Too Proud to Breathe

The villa was as beautiful inside as it was out, yet it wasn’t the sight of the villa which help my attention but that of the view. The view to put it simply was breath-taking. The backyard of the villa faced towards the beach, with its beautiful deep blue sea and luscious yellow sand.

After I grabbed my book, ‘Noughts and Crosses’, and a towel I wandered down to the beach through a gap in the gate.

The sound of the ocean and the warmness of the sun relaxed me into my own little world as my book consumed in.

Hours passed as if they were seconds and soon the sun was slowly setting, leaving the dusk to spread over the beautiful horizon.

The pleasant mood in which I had become accustom to in the last few hours was quickly shattered by Michael as soon as I stepped through the door.

His music was so loud that I couldn’t even hear myself think, the beat vibrating through my feet caused goosebumps to travel throughout my body. Although I hated to admit it, Michael’s musical taste was to the exact matching as my own and the song playing at that moment was my one of my favourites.

“All of these guards,
They stand tall and defensive,
Putting up a wall around what was once innocent,
They won’t let me in but I’m stronger than that,
‘Cause you stole my eyes and I never looked back...”

Michael’s voice wafted through the air, the soft yet loud noise vibrating through sound particles until finally reaching my ear drums. A small flutter swam through my stomach, yet disappeared as soon as I realized just who was singing along. Although Michael’s voice was beautiful, his personality was not.

My feet guided themselves to the room in which inhibited Michael, swaying along to the song playing through the speakers. A bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other.

“Ah you’re back! I thought you’d drown! Well I was hoping at least!” Michael said with a chuckle.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny, Michael! What the fuck are you doing?!” My natural defensive stance took over my body as it always did around him; arms crossed, scowl on my face.

“Lighten up, Keyleigh. You’re always so tense...”

“Michael, we’re meant to be having dinner with your parents in about an hour and you’re drunk as a skunk!”

“Woah, Key-key, keep your hair on. I’ll just phone the main hotel and get them to deliver, see, sorted.”

An animalistic growl passed through my lips. “Don’t call me Key-key. You have no right!” Only two people had ever been able to call me that. The first being my father; the nickname been adopted practically from birth. The second being a much younger Michael, before we both went our separate ways. I was not looking to re-live the past, not after everything he had put me through in the last few years, it wasn’t fair for him to use a name in which was one used before the hostility, humiliation and horridness.

“I’m sorry Key. I’m sorry for everything.” Michael slowly made his way to me, dropping his bottle of alcohol causing it to spill all over the floor, and putting out his cigarette in a near-by ashtray.

“Please forgive me,” he whispered now mere centimetres from my face. Before I even managed to mutter one syllable, his soft lips were placed on mine. I could taste the alcohol on his breath and as I tried to push him away, his arms gripped my own into a death-grip making it impossible to move.

In this moment I thought of life when we were younger, before popularity had taken over his body and soul. But mainly I thought of how he was my first kiss. Back then my crush on Michael was at its height and when he asked me to be his first kiss I was more than excited. In under three weeks later, Michael was part of the popular’s, forgetting I was ever anything to him.

With all my wriggling I finally managed to break one of my arms free from his tight grip and pushed him away. In his drunken haze, he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. I was fighting the tears as Michael’s laugh got louder and louder.

“I always knew you were easy, Key-key. Like when we were little, I knew you had a crush on me, I could snap my fingers and you’d do anything I wanted. How pathetic you were, that’s why I left you for them. You’re an embarrassment to be around.”

More tears flowed as I hurried towards my room, slamming the door then locking it. That night I went to bed without food as I didn’t want to go within touching distance of Michael. First day of the holiday and Michael was already winning.

Michael; 1
Keyleigh; 0