It was bright out today, so Angel stayed under her umbrella on the shore. I sat down with her for most of the day. Jasmin and Naomi talked with us whenever they weren’t hitting the waves or playing volleyball. I tried to be open with the pair since I was curious to how a solution could have played out overnight.
“Naomi, I don’t mean to pry or embarrass you in front of your daughter, but what the hell did you and Sinclair do last night?”
“Oh, I forgot you were at the bar last night. All I can say is he is quite the gentlemen, that and I’m very sore.”
“Mum! Gross!” Jasmin screamed.
“Oh, so that’s how things went down,” Angel said with her face flushed completely red.
“Sigh. Forget I asked,” I quickly regretted saying anything.
It didn’t take long for Naomi to start asking questions about Angel and me. We told her a bit about how we met and what we had been through. The conversation leant towards the topic of Sinclair again; it couldn’t be helped. She was curious about what kind of man he was and apart from being bent on getting back at the city that had supposedly done him wrong so many times, I didn’t really know too much about him. We chose to beat around the question and tried to get the conversation back to about her. This only made her more curious and put more pressure on us.
“Well, my dad is really strong, smart and fast. He likes to keep to himself except when he’s being protective of me,” Angel said nervously.
“What’s wrong? Couldn’t think of anything else nice to say about me?” Sinclair called to us as he stepped out from behind some parasols lined out on the sand behind us. Naomi was so nervous she couldn’t even speak. She held her hands behind her hips and leant forwards slightly as he walked up to her. He ripped one of the parasols out of the sand and held it over his shoulder to shade himself from the bright sun. He held her by the waist in one arm and smiled as she stared into his eyes.
“Sigh. You’re being so easy Mum and where’s that smell coming from?” Jasmin whined. Angel sniffed at the black and green cowl that covered his muscular scarred body; it reeked of blood and rot. Naomi pushed him away while covering her nose and any sense of lust disappeared from her system. Sinclair even came off as a little embarrassed as he sniffed himself.
“I’m sorry, it’s rare that I go on holidays. My line of work isn’t the cleanliest occupation one could have.”
“When was the last time you washed this, Dad?” Angel asked as she dropped the cowl to the ground. He also took off a heavy guard made from cloth covering thick, bloodied chainmail that ensnared around his arm which he used to resist the bites of his beasts when he was training them. He stared up at the sun as some heavy clouds drifted in front of it and cracked his knuckles.
“Well let’s not waste this opportunity and enjoy ourselves for a while, shall we?” He then spun a volleyball on one of his fingers and threw it to me. For the rest of the day we had some intense matchups of volleyball; whoever was paired with Sinclair never lost since he would always win the round with his amazing speed, power and accuracy behind his spikes. We enjoyed ourselves and we played a fair few matchups against people just passing by who wanted in on the fun. Sinclair went undefeated by the end of the day and when the beach had settled down just past sunset, one of Sinclair’s beasts revealed itself. It was the giant steel-scaled beast with my mum’s eyes, or I guess I could say what was left of her. It had no hesitation in pinning me against the sand and licking me all over.
“Oh, it’s you!” Angel yelled in surprise; it was her first time seeing the beast since the hospital.
“Woah! What is that thing?” Jasmin yelled as she ran her hand along its shiny metal scales.
“You never listen to what I say, do you Amy?” Sinclair asked the creature as he rested his hand on top of its giant metal head. It shook its head and then smashed the ground with one of its sharp, powerful claws.
“…Bastard,” I said softly under my breath.
“Did I say something I wasn’t supposed to?” he asked me in smug tone, aware he was setting me off.
“Dad…what did you do?” Angel started to become worried.
“Come now, Wade. There were some I never intended to have a second chance, but things decided to play out this way and here we are.”
