Love And War in Cecil Beach

Chapter 4

On April 15th, I woke up to an unnervingly electric blue sky and the off-kilter chorus of singing birds. It was a Saturday, so senior year could wait. I got dressed and went downstairs, stealing a piece of cold, stiff bacon from the frying pan. My parents weren't around, in their place was a note on the kitchen counter telling me that they'd gone to the mall to shop for clothes. They knew I hated the mall, and clothes shopping. I poured the remains of the coffee pot into a mug shaped like a human skull- my father couldn't resist- and set it in the microwave for way too long; it'd be steaming when it came out, so that I could gently blow on it and admire the view outside. As I was admiring said view and trying to ignore the feeling that something bad was going to happen, something bad happened.

It started with a pounding coming from my door.

At first I stood completely still, like a deer in headlights. Then, my phone buzzed. It was a text message from Diana.

I'm outside, it said.

Trying to quell the anxious thoughts budding in my mind, I ran to open the door. Before I could even say hello, Diana stormed into the house, her face red and contorted. She charged into the living room, plopping herself onto the couch, head in her hands. I followed like a timid puppy.

"Diana?" I asked sheepishly, "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

She didn't look at me, her shoulders only tensing at the sound of my voice.

"Yes... no... I don't know..." Her voice was weak, and I could tell she was on the verge of tears.

"You don't know?"

"I- I'm not sure..." She covered her face with her hands, and from the way her body lurched I could tell she was starting to cry. I sat on the couch next to her, a safe but comforting distance away, in case she leapt up suddenly. Her chest was heaving, shallow, wheezing breaths coming from her mouth. I gently placed my hand on her shoulder, and when she didn't lean away, my other hand on her arm.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. Deep breaths, okay?" She followed my advice, her breathing getting a bit deeper, but hiccupy and still wheezing. She peeled her hands from her face, which was streaked with tears.

"Oh, Winnie!" At the sight of me, she threw her arms around my shoulders and began to sob. I gritted my teeth, the sound of Diana in utter pain so terrible I could hardly bear it. I wanted to find whatever it was that was causing her so much anguish and rid every trace of it, so that it could never hurt her again. I held her tight, rubbing her back and uttering soothing words that I'd learned from my mother. Eventually, her grip around my neck loosened, and her breathing slowed. I summoned up the courage to ask her what had happened again.

"It's Hunter." Of course it was. I hid my disgust at the very mention of his name. "He and I got into this big fight... and... he said that... he wanted to break up... and that he was going to tell my parents... he said..." Her face screwed up again, and she took a deep breath to quell another wave of tears. "He said that he was going to tell my parents about... everything." At the mention of everything, Diana began to sob again. I held her tight, trying to think of something to say. God, Moa would be perfect in this situation. Too bad I wasn't anything like her.

"Okay...hey, it's gonna be fine, okay? He's not going to actually do it. He was just trying to scare you." I didn't know if that was the right thing to say, but it seemed to calm Diana down a bit.

"What was the argument about?"

"It was that everything I mentioned earlier. Um... our sex, and how I wasn't good enough for him, both physically and emotionally, and um... something to do with you..." I perked at the mention of me.