The Crimson Tide

2

GILBERT

---

AFTER WAITING FOR A BIT, Ruben appears at the gate with Evan, both dressed in suits. Ruben's is a canvas of colours, mostly consisting of shades of navy and red. Evan looks handsome in a plain grey one, with a dark scarlet necktie.

"Oh, well, well. Look who's here, eh?" Ruben snickers on the other side of the fence in his light, gravelly voice. "Come in! Come in,"

After opening the gate door, the four of us walk up the paved pathway into an extensive driveway. The house is an old Victorian-style home. Its red brick is crumbling, and white windows have large cracks running down the sides. Although the condition of the house may be poor, it's still a mansion that would sell for hundreds of thousands.

"Erm..." Ruben pauses at the front door. "It's kind of a mess... right now. Let's just talk in the garden, hm?"

Curtains cover all the windows, and there's a strange smell wafting around the walls. Ruben's drug obsession isn't new to any of us, although Kate threatened to kick him out of The Crimson Tide if he continued growing weed. The smell bothers her or somethin'.

We wander into the garden, and Evan stifles a laugh. Ruben has added three more statues of strangely shaped women to his collection. Many are the likes of pixies or angels, but one of the new ones is a mermaid.

God, it's so good to be back here.

I've known both men for a long time, but Evan and I have known each other since we were pretty young.

His eyes are a pale green tone, with flicks of blue. His hair, a curly head of red locks that shimmers golden in the sun. Freckles dot his face, and there's a brown birthmark behind his right ear.

Kate stiffly walks over, shaking his hand before sitting down. They dated for a while, just a couple years back. Everyone said they were meant for one another, which I believed for a long time.

I should've been happy. Happy because Kate finally had something special, something other than me, her exceptional older brother. But I couldn't, and that hurt a lot.

It was a few months later that Kate announced she was pregnant with his baby. Evan and his family were ecstatic, and I couldn't help but pretend I was happy, too. I hated myself every second those eight months, watching the joy on their faces as they celebrated news of a newborn. Any jealousy I held lashed out in my dreams instead. Most included Kate dying. Some of me and Evan running away together, late at night. We would just dance by the river, my hand on his back.

But one dream stood out amongst them all.

The dream involving Kate's miscarriage.

Then it came true. All of it. The look of horror on Kate's face as the doctor shakes his head. Evan, who was staying with us at the time, sobbing in his room whilst throwing away baby clothes⁠—

All of it.

They still don't know I dreamed those things. Kate doesn't have a clue, either. When I look at Evan now, I cancel out whatever feelings I had and replace it with those memories, the ones I dreamed up. It's easier that way.

"You're looking slim," Kate remarks.

Evan smiles. He's always smiling. "That's it?"

Kate shrugs, looking over at Ruben. He's admiring his cigarettes and offers one to Kate, who turns it down. Ruben's hair is all gone, and I think it's because of the drugs (Evan doesn't believe me). Whenever I bring it up, though, Ruben gets defensive.