Summer Rain

XI ~ Special Friend

{Into the Wild - Lewis Watson}

...Like one small shaft of light, flooding into my eyes, I will never see things, just the same...

----

June 8th

      "And what time do you call this?" Mom screeched as I re-entered the cabin, the early morning light soft and cool.

      I had woken in Elliot's arms. My chest was heavy and sore with the pressing thought of returning to my family and leaving the heaven that was the still-lingering high of the night before when we saw nothing but each other.

     My smile was shaken out of me by my Mother, her tired eyes searching my dishevelled appearance for answers. Her neurotic lecture that followed gave me time to think of an excuse as to where I was the entire night, telling her I booked a guest hotel room in the main building for the night, to give Dad time to cool down. Mom's blazing attitude curbed, and she cuddled me into her, the scent of her musky perfume mixed with red wine tightening that feeling in my chest. She had evidently not slept.

  "I'm sorry." 

     If I had known I would have caused such upset, I wouldn't have left. Still, I don't regret doing it.

  "Your Dad can be so impossible sometimes. He needs to understand you're not a baby and you can't be pushed around. Not by him. Not anymore." At last! A glimmer of hope.

  "He just can't see how ridiculous he's being." I agreed.

      Maybe I wasn't so alone with my family. Maybe Mom finally understood how difficult the situation I had been stuck with was, and maybe she was finally going to give me the key to unleash myself from the chains I was bound in upon my arrival at the club.

  "If things between you and Benjamin are going to develop, he needs to allow you to breathe. His promotion is all he cares about. Not about you. Not about your happiness, dear."

     I spoke too soon. In her own way, she did care. She didn't know that my happiness wasn't her happiness for me. I didn't get angry or upset. 

  "I know, Mom," I nodded, and accepted that there was hope. It would take time. 

  "Your Dad, he's hopeless." Mom sighed, and I knew that the chains I was bound by were tighter than ever, and no matter how I pulled at them, there was nothing I could do without hurting my Mom and Dad's chances at success or happiness.

  "I'll make it up to you both." Her ageing hands cupped my cheek as she looked over to me in the empty living room.

  "I know." She whispered. "You always do."

----

      Surrounded by trees, each of the families at the club made their way to the edge of the mountains that were part of the Beaumont's land, preparing themselves with their rucksacks and bottled water for the annual Beaumont Hiking and Camping trip. 

     The noon-day sun peaked at the top of the mountain range as, like a herd, we all made our way up the hill, braving the heat and the strain to reach Eagle's Peak, where we would rest and enjoy a campfire. Mom and Dad were all kitted out and were eager to join Clara and Tim for the hike, leaving Bodhi and me to our own devices for the afternoon. Dad kept his eyes cast to the ground while Mom plastered her skin in lotion, her over-sized sunglasses hilarious and yet a fashion statement.

  "Come on, loser. We'd better keep up." I tugged at Bodhi's arm, beginning to walk with the crowd of family members, young and old, with Bodhi reluctantly dragging his heels.