Back in Time

Him | Chapter Six

Summer in Cornwall with Quincy and her family was unforgettable. The flowers, the beach, the ray of sun in the clear blue sky. Everything was so beautiful and perfect.

In the morning Quincy and I would go picking flowers in the backyard while her two little sisters were still asleep. Then we would spend the day by swimming in the pool, and in the evening, all of us would go to the beach to watch the sunset. Quincy had a bunch of little canvas she would bring to the beach so she could capture the beautiful scenery. She had painted nine sunsets by the end of the summer. I had asked if she would try paint other things, but she said she's focusing on sunset this year. I didn't know what she meant by this year, I just guessed she had annual theme for her painting.

I had a thought I wouldn't be comfortable because of her little sisters. But when I was there in Cornwall with the Curlston family, I learned that Quincy was actually not that close with her sisters. I remember how Quincy was with me most of the time, and her sisters didn't really care to join whatever we were doing.

That had been in my thought for some time. I was always wondering how's Quincy adapting to this new environment with new family and new friends. I thought by then Quincy and her sisters would have got along well, but apparently not. Then I understood why Quincy could be really close to me, even though I was a boy. It's because she was all alone in her house. Aside from the age gap, Bella and Elsie were pretty much like a package that Quincy couldn't just be included.

But even so, we enjoyed the summer together with no one left behind. Quincy always had her smile on her face. I still have those summer smile in the photos I took with my camera back then. She looks so pure and cheerful in every photos.

Being friends with Quincy for two years, I always saw her as a joyous girl with sparkling eyes and a smile that could cheer up my day. With her mischievous behaviour she filled my childhood with fun. It wasn't wrong to see Quincy that way, but I was indeed mistaken to never think what Quincy was probably going through, what trouble she had in her tiny world. Until one day she showed me the sorrowful side of her life she never ever brought up.

— My living room, Oldsbourne.

It was half past nine at night and Quincy had been crying silently for two minutes. Seven minutes before, Quincy phoned and said she needed some help with homework. But as I opened the door for her, there were no homework in sight, all I see was her standing there crying with no sound.

I let her in and we sat on the couch. She never told me what she was crying for. Every time I tried to ask it only made her cry worse. I was guessing it's probably about the problem she had with her friends at school. I heard some of the girls disliked her because she had caught the eyes of Joaquin Piterson, the year six adored boy. I still didn't quite get it to be honest. Girls problems are always complicated yet unnecessary.

"Come on, tell me what's wrong," I persuaded her to tell me the problem.

"You know what's wrong," she finally spoke. To be honest, it had been on my mind for a while but no one ever told me what was really going on.

"What? I genuinely don't know," I told her the truth. She didn't seem like going to tell me the whole story of this Joaquin scandal. Then I mentioned, "Is this about your friends?"

With that question, I just made her cry grew bigger yet again. "Can you stop crying for two minutes and tell me what's the matter? I can't help you if I don't know the reason you're crying."

"Do you ever cry, Luth? Do you even understand sadness? It is hard to hold tears every time people ask what's wrong."

I looked up to the ceiling and hopelessly raised both of my hands as I said, "Then what do I do now."