Forever RiverCreek

Chapter 4 - Tara and Cory

By the time Friday night arrives, Cory has had several good days. Cory had spent time helping Rick out at his father's old garage that was sold to Rick before Mr. Dubois died. The night terrors have eased enough that Cory doesn't drink that much and spends time talking to CJ in the evenings using video calls, and there's one night, he gets Tara laughing so hard that she snorts and gets embarrassed. After that, everything rolls smoothly until around three o'clock Saturday morning when a dream enters Cory's mind about the day he found out about CJ.

"Now, that's enough, you dumbass. You will not ever talk to your mom like that again. She's one of the best people I know."

Breathing deeper than before, Cory recognizes her voice, causing his face to shake. Every ounce of rage goes beyond his breaking point. "You ... why the fuck are you here?" he groans, nearly grinding his teeth as he talks.

Sensing things are about to get ugly, Tara goes over and whispers in Mrs. Dubois' ear.

"Go inside, Momma, and calm down. I can handle him. Go, take care of little man. He's looking for you."

Mrs. Dubois nods at her advice. She reluctantly walks away.

"You want a piece of me. Here I am, big boy. Come get me," she provokes him, trying to get him to turn around.

"Go fuck yourself, you bitch," he says, still facing away from her.

"I still have your ring on. You never officially ended it with me. So, my fiancé, wanna finish it? Then let's do this. I'm not some frightened teenage girl anymore. Turn around, you coward. My Cory wouldn't keep his back to me like a little scared bitch."

Out of anger, he twists his body around, getting right up in Tara's face. "You two-faced little slut. How could you write me like that, huh? You wanna tell me that I'm not good enough for you and leave me in a goddamn 'Dear, Cory' letter and then talk to me like this?"

Still calm, wiping the spit from her cheek, Tara maintains her composure, even though she's scared out of her mind.

"I never said you wasn't good enough. I said I wasn't, and we never agreed it was over. I mean it, I still have the ring on, see."

She pulls her hand up, exposing the engagement ring on her finger. Using his speed and strength, Cory clamps her wrist with one hand, forcing the ring off with the other.

"Not anymore. This worthless piece of shit is history."

He chucks the family heirloom and watches as it grows smaller the farther it travels. His action forces Tara's hand in the matter.

"You bastard. I love that ring. I still love you, you big clueless idiot! I was trying to get your temper out of the way so we could talk. Do you hate me that much?"

Without screaming, Cory comes out of the dream and sits up in his bed. The only source of light is the street lamp outside through the window. Depression begins to set in as Cory remembers that day. Unable to go back to sleep, Cory gets up and quietly throws on a pair of blue and white tennis shoes. Then, in a pair of blue and orange And One brand basketball shorts and a black muscle shirt, Cory lifts the window and jogs for nearly twenty minutes. He stops in front of Tara's old house and stares at her bedroom window on the way back.

"Hot damn, everything started falling apart in that bedroom," Cory says between breaths with his hands on his hips, "I wonder if it's still set up the same?"

Taking his time, Cory walks over to the side of the house and climbs up as he did back when he was dating Tara in high school. Peaking through the window, Cory sees that Tara's bedroom is still the same way it was back then. Shocked, Cory sits there with memories flowing through his mind from when he and Tara had sex in that bedroom. The happiness and sadness of those days. One day, in general, replays in Cory's mind.