“Don’t you know it’s bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding,” she talked through the door. I laughed as even on a day like this they were acting how they usually were with one another.
“I don’t believe in those ridiculous superstitions.” He opened the door and took her by the hand. He brought her to his side and held her by the back of the waist as he stared into her eyes as she nervously stared away from him in her wedding dress. I left the two of them alone and went to see if I could help out Dad and Celia with anything. For the most part they had everything under control. I went to poke my head inside the hall of the church to check on everyone. All the guests had arrived and were chatting with each other in the aisles.
Risk, Cindy and even Raul showed up, wearing a dodgy disguise to hide his monstrous features. Dan and Em enjoyed themselves as they mingled with everyone. Both Sabrina and Johnson’s parents attended the wedding too. They were both shocked at the sight of so many eccentrics sitting all around them. The final guests to arrive were Rex, Ashlyn and Anne. They were well dressed but looked more party-ready than anything. I stood there feeling kind of blessed; only a few months ago more than half of these people were strangers to me, but seeing them all there at once, I realised my small family of three had grown so much ever since I met Angel. It was a sight that embedded itself into my mind to this day. I remember the minister then tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention; he was a cheery old man and he could tell what was on my mind.
“I see you’re enjoying yourself there, it’s about time we start isn’t it though?” he said to me while fixing his white collar to his neck. I gathered the bride and groom from the back rooms of the church. They went out with excitement written on their faces while I went and sat down with Angel, Laura and Anne. We all watched as they said their vows to each other. Risk was the one who brought out the ring; he was well dressed but the vibe of violent hatred that he gave off because of Sinclair’s presence in the church had everyone a little on edge. Johnson nervously thanked him, and they went back to the ceremony. Johnson had put his talent to work again; he had made the ring himself. Where he got the diamond from was beyond me, well until I looked at Sinclair who had a mischievous expression on his face. It was as if he was glad to see his misdeeds being put to good use; it was probably stolen. He slid the ring on her finger and they kissed to seal the deal.
The church roared with applause and cheers as everyone stood up from their seats. Sabrina threw the bouquet out to the girls. Anne was the main one to go for it, but Celia, Cindy and Kitten also took a shot at catching it. Unfortunately for them, Angel had made up her mind that she wanted to catch it, time fell still, everyone was frozen in place. Everyone except me and Sinclair.
“My, my, aren’t we being a little childish, Angel?” Sinclair asked as he sat with his arms crossed in one of the aisles. She grabbed the bouquet with one hand, and everything went back to normal. The other girls looked disappointed and realised why they lost the moment they saw Angel holding the flowers.
“You really let nothing hold you back, do you, Angel? Chuckle,” Em teased Angel as she blushed up slightly from all the attention being on her; she mustn’t have thought it all the way through.
“Come now everyone, let’s go back to my house. Let’s enjoy ourselves and make today a day to remember,” Johnson addressed everyone.
So far it was a slow start to what I could tell was going to be both a wild day and night. When we got to his house, first thing we did was set everything out to have the wedding cake. Sophia had really gone all out on it; everyone got a few pieces each since it was so big and took up half the outside table. It didn’t take too long for Nami to start trouble to kick off the fun.
“Hey Johnny! Johnny!” she called to him to get his attention. He looked over his shoulder while eating a slice of cake, as he finished a bite of it, she quickly kissed him, and Sabrina eyed the young girl down.
“What are you doing, Nami!” she asked as her voice grew more and more malicious.
“Nothing, he just had some cake on his lips still, or maybe I just wanted to kiss him. Giggle.”
“Nami…” Laura said in a worried tone as we watched Sabrina overflow with rage. I have to say nothing’s quite as funny as seeing a woman throw a child across their backyard with monstrous strength on their wedding day. Thankfully Risk was light on his feet and sprinted after her to catch her while she was still mid-flight. Sinclair laughed hysterically as we all watched Sabrina’s temper boil over. Johnson passed her a glass of red wine and she downed it all at once. She went back inside and said she was getting out of her dress before having anymore wine. Nami gasped as if she had dodged a bullet while Risk put her down.
