Sea Salt (Forbidden Love) (Editing)

Chapter Fourteen- Painful Tears

{Chapter Fourteen}

It can't be true.

Tear after tear roll down my cheeks as I feel like two hands are squeezing my neck, suffocating me.

I continue to shake my head, my hands gripping the hair at the sides of my head.

"You're lying," I say under my breath, refusing to believe him. "She died from a stroke in her sleep."

"Summer," Lover Boy simply says, his face solemn.

"That can't be possible!" I shout as my body starts to rack with loud sobs.

I struggle to breathe, the thick grief weighting down on my chest.

I refuse to believe it.

The only place my mother could've found a merman was on this island and every time we came here, she was right by my-

My eyes widen.

She wasn't always by my side.

At the realization, my sob gets caught in my throat. 

I quickly turn on my heel and start to run out of the cave.

"Summer!"

I hear his voice calling out to me as I carelessly travel through the tunnels of the cave, almost falling.  However, I don't care.  I need to confirm this myself. 

  Exiting the cave, my pace doesn't slow down nor does the speed of my tears that fall.  As they leave my eyes, I feel the wind blow them away almost as if it wants to carry some of the grief for me. 

I run as fast as I can through the forest of trees until I finally make it onto the beach.

Running on sand is a hard task which results in me falling flat on my stomach.

My sobs become more violent as an old, almost forgotten memory comes to mind. The reason why I ran out of the cave.

My eyes slowly open, my tiny hands rising up to rub the sleep out of them.

I really need to pee.

I look beside me for mummy so  she can take me to the bathroom.  I really don't like the dark.

However, she isn't there.

Not wanting to wet the bed, which will probably happen soon if I don't go to the potty now, I slide out of the bed to go and ask Granny to come with me.

Gingerly, I crack open the door and peek out to make sure no monsters are waiting for me before running to Granny's bedroom.

Patting Granny on the hand, she wakes up and takes me to the bathroom. Then, she takes me back to the bedroom where she stays until I fall asleep. Or thought I did.

However, I don't fall asleep because I want to wait for mummy to come back.

I don't know how much time passes before I hear voices from behind the door and it opens.

I know who it is even before the door reveals a familiar shadow because of the scent of the castor oil in her hair filling the room.

As I am about to call out to her, she quickly walks to the desk against the wall and turns on the desk light.  She pulls something from out of the drawer. It looks like a book.

With a smile on her face, she scribbles and scribbles frantically in the book before finally turning off the light and retiring to bed while I remain silent.

My heart aches even more as the scene comes to an end, heightening the possibility of Lover Boy's statement being true.

I shakily push myself up off the sand where I previously laid, my lips trembling and vision blurred.

I slowly continue my way across the sand, one shaky step after the other, completely numb to the crisp, cold, salty breeze, the rush of the blue waves crashing onto the shore and the sand stuck to my wet clothing.

I finally make it home and head straight to my room. I slowly open the door to reveal the bedroom from my memory.

My grip around the doorknob tightens as I bite my lip to hold in a sob that threatens to leave my mouth.  I don't want to alarm Granny who sleeps soundly in her rocking chair.

I enter the room, dragging my feet to the beside table where I keep my mother's journal.  I pull open the drawer in which it laid, staring at with uncertainty.

I don't know if this could break me.

If this could change me.

If this could hurt me. Hurt me worst.

However, I gingerly lift it out of the drawer, knowing that I need to face the truth so I can move on in life.  I know that if I don't do this now, I will always be wondering if it's the truth or not.

With that thought in mind, I open the book that I promised to never open no matter what.