Im soaking wet, the salt water is leaking down my shorts and onto my shoes giving a squish sound every time I walk. I am walking up the cove after a fun dive into Ingo with my good friend Faro. Today he taught me how to whistle underwater, I kept failing at each attempt, it wasn't until my 10th try that I finally got the hang of it. I smile at the memory of Faro. I truly don't know what id do if I ever lost him. Im halfway through now and I have a clear view of the cottage. I see Sadie barking her little mouth out in the window, as she finds me coming closer she starts jumping and licking the window as if she wished it was my face. I can't help but smile, the door opens wide and a long bark comes from the left side of the cottage, its Sadie! Running from the window to me as fast as a dog could run. I hug her, pet her soft skin, and smile. "Sadie Dear, its ok, im here". She always gets upset when I leave to Ingo. She thinks that one day I will leave her and never come back. "Sapphire?" calls a man with a deep Australian accent, its Roger. "Yes?" I say, sounding casual. At that moment my mother comes in from the kitchen. "Sapphy Dear, your home!" "Yes" repeat, I am growing bored of this.
"uum" roger hesitates "your mum and I have got some news for you" I stare from mum to roger, then back.
"What is it?" I ask. My mother steps up, she looks nervous, by the look in her eyes I could tell what she was going to say.
"Sapphire Dear, me and roger are getting married."
I knew it!
She continues slowly "and soon after the wedding we hope to move … to Australia."
What! No way! I don't want to go there! The anger must've showed on my face because Roger starts in, "don't worry, you and Conor will be fine, Conor already agreed to go, the schools are great , and there are great job opportunities for your mum and I. Its for the better, Sapphire."
At that moment I wanted to do two things, yell, and cry, but I dint know which so I did both. Tears poured through my eyes and I started to yell louder than planned, I might have even said some hurtful things to mum. But I was too angry to care.
"I knew it! I knew you would do this to us mum! You're forgetting dad! You want to forget him! That's why you want to leave so badly! You want to start over! Well let me tell you …! I stopped. Mum was in tears and Roger flashed me a face that said "shut up, Sapphire, shut up!" so I shut up. I ran out the door as fast as I could to make a break for it to let out my anger elsewhere and not hurt mum. As I ran I heard mum yell out "Sapphire, stop!" but I chose to ignore it. Once I was outside I took my bike and rode away as far and as fast as possible. After about 10 minutes my anger had faded and my feet were tired from pedaling so fast, so I took a stop to my left. There was a Diner with a perfect spot to just park my bike and relax, so I laid it down. To my right there was a grown man, mid -forties, had long black hair. He reminded me of my father but older. He smiled at me, I then started to panic. He was a stranger; I didn't know what he wanted to do with me,
"So, what's a young lady like you doing this far into town? Are you lost?"
"uhh..no " I managed to say.
"So, are you a runaway then? I mean, obviously you don't live by here or else I would've known who you were, did you escape?"
How did he know all this, why did he even care anyways? Im not his daughter, it's not his business?
"Well, um im from the coast, I kind of wondered off from home… but im not a runaway, I mean, I left but..."
"You're going back…of course"
"Yes" I said, he no longer feels like a stranger, but like a man I could trust.
"So, im assuming there were problems at home, or else you wouldn't have wondered off like that."
"Yes, sir" I said with a sigh.
Then I realized he was going to keep on asking me so I might as well tell him, right here, right now.
"My mum wants to get married to another man" I added quickly.
"Another man Why?" he looked curious "so then where's your father?"
"He left us, sir" I responded.
"Oh, im sorry" he said with a touch of sympathy.
"Its ok" I whispered not because I didn't want others to hear, but because I dint want the man to hear the disappointment in my voice.
"So, I reckon you wish he was here?" he asked.
I had no idea how he knew this but I answered anyways.
"No! I wish he would've never left in the first place! I wish that..." I trailed off.
"You wish that what dear?" the man asked with a bit of curiosity and something else, I couldn't quite understand it.
"I wish that mum would've never met Roger, and that my father had never left us."
"I see…" says the man in a weird tone, as if he knows something I don't.
I sit still, wishing I had never opened up to a near stranger. Afterwards the man lets out a long sigh and starts " you know Dear, God plans all, if your father left it was for a reason. And if your mother fell in love with another man, it was meant to be, don't you think?"
What he said made sense, but part of me thought it was rubbish. Who was this man to tell me this? Of course my mum wasn't meant to be with roger, she loved my dad! And she belonged to him! Not Roger! My heart was full of anger and rage but I answered calmly.
"Yes, I suppose…well its getting late, I really should return home. Thanks for the speech and all it really helped a lot."
"Sure thing" said the man, although he didn't seem entirely satisfied.
"You know dear, there's a shortcut to your home."
"A shortcut?" I asked, I never knew of any shortcut, probably because I never came downtown before, its very populated, and the air isn't fresh not like down at the cove.,
"Yes, a shortcut" said the man "just go up that path right there" he signaled towards a hidden path behind the Diner. It had many bushes and looked kind of deserted.
"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly
"Yes, just go straight and you'll get home, I promise!"
"Well…alright then, why not." I said with a hurried tone.
"O.k. bye Dear, I hope your problems are fixed!" he had a large grin on his face and looked at me with the same stare your mother gave me when I was 5 and attempted to runaway. Its kind of a "good luck with that" stare.
"Thank you!" I yelled back, I was already on my bike about 2 inches away from the creepy path that supposedly lead me home.