“Yup, she’s still scary when she’s mad,” she said under her breath.
“Why did you do that?” Laura asked, completely confused as to why anyone put themselves in that situation.
“Well, I thought it’d be fun to stir her up a bit; she looked kind of nervous. So, I wanted to take her mind off everything. Angel loves teasing her too.”
Laura couldn’t put any logic to Nami’s reasoning and was actually a little bit annoyed by it. She grabbed Nami by the hand and refused to let her get into any more trouble. Nami knew better than to disobey her since doing so would tire the pale girl out.
“You’re lucky to have someone who cares about you so much…wait a minute, did you just do that to make Laura jealous? So, that means you like…Nami you are one confusing little lady.” Risk said to her, only for her face to go blank with the same realisation coming to mind. I just stood there and watched, acting like I didn’t hear the whole thing. Nami sprinted up to me, yelling at me to try and convince me otherwise on our new opinion of her. Laura was quiet, and her eyes were hidden under her snow-white hair as she thought to herself.
“Gasp. Laura don’t listen to them. I was just messing around before.”
“Do you really like me like that?” she came straight out and said it. Risk and I looked to each other, the expression on each of our faces was enough of an indication that neither of us wanted this to play out any further and if it was going to anyway, we wanted no part in it.
“Bail?” Risk asked bluntly as he watched the two children’s emotions flare up even more.
“Bail,” I replied sharply, and Risk then grabbed Nami by the back of her dress with one hand and sent her flying. She screamed as she soared through the air for the second time that day.
“Raul! Catch!” he called to him as Nami flew towards him. With one of his giant hands he caught her as if he was wearing a catcher’s glove. He put her down and stared at us with disappointment in his big red glowing eyes.
“Risk, what did I tell you about throwing people? Especially teenage girls; don’t bother coming to me if the authorities ever manage to put you in a bind.”
Nami gawked at Raul and his monstrous physic as he spoke. She hadn’t been acquainted with the members of Sinclair’s family of abominations yet.
“I-I’m not a teenager, I’m ten years old.”
“Oh, I see. You look about fifteen. I apologise, my mistake.”
What she said threw him off a little, but he quickly went back to lecturing us. However, he drew the attention away from Laura’s question and we delayed something we hoped not to hear again until they were old enough to actually understand one another. Angel put her arm around Laura’s shoulder and flicked her long black hair over hers as she chuckled to herself.
“Why are you sulking on a day like this? You were really excited to come and celebrate with us today. What happened, Laura?” When she asked that, it was like she was digging up the hatchet only after it had just been buried. Risk shook his head and I sighed loudly as I brought my palm to my forehead. Angel was confused by our reactions and tilted her head slightly as she then watched Laura try and say what was on her mind.
“I asked…I-I asked if Nami…” She had the confidence to say it the first time, but not the second.
She went quiet and it was Dad who broke the ice between us.
“What’s up, kids? What’s that look on your faces for?”
“Nothing!” Nami hastily replied without listening to him properly.
“Huh. Well I came over because Cindy said she wanted your help with something, West.”
“Score! I mean, I’ll be back later guys.” He then practically disappeared as he dashed away from us.
“Now, why don’t we all go find some swimmers so you girls can use the pool later on?” That got them out of trouble. I thanked him for helping me out and I went to walk away with Angel alongside the girls, but he grabbed me by the arm.
“What’s the matter?” I asked as I turned around halfway to face him.
“Johnny and Sabrina are cracking open some more wine, you should come drink with us.”
“What about the girls? Who’s keeping an eye on them?” Angel asked responsibly, however, the temptation of wine and the fun it usually brought with it, was clearly visible on her face.