“You can shove it!” I snapped and punched him across the face. He didn’t retaliate but his eyes glowed bright red as he stared at me. I walked off to clear my head and Angel ran after me. Naomi and Jasmin were confused with what was going on. They stayed quiet as they watched everything set itself into motion. Angel ran up behind me to hug me, but she tripped on a rocked barely buried beneath the sand. She accidently ended up tackling me to the ground. It startled her and the moment she made contact with me, everything felt off. We fell against the sand and I noticed the grains of sand were still airborne, suspended in a moment of time. I stared up the barely orange night sky to see the clouds rapidly coming and going. Time felt as if it had stopped completely, but at the same time was rushing past my very eyes.
“Ouch…Wade, are you? I mean…um…gah! I don’t know how to talk to you when you’re mad!” Angel whined. I couldn’t help but laugh, seeing her all flustered. It was adorable.
“Ha-ha-ha, would you take a second to look around? Besides, I’m not mad at you. You don’t have to be so nervous.” After I said that she looked up at the sky and realised what she did. She pulled both of us into the same state Sinclair had shown me on the way to Anne’s hotel back in Fellbroke. She panicked and tried to return us to normal, but no matter how hard she tried, nothing happened.
“Ah! Why are we stuck like this?” She started to become scared, worried that we would never be able to go back to our normal way of living.
“Sigh. It’s okay, we’ll figure something out. Just relax for a couple minutes.”
We laid on the sand. I held her in my arms as she trembled ever so slightly. Pat. Pat. The sound of footprints in the sand echoed in the deep silence behind us. We turned around and our jaws dropped as we saw a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and golden eyes. We both recognised her; it had been ten years and she hadn’t aged a day and was exactly as we remembered her, it was my mother, Amy Naem. She had a warm smile on her face and she went to talk, but she was so nervous that she couldn’t help covering her mouth. She threw an arm around each of us and rested her head in between us as tears began to well in her eyes.
“Amy, then you were the…” Angel pointed to the giant metal creature, sitting lifelessly as an empty shell.
“Yes, this entire time. To see the two of you all grown up, in love with each other after being born again into the world. I don’t think many people get a chance like this; it almost feels like one big dream. Chuckle.”
“I-I’ve missed you so much, Mum. I never thought I would get a chance to speak to you again,” I said barely from the shock that made my lips quiver as I tried not to cry.
“Well Sinclair’s a master of second chances; one day I really should thank him for everything he’s done for me,” she said cheerfully and picked us up from the sand. Mum happily skipped by the water’s edge as a golden residue gleamed through the air from her feet. It was like we were watching something divine and the more I thought about it, the less everything made sense.
“Would you really call what he gave you a second chance? You’re living in the body of a beast. Aren’t you jealous of Sophia, West and everyone else who got to come back in their own bodies?”
She shook her head and explained that her new life had only just begun, that the body she lived was only an infant, that she would choose how she would grow up. She made it sound like a great privilege that she was honoured to have, but I just couldn’t see it in that light. The three of us knew that this was a chance encounter that wouldn’t last much longer.
“Wade, there will be lots of decisions you’ll have to make in the future. I promise I will help you however I can. You won’t be able to hear my voice, but I will always be here for the t
wo of you. Angel, the sweet little girl I met in the hospital. You have grown into a gorgeous young lady and I want you to know that I love you like you were my own daughter, both then and now.” She hugged us, and we heard a chime of bell.
“It’s time for you to wake up.” The next thing we knew, Angel and I were waking up on the sand together. I felt really tired and my body had a hard time bringing itself to sit up.
“I’m taking you saw her?” Sinclair asked as he sat down just a little bit behind us with Naomi and Jasmin sitting beside him.
“Huh? How long were we out?”
“A few minutes, nothing worth worrying about. Angel please learn to control yourself, what if you had done something like this in broad daylight? Sigh. As I said, it doesn’t matter.”
“I’m sorry I hit you,” I apologised after now being able to understand the situation a little better.
“I’m just glad you two are okay. I was scared when you both passed out the way you did.”
