AQUA

Chapter One: Open Ocean

She was running her fingers on the yellow tulips of their garden. The afternoon sun was already shy and dark. But the darkness of this orange afternoon is not enough to beat her darker feelings against her dad. What will make her mad is the thought that Oscar is on his girlfriend’s side and not on hers. She tried to ignore it but the fight six hours ago still existed on her mind. It was a fight about an apple. She fought for her side as best as she could in the kitchen where voices raised.

“There are three apples a while ago. I know you ate one but when I checked out the refrigerator, they were all gone!” Jenna spoke like she is so certain of her words.

“Dad, I only ate one! Why would I eat much such a fruit like that?” She grew up knowing that it’s wrong to be against your parents but she won’t follow it anymore.

“Are you saying that I am such a no-no in picking and buying fruits for you?”

Then the small hellhole became larger. That is her job, enlarging a small issue to let me be the bad one even though it’s her who’s the evil one. She thought.

            Now, she was watching the sun setting in the available sight near their garden. It was almost perfect. The lowering of the sun could not lower her temper against the woman whom her father loves at this moment. Just to change her dad’s heart, she is willing to do all of the possibilities that are present. The different colors of the different species of flowers on their small but loaded garden really stood out as usual. Looking and touching at them can be her pastime when she is bored. If she gets fed up with that, she can go to the lake near their house. She thinks ten columned cars can be fitted in there and another ten in rows. She went there after waiting for the white orchids in their garden to bloom. Its water is crystal clear. She can almost use it as a mirror that reflects her serious self. It is clear to her ex-classmates and friends that Brielle possesses the identity of being silent but rich with thoughts and knowledge—also less in speaking but abundant of words that are just stuck in her mind. She decided to dip her pinky on the surface of the water. It was cold and circles danced around the area where her finger touched the constant virginity of the lake which has its imperfectly-round shape with grasses on ground outside it. She sighed while thinking about the lamentable fact that she is being hurt by discriminations and judgments from people in her past schools. She wants a positive outlook in her new environment that she should adjust for. She’s adjusting. In fact, it is their third week in Iowa, their new place and she is meeting new friends; the owls and the noisy crickets near their medium-sized two-floored concrete house. Oscar bought it a month ago and he was extremely excited about moving to a new place. Transferring his residence is not just about letting Brielle cut her sufferings in bullying stuffs in Miami but it is more than about being nearer to his job and having the first time on living with Jenna under a single roof. He met Jenna in her work in American Times Network, the oldest running media company. Oscar is assigned in the newspaper authority as the associate editor-in-chief. But Jenna has nothing to do with the news thing. They met because Jenna’s the younger sister of the vice president of ATN. She is selling fashionable accessories online. It hurts Brielle thinking about the way they met and shared love but she cannot do anything about it. Oscar’s mind is already set and focused into a girl who can never match with Brielle’s attitude, who can never match the love of Brielle’s biological mother.

            But a sudden pain in her head befell. She took her finger back and touched her head where the pain comes. She closed her eyes and told herself not to think back about what happened years ago. Whenever she’s close to any body of water, the happening in the beach never fail to enter her mind. A mixture of guilt, dread and pain twisted her brain. She stood up from kneeling near the lake. Her knees did not rest on the soft green grasses anymore. She ran to their house which has nine distant neighbor houses still with the same exterior design. She entered their garden which is the first thing to be seen after their white wooden gate and fences. Then she finally entered their living area, the first to be seen in their house. Jenna was watching her favorite game show on television while sitting on the long black sofa like a rotten banana man with overloading popcorn on her mouth. Brielle closed the tall wooden door silently. She knows Jenna hates noisy sounds. But that still made her look Brielle. She chewed the popcorn in her mouth and swallowed them and talked,