“Em and Dan said they’d handle it. Come on, let’s unwind a little.” As he said that, Dan and Em came and collected the girls; they told us to kick back and to enjoy ourselves. We went over to the grass near the pool where a table was set up beneath a parasol. Johnson, Sabrina, Rex and Ashlyn sat on chairs sipping wine out of shiny, brand new glasses. Dad sat on the grass and Sophia sat on his lap and the married couple did the same, enjoying the rich red wine. I sat down on the grass and held out an empty glass, asking to be filled up. Angel sat on top of me and waved her glass in front of mine, so she could have hers filled up first. Johnny filled our glasses and we all had a toast to the happy couple, best wishes to one another for the future. It was nice just to relax and drink while everyone spoke with each other.
“It’s not every day that we all come together like this,” Ashlyn said as she sipped her wine while spread out across a lawn chair.
“It’d be a shame not to get a photo of all of us here in one place. Raul, mind coming over here for a minute?” Dad called out to him. Raul was reading a book while lying on the grass before he looked over to us. With one arm he launched himself into the air and landed on his feet.
“Mind taking a photograph of us, Raul?” Johnson asked politely.
“It’s no bother, my friend,” he said as he was then handed a phone, he clutched it gently in his gigantic, clawed hands and took the photograph. The photo itself probably depicted us there as high-class people who only knew how to enjoy themselves and I guess that statement wasn’t entirely far from the truth.
Anne came over too and helped herself to some wine; she sat down beside Angel and me.
“So, my little Angel’s going to be a mum someday soon, way to make a girl feel old.”
“Sorry, Anne.” Angel laughed nervously as Anne looked down at herself in discouragement. This much had Rex somewhat curious. He was unable to understand how a woman as beautiful as Anne was still single at her age and when he asked her that much, Anne’s confident alter ego crumbled a little internally.
“Well it’s just that…” Before she could finish, Sophia cut her off.
“Awe, you’re still as adorable as ever, Anne. Though she may be a big scary business lady, she’s closer to a child than anything. She loves anime, cosplaying and video games. Because of that she gets nervous when she tries to be herself, especially around a crush of hers.” Sophia looked to me from the corner of her eye.
“Sophy!” she screamed as she had her secrets laid out for everyone to hear.
“Pfft. I would never have thought that much was possible from you, Anne. You’ve always come off as assertive and in control of everything you set yourself to.” Johnson laughed as he watched her essentially throw a tantrum. Angel hugged her to simmer her down while the rest of us couldn’t help but laugh. Sinclair and Naomi joined in on the fun as well.
“Chuckle. Is that any way to treat someone who’s been going out of their way to help the lot of you? Well, Sophia and our daughter at least.”
“Sinclair…” Raul said in deep grumbled tone. I looked over to Cindy and Risk who were staring at him from the pool. Sinclair’s red eyes widened as he faced them, and he laughed maniacally. Fortunately, Naomi had become pretty good at keeping him in check, but Sinclair wasn’t about to go without saying anything while he was the centre of attention.
“What’s with the horrid look on your faces? It’s a party after all, wouldn’t want to offend the bride and groom now, would we?” he taunted them as they stared towards him.
“How can you go on like that after what you did to us? After what you did to everyone? You took everything from us! You made us into mons…” Cindy screamed at him on the verge of tears.
“I made you what? Monsters? Don’t play that card; the real monster was me long before I encountered you fools. Risk, my boy, I gave you back what I had stolen from you in the only way I could. Girl, those hunger pains of yours are nothing compared to what others under my influence have endured and Raul, you are nothing more than a stepping stone in the things I aimed to achieve. It was your contribution that has played a part in the presence of those who join us today.” He showed them no respect; to him they were tools that had long outlived their purpose. He made it perfectly clear he wasn’t about to get down on his knees to beg for forgiveness.
