.

I allowed myself to walk a little closer to him. "Let it go. I'm fine. Really," I insisted. He cast his glare at the distance rather than at me. "I've been through worse and I'll go through worse in the future."

He shook his head. "That's not an excuse, Keerah. Yes, my home has its own problems, but... If we were there rather than here, this never would have happened to you." He stopped walking, making me do the same. "I hate that this is your life. That they've been treating you this way so long they've convinced you it's fine. It's not," he said. His brow furrowed with emotion. "I want to take you away from this place—away from them—and it kills me that I can't."

It upset me to see him upset, but his empathy was comforting. It was new. I wished more than anything I could kiss him and tell him to believe me when I said I was fine, make him see how content I felt whenever he was near me.

I pulled him with me as I walked. The small touch made me ache for more. "There are a million pros and cons to everything about our island's ways. But you do help me. You do take me away from everything. I hope you realize that." I felt too shy to continue at first, but Valin never gave me a reason to censor myself. "I missed you last night."

"Last night?"

"Yes," I blushed. "I was hoping you would visit me. I really like... what we do together." Valin feigned confusion just to make me say it. "When w-we... make love," I stammered. My cheeks caught fire.

"Oh, that," he chuckled at my expense.

I felt flustered. "Is it... is it not good for you?"

He smirked. "Of course it is. The best sex of my life," he said, brushing his hair into his face to hide his subtle blush. I giggled as my cheeks burned. "Can't you tell?"

"I don't know what you have to compare it to."

"You are incomparable. When I am with you, there is nothing else in the world that matters to me," he said. He smiled down at me. "I get quite nervous when I'm with you. I worry you'll tell me you're only doing it to see if I'll get any better."

I laughed so much my stomach hurt. Valin had the cutest shy smile on his face as he laughed with me. All my stress faded away. My cheeks ached when I look at him. "You make me crazy."

"Likewise."

I shook my head at him, my cheeks aching from smiling so much. "I should try to enjoy this while I can. It's only a matter of time before you tire of me."

"Tire of you? I doubt that's possible."

"And since when have you been in a relationship long enough to experience a breaking point?" He raised an eyebrow and looked away, resigning to my correctness. "Just give it time."

"I plan to," he said. I looked up at him, and he stared me down. "Will you ever stop diminishing your worth and thinking this is something I don't want? What is the worst that could happen? We realize we're better at being best friends and we go back to that?"

I stared at him. "It's not always that simple."

He crossed his arms. "It may be mad to think I love you, but I also genuinely like you, too. You are a part of my life now, and a part of me, whether this works or not." I could speak past the lump building in my throat. "Pushing me away won't change how I feel about you. So just give it up." He cracked a smirk, making me smile.

T and Serah come back into view.

"Come see me tonight," Valin said as they approached. "Let me remind you of how much I like you."

Serah ran up and took my hand. Valin looked at me from the corner of his eyes as he turned and started down the stairs.