"Want to dance?" Ryan said, as he slowly moved towards his love.
Soft music playing in the background, they walked to the dance floor, hands tightly wrapped around each other. Ryan looked into Marissa's eyes as he put his hand around her slender waist. Bringing her hands to Ryan's shoulders, Marissa begin to cry.
"I just want you to know, I understand why you have to do this."
Ryan smiled softly at her, looking into her loving eyes. How could he ever leave her, the one he loved?
"Thanks," Ryan said, frantically looking for words.
Marissa's tears filled her eyes and slowly fell down her cheeks. She drew closer to Ryan, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"But I wish you didn't have to," Marissa sobbed, so close to Ryan.
"Me too." Ryan held his breath, desperately fighting back tears. Marissa smiled softly, pulling her head back to look into Ryan's eyes.
"I love you," Marissa said, crying. Ryan pulled her close to hide the tears flowing down his own face.
Marissa slowly opened her eyes, a dream, so real, too sweet to be real. She sat up in bed, raising her hands to her eyes to find them wet. She had been crying in her sleep. Looking around her oversized room to see her new furniture, a red leather chair, matching a large sofa, a desk, a computer chair and her dresser. She lay back down, not ready for her dream to be over, but she could not fall asleep. So she lay, thinking about him, Ryan, his smile, his heart, and his love. Closing her eyes she could picture the dream, again and again. In her mind she would be safe. She rolled over looking for Ryan, knowing he wouldn't be there. She curled up, grasping her pillow, tears flowing from her eyes like a soft summer rain. Standing up from her bed she walked over to her dresser, glancing at the clock, 6:30 in the morning. She continued to her dresser, when she arrived she reached in, grabbing the clear bottle..........Pulling it up from beneath the clothes.........She unscrewed the top.........and walked to her bathroom.........looking into the mirror.........she saw a human being......... who was ready to grow up.........ready to fight through her problems.........not drown her fears.........but face them.........she raised the bottle to her lips.........smelling the harsh liquor.........Then she smiled.........she was ready to fight.........she poured the liquor down the sink. Now she was ready to face her problems and make everything all right. She sat there for many hours.........looking finally, at a whole person.
Ryan walked on a narrow road, traffic rushing by. He was walking slowly, around his old neighborhood. He walked passed his old house; the house represented everything wrong in the world. He was beaten, thrown out, and left alone. Now three young children played in the front yard, a single mom cooking inside. He smiled at how happy the children seemed to be. The mother's face was young, as he looked at her through the dusty window. The mother, seeing Ryan, called her kids inside. Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. He opened their mailbox and put it in. If only someone would have done something so simple for him when he was this young, maybe things would be different, probably not. That was the reason he had to come here, he didn't want his child to grow up without a father. Like he did.
Seth pulled into one of the many docks, lowering the great sail of his ship; he wrapped the sail up onto the pole and tied it with a string, to keep it from unraveling. To get off the boat Seth jumped, a clanking sound echoed as his feet hit the dock. Then he tied the Summer Breeze to a metal chain.
"You're not going anywhere Summer."
Seth sat down, taking off his shoes and socks and placing his feet in the warm water. He had always dreamed that Summer would be with him on his journey, dreamed about her long before they made love, long before they had kissed, long before she had even known his name. Long before Ryan had given him the courage to talk to her. Before Ryan she didn't even know he had existed. He would sail near his beach dreaming that she was there. She was his invisible friend; he would talk to her and sail with her for hours. Now he really had her, and she wasn't here. Seth looked across the never-ending water at the emptiness in his life.
Ryan closed the mailbox, and began to walk away. He could hear one of the three children run out to the mailbox and open the wooden door. Ryan turned around, still walking away, to see the mother smile excitedly. He turned his head back away and continued to walk. He walked for another hour, entering the rich part of town. Then realized he must go back, back to Theresa's. He turned and began to walk back. The houses turned from rich to poor, and with it Ryan's happiness.
Seth stood up quickly as he saw another boat headed for the docks where the Summer Breeze rested.
"Hey buddy!" A large black haired boy yelled at him. "You're going to have to move your boat."
The boy reminded Seth of Luke before he was shot and his dad's secret became public.
"Why?" Seth yelled back.
The boy's boat rolled up to the dock. He got off and tied his boat to a wooden pole at the end of the dock. "Because every time I come here this is where I park my boat."
Seth walked closer to him so he didn't have to yell. "Well you are just going to have to dock your boat somewhere else this time, I guess."
"You know kid, I'm bigger then you and if I have to I'm willing to force you. So why don't you just make this easy on yourself and unpack your boat and move it?"
"Come on," Seth pleaded, "It took me forever to unpack my boat dude."
The boy just gave a disagreeing look.
Seth turned around and walked closer to his boat. "Ok."
"That's better, you little shit."
Seth turned around and began to walk down the dock to his boat. Then suddenly he stopped and turned around, facing the boy.
"You know," Seth said. "I don't think I'm going to be able to move my boat."
The kid walked over to Seth. "Well I guess I'm going to have to use a little force." The kid rolled up his sleeves preparing to fight.
Seth took a deep breath in. Almost in slow motion Seth made a fist and in perfect form hit the thing that had been holding him back all his life, the people who had been bulling him all his life, had been cutting him down and killing him inside. The kid tried to block, but the punch connected perfectly, hitting him square between the eyes, knocking the boy flat on his back against the wooden dock.
Seth stared at the black haired, buff, water polo playing, little piece of shit he had just punched. "Now I'm I going to have to hit you again," Seth said, surprised at how confident he sounded.
"No, umm I think I should try a new docking location anyway." The black haired boy stood up from the ground of the wooden dock and, almost in a run, untied his boat and sailed away. Seth looked across the never-ending water again, and this time something felt different, something was there, he was whole.
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