“We’re okay Jasmin, we’re just a little tired I guess,” Angel smiled as she hugged me.
Naomi, who had been quiet this whole time, didn’t really come off as troubled by this which I found strange. Any normal person who was dragged into all of this would have at least had some doubts or mixed thoughts about it, but she stayed silent and kept watching on. It honestly bothered me a little, so I asked her what her thoughts were on everything she had seen. She leant back on her hands, staring up at the stars in the night sky.
“H-honestly I’m interested and curious about everything. This animal, well it’s like something out of a fairy tale. Sinclair, you’re a handsome and committed man, to both these beasts and your daughter. I know it may sound absurd that I admire and hold affection for someone so different, so wild…only having just met you. For once I feel like I’m doing the right thing for myself, but that isn’t the issue. If I convince myself into loving you, the charismatic stranger, will you care for Jasmin? Like if she were your own flesh and blood? As if she was Angel?” she asked something that couldn’t be answered with a yes or no answer; Sinclair’s expression on his face was exemplary of that. He was someone who wasn’t sure of his own feelings. There were things he had set out to achieve that caused his eyes to burn bright. Was he really going to abandon his reckless, dangerous lifestyle to start again?
“I would. However, that is not my main concern. Would your daughter really want a murderer for a father? I am grateful that you accept me for everything that I am, but as you said, this isn’t about us, it’s about what she wants,” Sinclair said boldly while Naomi leant against him. From that Jasmin was left in a tough spot. Deciding not only her own future, but her mother’s as well. Either outcome she would have had the love and support of her mother, but the choice was still too hard on her as she sat there silent as a rock trying to figure out what to say.
“Don’t make her decide! Just do it! If you’re really serious as you say you both are, then go with it. I know you’re trying to be considerate of Jasmin but putting that kind of pressure on her is wrong.” After everything I had seen up to that point, I couldn’t just sit back and say nothing.
“Shame on you, Dad, it’s not like you to shift responsibility,” Angel added.
“That wasn’t my intention. Sorry, little one,” he apologised to Jasmin.
“All I want is for Mum to be happy again and if you’re one to make her that way, then it doesn’t bother me what kind of a person you were. As long as you start being a good person from today onwards, I’ll accept you,” she wasn’t backing down and meant every word of what she said.
“Jasmin you’re such a good kid!” Naomi screamed as she hugged her tight. Sinclair rubbed her on the head with a smile on his face. It was a touching moment and from that day forwards their relationship together grew little by little.
For the rest of the week Angel and I enjoyed our time at the beach with them. At the end of the final day we said our goodbyes as we left for the train station.
“Thanks for everything you two. I’m going to miss you both like crazy.”
“Don’t worry, Jasmin, you can come over to our house whenever you want when you go back to boarding school.”
“I’ll be sure to visit whenever I can, Angel,” she said cheerfully.
“I’m gonna miss you too Jas, be sure to tell me if Sinclair acts up and I’ll come beat him up for you ha-ha-ha,” she nodded and hugged up to us before we left for the station.
We boarded the train and slept for nearly the entire trip home. When we arrived back to Fellbroke, Johnson was waiting in his car to pick us up from the station.
“Thanks for coming out to get us, Johnny,” I thanked him as I put our luggage into the trunk of the car.
“It’s no bother; how was your vacation?”
“It was great! The beach was so beautiful…! If you don’t mind Wade, I’d really like to go there again someday,” Angel’s tone quickly changed from cheerful to nervous and quiet.
“Of course. We can go again next year if you want or if I manage to catch a few days off, maybe sometime in the summer,” I went on to explain what happened with Sinclair and the Orwell’s. Johnson listened through the entire story and by the time I was finished describing everything, we were already parked at front of my house.
“So, Sinclair’s really trying to start again. I cannot say I envy him. He has so many despicable things biting at his ankles already, it would be hard to turn his back on all of that. However, if he really is committed to that family as you’re saying he is, a lot of people will be happy to see him out of Fellbroke. Myself included.”
