Dolphin Tale 4

Chapter [27]

His down-cast brown eyes were gazing out of the window and up at the evening sky. He cast his eyes down to the long shadows of the trees cast by the silvery moon, and at the shadows cast by the artificial yellow light from the streetlights. He would have called it a fine evening, had it not been for the butterflies that flitted around in his stomach and through his nervous system, or for the ferocious lion that roared continuously within his head, giving him the worst headache he had ever experienced in his relatively short lifetime. He squinted and could just make out the stars that made up the constellation Orion. Sighing, he dropped his gaze back down to the ground. The thoughts within his head were like mini racecars, driving crazily around the racetrack, crashing into each other and causing mini metaphorical explosions that caused him to close his eyes and draw in a deep breath through his nose, before expelling it slowly through his mouth.

Sawyer opened the window and let the cool air rush in like the tide on a windy day. He let it surround him, enveloping him in a cool, collected embrace. It helped him to relax his mind and to set his nerves at ease.

After deciding to leave the window open, Sawyer walked over to his bed, sighed, and sank onto it. It wasn't just his body that sank, though. Sawyer felt his resolve, his happiness and his cool and collected façade sank like the Titanic. He felt his wall of hidden emotions buckle against the pummelling of the hammer...and then it fell. Brick by brick, the wall fell down. Years of built-up emotion that had stayed hidden, locked away, unseen, came crashing down in a sea of bricks. Anger, sadness, and hatred all came flooding out as the dam wall cracked, and the little prison inside of his head that contained all of the unhealthy emotions unlocked itself, unleashing all of its prisoners out into the world. The emotional barrier that had resisted all blows, previously, had finally been broken, and everything came flooding out.

And they say that, stereotypically, boys don't cry. Ever.

As Sawyer sat-or rather, slouched, or sat, hunched over-on his bed, sniffing away his miseries, and creating a waterfall of never seen before emotions, he thought about his life. He thought about every good thing that had ever happened to him.

He thought about his mother, and about how much he was grateful to have someone like her in his life. He thought about Hazel, and about how she had changed his life in so many ways-too many to count. He thought about Lacie, and about how she had also changed his life-both for the better and the worse. He thought about Winter and Hope and Clearwater Marine Aquarium and all the things that he had learnt over the years. He thought about everything that made him happy; everything that put a smile on his face. Never did his happy thoughts stray towards his father.

As the barrier of emotions came crashing down, Sawyer came to realise just how much he despised his father. Despised wasn't even a strong enough word to describe just how much he loathed the man who had vanished without a trace during Sawyer's childhood. Despise and loathing weren't even close to scratching the surface to how Sawyer really felt about his father. Hatred wasn't even good enough.

As Sawyer's thoughts strayed towards his father, darker thoughts began entering his mind. They had been lurking in the shadows before, but now they had come out to play, scaring the good thoughts away.

Sawyer loved Hazel. He really did. But when it came to question of whether Hazel loved him back...he had gotten a random mix and mash of answers. Sawyer had gotten the impression that Hazel no longer loved him; that he was just a friend-if he was even a friend to her anymore. He had gotten the impression that she no longer cared about him-not in that way, at least-and even if she did, she would rather him follow his own dreams and heart than let her influence any decisions he would have to make. This made Sawyer confused. His dream was to be with Hazel and with Winter and everyone else at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. He wanted to stay in Florida where he believed he truly belonged. But, at the same time, he felt as though he didn't truly belong.

If Hazel didn't care about whether Sawyer was going to stay or go to Washington to live with his father, then Sawyer assumed he wouldn't be missed. As selfish as it sounded, Sawyer wanted to be missed; he wanted to leave a mark-a good one, too-for other people to remember him by. This was his dilemma. If he left now, people would think of him as the boy who cheated, or the boy who lied. But Sawyer didn't want that. He wanted to be remembered for good things. He wanted to be remembered for making a difference-for making a change in the world.

The other thing that was nagging his mind was his father's blackmail. If Sawyer left, nobody would find out about the image that would otherwise cause more trouble to Sawyer. If he stayed, then his father would release the image to the entire world, and Sawyer didn't want that. He didn't want the world to find out about himself and Lacie. Therefore, he only saw one option.

He would have to leave Florida and go and live with his father.

After all, Hazel had blatantly and repeatedly stated that it was his choice as to whether or not he would go and live in Washington. She had said that she didn't want to influence his choices anymore. Sawyer didn't want the world to see the image that his father had taken. He didn't want even more speculation about a possible relationship between himself and Lacie, therefore he saw this as a chance to escape; he saw this as a chance to distance himself from Lacie, and hopefully, end their relationship. If he went to Washington, then Hazel would never find out about his and Lacie's second kiss. She would never know, and Sawyer preferred it that way. So, there was only one choice. Only one of the two options would possible make life better for everyone.

Option one was to stay in Florida. Option two was to go and live with his mother and father in Washington. Out of the two options, Sawyer chose the one that would be beneficial to everyone-everyone excluding himself and possibly his mother. But if it meant that other people's lives could go on normally, then he would do it. He would do anything to make life better for others.

Sawyer took in a deep breath and sighed. If this was a multiple choice question in a test, the answer would be fairly simple. Only one answer seemed correct, and that was the letter that he circled. That was the bubble he shaded in. That was the option he chose.

Option two.