Tear Tracks Forever

We sat in silence at the dinner table; and the only contact Alex gave me was a few eye rolls and smiles at his mother’s useless talk. Carmella wasn’t half as bratty as she used to be, she was actually kind of nice to me.

After dinner, Mrs. Markin said the first thing that finally appealed to me. “Alex, sweetie, why don’t you show Rhee around town?”
He grinned at me. “Sure.”
Carmella suddenly butt in. “I wanna come!”

Oh, god, please, no. Let me have this one chance to be alone with Alex Markin I thought.
“Mom..,” Alex started.
“It’s fine, honey. Carmella, you already went out with a friend today. Let Alex have his turn,” she cooed to Carmella.

“Okay. C’mon, Rhee,” he told me, leading me out the back door into the cool evening air.

I followed him outside. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was a light grey-blue. There were a few streaks of pink, orange, red, yellow, and purple that brushed ever so gently across the bottom of the sky, but they were slowly fading. It reminded me of New York. But the similarities stopped there. There weren’t tall townhouses clustered together with ghetto kids sitting on the front step; there were large houses, spread apart, each with their own front yard and backyard. From a distance, I could see the beach—warm, tan sand being pulled away by the blue-green, foamy waves that crashed against the shore. Children ran across the stretch of land, shouting, laughing, running, throwing around a beach ball. Young lovers walked hand in hand under the rapidly fading sky.

I glanced at Alex, who was heading farther and farther away from the beach. “Alex?” I called.
He turned around coolly, his hands still in the pockets of his swim trunks. “Yeah?”
“Can we go to the beach?” I asked.

He hesitated. “I was going to show you the boardwalk and town first…but okay.”
He turned and walked back to me, and for a few minutes we walked in silence, side by side, but careful not to bump shoulders or accidentally touch. I decided to break the silence that had been driving me crazy. “Do you ever change out of those swim trunks?”
He turned to me, grinning. ‘Hey, you’ve only known me for a day. Don’t judge.”
I raised my plucked eyebrows at him, implying that it wasn’t good enough of an answer.
“Okay, fine. I wear these most of the time, but if I have to go somewhere, yes, I do own a pair of normal shorts, thank you very much,” he finished up.

I rolled my eyes. He glanced at me. “Are you normally this nosy?”
“Nosy? I just didn’t want to walk in utter silence! I hate silence! And don’t go giving me that stupid speech about ‘Silence is golden.’ I get enough of that from my father,” I told him.
“Okay, if you hate silence, why don’t you tell me a bit about your personal life?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and then sighed. “Do you really want to know?” We were nearing the beach now.

“Yes, I do.”

“Okay. Well, my mother died when I was around four. My dad…well, he didn’t abuse me or anything horrible like that, but he never really loved me either. He provided me with everything I needed, but never hugged me or said ‘I love you’ or showed any other type of fatherly affection. Well, not until I left yesterday. He was really strict, and he and my aunt, they’re the only two members of my family still alive, raised me. My aunt lives in Florida though, and I only see her once or twice a year. We’re really close though. We talk on the phone and email a lot though,” I said, suddenly sounding defensive, so I stopped and sighed, surprised that I had revealed this much about myself so someone I barely knew.
He didn’t say anything, so I said, “What about you?”

He took a deep breath. “Up until about eight years ago, my family was perfect. A happy mom, a happy dad, and two happy little sisters.”

I almost opened my mouth to speak. Two little sisters? I thought against it, letting Alex continue.

“Anyway, Lila was the best and sweetest little sister ever. But one dark night when Mom, Carmella, and I were in the car, a huge 18-wheeler crashed into our car, killing Lila instantly. Carmella broke her arm, Mom got a concussion, and I got this scar—”He motioned to a scar above his eyebrow, “—and I broke my ankle. But Lila got the worst of it. She died. After that, nothing was the same. My dad was quiet and angry, my sister was quiet and angry, and my mom, well, she was damaged beyond belief. To cover up for the rest of our sadness, she goes on with her useless blabbering. But the truth is, we’re barely hanging on by a thread,” Alex finished up in a shaky voice. I could tell he was trying hard not to cry, and I didn’t think he was a baby for that. It must’ve been really hard for him to tell me all that. Without thinking much about it, I hugged Alex.

“I’m really sorry,” I told him.
“Its fine,” he said, shaking his head and pulling away from me.
I stepped away, and we continued our walk in silence as the sky grew dark. Alex stepped closer to the shore, and broke into a run toward the water.
“Where are you going? Wait!” I called, dashing after him.

He grinned, whirling around and motioning for me to come closer. I slowed my pace to a jog, going over to him. “Did you know that every seventh wave in the sea is big?”
Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and twisted me backwards, sending me flying into the water. I gasped, the cold of the night water shocking me.
“Why did you do this?” I asked, in a hollow voice that no longer sounded like my own.
“Because. It was too awkward. We needed some fun,” he said, grinning. I stood up, walking over to him slowly; the heavy weight of my wet clothes making it hard to walk.
I grabbed his hand, pulling him into the water. We laughed, splashing each other and dunking each other, not caring what the other couples around us thought.

After a few minutes, Alex’s voice cut through the air. “We better start home,” he said.
“Y-yeah,” I murmured, my teeth chattering.
He helped me out of the water, and said, “I’m sorry. I owe you a towel and a nice, hot shower as soon as we get home.”
I laughed. “You sure as hell do!”
He grinned at me. “Race you home? It’ll warm you up.”

I was about to say “Okay,” when he took off running. “Cheater!” I fumed, sprinting after him.
We got home, and avoiding Mrs. Markin’s questions, disappeared into different showers. It was around 8:00 when we got home, so I pulled out my t shirt, pajama pants, Pantene Nature Fusion shampoo and conditioner, and some body wash, and went for a nice, hot shower. Ahhhhh. It was so refreshing. I loved showers. I finished within half an hour, and let my wet hair fall in loose waves down my shoulders. I went to go find Alex, but passed Carmella’s room, where horrible screams came out.

“No! Please, Daddy, No! Let me go! Please, you’re hurting me!” I heard Carmella’s sweet little voice yell.

“No! You are going to give me this love, Madira!” he shouted back. Without hesitation, I yanked open the door to her bedroom. There, lying on the bed, was Mr. Markin, lying on top and holding down naked Carmella.