“I didn’t know you hated my dad, Johnny.”
“I hate the things he’s done more than I actually hate him; those beasts of his have almost taken my life on a number of occasions since we’ve met you, Angel.”
“Come on, let’s head inside, Angel. Thanks again, Johnny. Goodnight.”
We walked inside the house to see Nami sitting on the couch watching TV. Dad and Sophia were in the kitchen giddily flirting with each other; it was still hard to believe they were married from the way they acted. It was awkward walking in on them while Dad had his hand down her pants, both from the front and back.
“Um we’re home…I see you’re enjoying yourselves.”
“Oh, welcome back, Chuckle,” they said as they rapidly shot their hands behind their backs. Their faces were bright red from what I hoped to be embarrassment, looking back on it from now I know it wasn’t.
“Um Jason, your fly’s down,” Angel pointed out as she nervously hid behind me.
“Oh, shit. Zip. So, how was the beach? You two seem a lot closer now, so I’m guessing it was just what you needed.”
“Did something happen? You two left pretty impulsively, only a day after the wedding,” Sophia’s intuition sharply caught on to us without us saying anything. I wasn’t about to speak up, especially about what happened the night of the wedding when we had the house to ourselves. However, Angel must have been feeling conflicted about it still and brought it to their attention.
“…Sometimes my body just acts on its own. I feel kind of dirty and selfish for acting the way I did.”
“So that’s why you up and set out on this little get away. Well it certainly wasn’t a bad idea.”
“Angel, there’s no reason for you to be upset with yourself. You and Wade are different people. Although you may be a couple, sometimes you’re going to want different things in life,” Dad lectured us carefully, trying not to make her anymore upset. She seemed content with that answer and decided not to let it eat away at her any longer. Our arrival home brought on more attention than we planned for when we heard the sound of a purring engine out the front of the house. Anne stepped out of a flashy red sports car, wearing a designer outfit. While we were on vacation, she had gone back to being both a model and a fashion designer. She also moved back into her penthouse in the hotel in the centre of Fellbroke. I wasn’t sure if she came over to welcome us home
or to show off, but either way she seemed happy to see us.
“Looks like you’re doing well for yourself, Anne.”
“I could say the same for the two of you, but how could you little lovebirds just fly off without telling me?” She pinched at our cheeks and got in Angel’s face, looking into her eyes as she nervously looked away.
“Anne, you’re too close…”
“I’m sorry, but you’re just so cute when you squirm. I can’t help myself sometimes.”
Sophia stared at us silently with cold eyes as Anne and I chuckled to ourselves only to stop immediately when we saw her. She then petted Angel’s head as the rage faded from her eyes.
“Sigh. Sophy you really love spoiling her, don’t you?” Dad said as he put his arm around her. She nodded with blush in her cheeks.
However, that expression only lasted for a minute as Anne and our parents spun themselves around to face the door. As they did, it flung open and Risk shot into the room. He was out of breath and he could barely hold himself upright, regardless he bowed down on one knee. He requested my help specifically.
“Woah. Hold up, what’s going on? You don’t have to bow or anything.”
“Hey, you’re that boy Celia invited to our wedding. Why are you in such a rush? Let’s talk this over some coffee. Wade, do you mind brewing some up?” Dad tried to slow down the pace of the conversation.
“There’s no time Huff. They took Cindy. I need to get her back.”
“Wait. Who did?” I asked in a panic.
“The police, they went to Storm Co to find you. They must have recognised her. She’s a good person, but she’s still technically a criminal…she’s locked up at the police station. I-I can’t just leave her like that. I need your help.”
I put my things down and stretched my arms behind my head. I accepted his request without a second thought despite not even knowing what I would be doing to help him. Dad rested his palm against his forehead and burst into laughter. We all looked to him. I was worried I might have been in trouble from the way he was acting.
The Red to My Grey Page 25
