Smoke And Mirrors

•Sixteen•

The morning consisted of embarrassing Jake and telling stories of childhood. Then Josh blurted out of no where:

"When should we get the tree?"

"Now, if you'd like?" Kelly responded.

"I CALL SHOTGUN!" Sam jumps over the couch to to the mud room.

"Samuel, no!" Karen gets up, "I'm sitting in the front, I get motion sickness!" She jogs after him.

We all pile into a van that Kelly drove and I sat next to Jake—Sam squished against me.

"I have a question—" Sam looked at me, his hat pulled down, tight to the top of his head, the strings by his ears resting in front of the shoulders, the different colors of blue knitted together.
"Why did you start dating him?"

"Because...well I think it's because he was fun." I think to cliff jumping into the cold water...

I jog to the edge, where he already was.

"So—who is going to go next?"

He shrugs, looking down. I watch as the water runs from his hairline—off the top of his pointed nose. His wet hair pushed back as much as it could be.

I look down at my feet, my toes just inches away from the rough edge of the rocks. My body was bare except my undergarments.
How odd—to be able to hate yourself in the mirror but feel completely uncomfortable with yourself, half naked, in front of practically a stranger.

"I think it's your turn." He puts his hand on my back and shoved me as hard as he could. Launching me face first off the cliff.

I let out a blood curdling scream as fell. Quickly— I curl into a ball, plummeting down into the icy cold water that wrapped around my body.

"He pushed me off a cliff once, actually." I said.

Karen looks back from the passengers seat, "Sorry? He what?"

Sam chuckled a little as Ronnie leaned her head between me and Sam's, "How did he push you off? Jake are you a murderer?"

"No, no, no. We went cliff jumping."

"When?" Josh asked, he was next to Ronnie in the back, back.

"A while ago, I don't know— beginning of fall?"

"Fall?!" Kelly said from the drivers seat, "Jake that's too cold to cliff jump."

"How do you know dad?"

"No reason..."

"Dad, you can't be cryptic. You gotta tell us now." Sam tugged on the strings of his dorky hat.

Karen cut in, "Why the hell would you cliff jump? You could kill yourself."

"Karen don't be hypocritical—" Kelly smirks.

All of the children start a riot, they begin all talking at once—at astronomical levels. Josh throws his hands around and Ronnie gripped the back of Sam's seat. Jake leans closer to his mother's seat, Sam grabbed the shoulders of Kelly's seat and started talking at him.
They were all speaking.

"Quiet!" Karen shut all the voices off with a single word, not even a murmur was spoken. "Now, me and your father used to cliff jump but—" she couldn't get her full thought out because they all started talking again.

I laugh and cover my face, this was utterly chaotic and entertaining. Even though it's probably a normal thing for them it was so out of the ordinary for me.

We pull into this big tree farm with dirt lots. Most of the trees were taken already.
Kelly turns off the van, the engine going quiet. Sam and Jake open their doors and Ronnie just climbs over the seat, Josh shove Sam's forward and gets out.