Beware The Water

It's Time

"Shorter, this has to stop!" Lux shouted. She was thankful that her parents were out for work or else they'd know that someone had been sneaking in while they were gone or sleeping.

"Just listen to me. Please." Lux tried slamming the front door in Shorter's face but he held it open. "Five minutes, Lux. Just give me five minutes."

She knew that he didn't even deserve two minutes and yet, for some reason she obeyed him again. Lux couldn't find the strength to tell him no. This boy was a weakness. He didn't even have to try to be. He just was. Shorter followed her up to the bedroom room. Like always, there was the opened laptop and textbooks. Scribbled on notebooks and ripped snack wrappers. Same old Lux. The familiar sight almost made him smile. He joined the girl as she sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for his explanation on why he showed up unannounced. "I'm sorry for everything I put you threw." Lux scoffed and shook her head. She's heard this speech a million times. Shorter sighed, wondering if this was a waste of time.

"Are we doing this again because you saw me with Yuji, two weeks ago?"

"So that's his name."

"Yeah. That's his name. But don't worry. I haven't slept with him. Unlike someone, one of us has self control." Lux scowled.

"Alright. I deserved that." Shorter stared down at his hands, trying to fester up the strength to speak. His mouth went dry and color left his face as his mind yanked him back in time. He took a deep breath before continuing. "It's time I told you everything."

"What?" Lux's mind automatically assumed the worst. She shot up from her sitting position and almost shouted, "You didn't hurt Sing did you?"

"No no." Shorter calmed her down, taking Lux by the wrist and leading her back onto the edge of the bed. "He's fine. It's about something else."

Lux crossed her arms to calm the anxiety that had just washed over her. Shorter wasn't above killing someone. Especially if that person was a rat. "I'm listening."

"You mean a lot to me." he began. Lux didn't believe his words but she continued to hear him out. "And I know I haven't acted like it. And I'm not here to give another excuse or to tell you that you just have to accept how I am." Shorter released a shaky sigh as he continued. "I haven't been open with you and I keep trying to bury all of the shit in my life since the first day we met and it's always being dug up. There's a reason why I've been so push and pull with you. And it's not just to keep you out of danger."

Lux observed the shakiness of Shorter's hands. She'd never seen him like this before. He'd try to always act so carefree around her. Now here he was attempting to be real and transparent for once.

The past two weeks, Shorter had wracked his brain trying to figure out the words to say when he finally spoke to Lux. Where should he start? How much should he leave out? Would this vulnerability he'd show change anything? So many questions and only one answer. Start from the beginning. "When I was around five, my family and several others were smuggled here by The Lee Clan. They're the ones who look over the entirety of the Chinese mafia. We were forced to work for them if we wanted to live "safely" in America. If we disobeyed, then we were killed."

"What did you have to do?"

"Everything. My mom was forced to work in one of the massage shops that The Lee's owned to launder money." Hearing that made Lux's skin crawl. Obviously, there was more going on in those parlors besides a simple massage. "My dad would collect tax for extortion, and when people refused to pay, he had to be the one to make an example out of them. Then The Lee's wanted more from my family. Nadia and I were still really little so we were going to be trafficked to smuggle drugs wherever they needed to go. Little kids were seen as less suspicious when crossing state borders, so the adults always brought the young ones with them." Shorter paused. He hadn't thought this far back on his life in ages. Once again the things he buried always reached up out of the dirt.