It's up to Me to Make You Bleed

Marriage. Typically, it’s a very happy event in which two people, madly in love, join together in a union that is supposed to never be broken. Well, that isn’t true.

My mom and dad married each other when I was two. They were happy for a good eight years before my dad decided to be stupid and cheat on my mom. When he left, a piece of me died and I was just never the same.

For the following six years, my mother continued to date and spend less time at home. And well I found myself becoming more and more recluse from the world. All hope was lost until the day that my mom, Julianne, met the Sullivan boys, a 47 year old business man, Joe, and his sixteen year old son, Jimmy. My mom and Joe hit it off to a good start, and well, what can I say, I’ve got a replacement dad now and a completed family.

Life was getting better, thanks to Jimmy and his friends. I had to transfer schools when we moved to Joe’s house, but that actually ended up working out incredibly well. For the first time in a long time, things were good.

Now, in my life, I’ve dealt with quite a bit of loss, and self-hate issues. I couldn’t help but feel responsible for my dad’s walking out. He left us behind to live in our own varying hells for six damn years.

But today was different. I’ve moved on and forgotten that man for good. I have a normal family now, and that’s all I need. I can finally improve my trust and people issues, and start living again.

However, there was one thing that I didn’t expect to ever happen. I had always thought that becoming part of the Sullivan family was one of the best things that could’ve happened to me. But oh how wrong I would be.

~*~

There was a consistent tapping being done to my bedroom door. Judging by the sound, I could tell that it was Jimmy and that he was using his drum sticks to produce the noise. Glancing at the neon red lights on my clock, I saw that it was only 6:28 AM.

I groaned as I shoved my head back into my fluffy pillow. “Go away, Jimmy,” I said in a muffled voice.

The tapping ensued. One thing I learned about my new stepbrother: he never quits. I forced myself up out of bed and opened the door, only to be nearly whacked with one of his sticks, seeing as he had mistaken my face for the door. The incredibly annoyed expression on my face didn’t phase him at all, which made it that much worse.

“Can I help you?” I sighed, after he still hadn’t said anything.

He cracked a smile before saying, “Bazooka.”

My jaw almost dropped. “You woke me up four hours early on a Saturday morning to say bazooka?” I asked slowly, almost refusing to believe it.

He scoffed, “Hey, it’s a fun word, and don’t even try to deny it. But no, that’s not why I came here. The guys and I are going on a treasure hunt in the caves. Why don’t you come along?”

“Couldn’t you guys wait till a normal hour of the day to do that?”

“What better time than at 7 AM?” Johnny asked, popping out of nowhere.

“Whoa,” I exclaimed, “never again, Seward. That almost scared me.”

He laughed, “I thought nothing can scare you, Court.”

I smugly smiled, “That’s true, hence why I said almost.”

“So,” Jimmy interrupted, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

I shrugged, “You already woke me up, so I might as well tag along.”

I can’t believe we’re going treasure hunting before the sun’s even all the way risen. But, really I shouldn’t be surprised, that’s Jimmy for ya.

The beach was relatively empty at this hour, which was a rare sight. Since I didn’t want to get sand in my shoes, I decided to make Brian give me a piggy back ride, which to my surprise, he didn’t seem to unwilling to do. “Onward, horsey,” I said, kicking Brian’s sides.

“Hold up, shouldn’t he be a piggy, since it’s called a piggy back ride?” Zacky pondered.

I thought about it for a minute, and agreed. “Good point. Brian’s my piggy!” I laughed. He just rolled his eyes and purposely slowed his pace.

The caves were in reach. Now, let me tell you something about these caves. Not many people know about them, mostly because you have to go in the water to get to them. From the land side, it just looks like a mountain of rocks. But in the water, you see that there is actually an entrance. Jimmy and Brian found the place one time, completely on accident, when they were out surfing or something.

Brian was nice enough to let me ride on his shoulders when we went into the water.

Something strange that I’ve noticed quite often lately is that he’s been unusually nice to me. I get the feeling that he might even actually start to like me, which would be amazing, seeing as I’ve had a crush on him from the moment I saw him. You can imagine my excitement when I found out he was one of Jimmy’s best friends.

Note to self: ask Jimmy later if he knows whether Brian likes me or not.

Water dripped from the ceiling of the monstrous cave and the sound of the drops echoed far into its depths. “Now, how do you guys know that there is a treasure in here?” I asked skeptically as I observed the rough, rocky walls.

“How could there not be,” Matt said, “I mean this place is huge. There has to be some history behind it.” Hmm, he did have a point there, I suppose.

Eventually, after what felt like hours of walking, we reached a fork in the road. “Which way should we go?” Brian wondered aloud.

“I say we split into two teams,” Jimmy suggested.

“What if one of us gets lost or something? There isn’t any cell phone reception in here,” Johnny warned.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, “We’ll be fine, short shit. Ok, three of us will go this way, and the other three will go the other way.”

Almost instantly, I felt two different sets of muscular arms grab my own and drag me to the right. Looks like I’m stuck with Matt and Brian. “I’m flattered, guys,” I said sarcastically. They both smirked as we walked forward, shining a flashlight on the walls.

As we got deeper and deeper into the cave itself, I felt a strange feeling. The color and texture of the rock walls seemed to be changing. Before, the terrain was simply brownish-gray with jagged, natural dents and cuts in the rocks from its battle with time.

But now, the walls seemed to be a much redder color, and with what looked like carved spikes and sharper pieces of rock. “G-guys, what do you think that red stuff on the walls is?” I asked, starting to shake a little. No, I was not scared…I was simply alarmed.

Matt laughed, “Ya know, it almost looks like blood, if you ask me.”

Blood? No, it can’t be. No one knows about these caves, so how could there be blood in here?

“Nah, it’s probably just like a different layer of rock or something,” Brian shrugged. Let’s hope that’s the right answer.

“Um, I think we should turn around now,” I said uneasily.

“Aw, don’t be worried, Court. You’ve got two attractive, strong dudes here to protect you,” Matt grinned.

I rolled my eyes, “You two can have fun protecting each other then. I’ve had enough exploring for one day.” I glanced at the unnaturally red walls once more and shuddered as I turned the other way.

“Wait for us, Courtney!” Brian shouted as they ran to catch up to me. Suddenly, these caves just didn’t seem so fun anymore.

*Jimmy’s POV*

Zacky, Johnny, and I hadn’t gotten very far into our tunnel before we heard loud footsteps and shouting coming from the other side. Sound seemed to echo very easily in this place. “Guess if they’re chickening out, then there’s no point in us staying here,” Zacky sighed.

“Yeah, let’s just go back,” Johnny agreed, eager to get the hell out of here.

Seeing that it was 2 to 1 here, I decided to go along with them.

As I was turning to follow them, something of a color other than the rock walls caught my eye. I bent down to see what it was, and to my surprise…it was an old VHS tape, probably from the 80’s or something.

The question is, should I keep it, or hide it again? Well, I’m pretty sure there’s a reason why I’m the one who found it, so why the hell would I not take it?

Not wanting anyone else to know about this little discovery of mine, I shoved the tape down into my pants. If anyone asks, yes I did get a boner from staring at rocks.

If only I had known the wonders that that tape would hold.