Risk moved away from Cindy with his fist clenched tight. His eyes burnt bright with anger and we could physically feel the cold hatred pulse from him. Sinclair stepped forward with a smile on his face as he slowly started to unwrap his bandages around his hands. It was about to be a violent showdown between the two of them, but suddenly Dad came dashing at them with incredible speed. He sent Sinclair several metres into the air with a relentless uppercut and left him to fall as he then dealt with Risk, sending him into the pool with a powerful kick to the chest. To any normal person, blows such as these would have been fatal. They both quickly brought themselves back to their senses.
“Do you really think that was necessary?” Sinclair asked as he cracked his jaw back into place while Risk rested along the edge of the pool, holding his chest.
“If you want to kill each other, then do it on your own time. I’m not about to let you ruin the happy couple’s wedding day,” Dad said to them, standing strong and confident in his ability to face them.
“Just keep that psycho away from me and Cindy. I’ll behave if you promise me that much,” Risk called from the pool.
All of this went on while Em and Dan were out taking the girls to get their swimmers, so when they got back they didn’t quite catch on to the small amount of tension left over. Jasmin could tell something went down from how nervous her mother was acting at that point. I couldn’t exactly blame her. I’d be nervous too if my partner decided to stir trouble with everyone. When the girls got into the pool, Angel impulsively wanted to join them; she stripped out of her dress to only her bra and panties. She dived into the pool to fool around with Nami and Laura.
“I guess I’m obligated to jump in with her. Anyone want to dive in with me?” I asked as I took off my suit. I had some shorts on underneath, so I just went in with those. Sophia and Dad shamelessly stripped down to their underwear and leapt in with us. Johnson and Sabrina sat at the edge of the pool, still drinking wine as they giddily whispered in each other’s ears. Sinclair threw us the parasol while we were in the pool to stop the girls from getting sunburnt. I laid in the water on my back, staring up at the light blue sky, watching the clouds slowly shift and churn into different images or at least whatever my mind perceived them to be. Risk drifted beside me, still wearing his suit while holding his hands on his chest as it healed. In a lot of ways, I feel like he and I were very much the same. He was trying to move forwards, but not without enjoying himself in the moment.
“Clouds are a funny thing, aren’t they? They’re constantly moving, and the slightest change can distort the image you see in them entirely.”
“I suppose you’re right about that. Where are
you going with this?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t really know, but I guess I see them as somewhat reflective of our lives. I was a kid who didn’t know any better than to lie, cheat and steal before I was cheated myself. Now I’m a completely different person from then, well as far as everyone else can see.”
“I don’t know if clouds are the way to explain yourself, but I understand what you mean.”
Risk then suddenly sunk beneath the water as Laura dived on top of him, hugging him affectionately. He floated back to the surface with the pale girl in his arms. He patted her on the head and I laughed under my breath as I saw Nami jealously staring at the pair. Risk and Laura were closer to each other than they were to anyone else. She admired him for not only being strong, but also for being kind. Risk saw great potential in her and wanted to see her reach it. Nami wasn’t the only one who was jealous either, Cindy had a painful forced smile on her face as she watched them.
“So, a dad huh? Can’t say I pictured you being one so soon, Wade.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I had much of a say in the matter, but Angel’s happy and I guess that’s what matters. What about you? Are you going to stop fooling around with Cindy yet and get serious?”
“Chuckle. I know, I know. You’ve already called me out on this before. Don’t worry when I decide to really show her how I feel. I’ll be sure to make it is something well worth the wait. For now, I’m going to enjoy myself, isn’t that right, Laura?” She nodded as she hugged him.
Angel then suddenly wrapped her arms around me from behind, over my neck. “Speaking of having fun, Wade, can I borrow you for a moment?” She then dragged me into the house and into the bathroom. It wasn’t looking like the tamest situation to be dragged into, she was still in nothing but her bra and panties and I was only in my shorts. She hugged me and slowly moved us until I was leaning against the white tiled wall. Her eyes were glowing brightly as she stared into mine.
“We’re not seriously going to do it in Johnny and Sabrina’s bathroom, are we?” I asked sceptically.
The Red to My Grey Page 31
