Chapter 3: Fallen Tears

The waves crashed against the side of the boat, as the ferry pulled into the dock. I pulled myself out from within the cabin, and retrieved my things from the lower deck. As I lifted my head, my eyes focused on one thing. There she stood. A woman I had not seen in over 2 years. A woman who never cared for me, who never loved me. A woman I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing ever again. My mother.

I quickly refocused my eyesight to the deck floor as I walked across the boat. My luggage had already been thrown up on the dock, and the only thing I carried in my arms was a small bag.

"Am I actually going to do this? Am I actually going to go home for the first time in 2 years?" I questioned myself as I walked. The walk across the boat deck was like a man on death row, walking to the gallows. Every step became harder and harder to take. Finally I came to the end of the line. Either I was going to go back to the city, or face my past. I stepped forward.

"Karen... darling... I missed you so much," My mother said, finally breaking down in tears and wrapping her arms around me. She cried. She cried like I had never seen her cry before. The tears spilled out of her eyes and onto my shirt. Her sobs were muffled out as she cried into my shoulder. My mother really did care for me.

I wrapped my arms around her, and comforted her as she sobbed. There we stood, for so long that the boat had already pulled away from the dock, and the tide had already begun to come in.

"Let's go home mom," I said to her. She finally released her arms from around me and looked me straight in the face.

"I'm so glad you're back, I missed you so much," She said to me.

"Thanks mom. We can talk when we get back to the house," I said to her and picked up a suitcase in each hand, carefully making my way up the steep sand dune towards home. The walk was silent. Neither I nor my mother spoke one word. The town was quiet, and all that could be heard was the quiet rustling of the fall leaves.

As we passed by Green Farm, I looked into the corral that was once so familiar to me, but everything looked different. The fence was old and falling apart, the grass was no longer the bright shade of green it use to be, the horses were not in great abundance anymore, and even the trees seemed to sag along the farm's outskirts. Flower Bud Village was dieing. My home... was dieing.

We continued walking up. Past Jack's Farm, and past the open field at the base of Mother's Hill. It seemed to be a ghost town. Not one person could be seen. We walked up the hill toward the vineyard. I was actually going home, something that I thought I might never do. We walked down the rows of fences, each one bringing me one step closer. Finally we arrived.

My jaw dropped, and I could almost feel tears start to swell up in my eyes. I dropped my head and covered my eyes with one hand. My mother wrapped one arm around my back.

"It's all dead!" I cried.

The vines hung limply from the trellises, each leaf crisp and brown. There were leaves scattered all over the ground. This was what I had given up city life for. This was what my future was. A dieing vineyard. With every leaf that fell, one memory of what this great place use to be, died along with it.

"Ever since you left, your father gave up on making this place go. He didn't seem to care anymore. Kai tried to run this place on his own, but it was too much for a young boy to handle," Sasha said to me.

"Kai... is he still here?" I asked, my eyes glimmering with the one small speck of hope I had left in me.

"Yes dear, he just went down to town to pick up a few supplies," My mother said smiling. I smiled back at her and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Come now, let's go inside and have a nice cup of tea," she said to me.

"Not right now, I need to be alone," I said to her.

"Alright," she replied and took my bags into the house for me. I stared back at the vineyard.

"I can't believe this is all I have," I said to myself, "This is all that's left of my father. My father..." I couldn't take it. I couldn't look at the vineyard for one more second. I grabbed my small bag and ran into the wine cellar. It was the one place where I knew I could be alone. I ran down the stairs into the cold cellar. There were still wine barrels stacked up beside the wall. I slouched down up against the wall... and cried.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. There I sat, for how long, I don't know, but I cried. The tears seemed never ending, each one falling to the cold dirt floor. It was silent, just the sound of my sobs could be heard echoing through the cellar. Finally, I heard something.

The door upstairs quietly opened, and someone stepped inside. I heard a thump, and footsteps.

"Go away... I want to be alone," I said flatly.

"Karen? Is that you?" the voice called. I knew that voice. That was a voice I loved. That was the voice that I had missed for 2 long years. I stood up and wiped the tears from my eyes. I slowly walked toward the stairs. Someone walked down the stairs.

"Karen! It is you!" The boy exclaimed. He ran up to me and threw his arms around me. He picked me up off the ground, spun me around, and placed me back down upon it once again. He was very built now, but still the same. "Karen... I missed you. I thought you would never come back."

"I missed you too, Kai," I replied. There were tears still streaming down my cheeks, and a sniffle could still be heard.

"What's wrong Karen?" He asked. "I thought you would be happy to see me."

"It's not you... it's me... it's all my fault!" I said bursting out in tears once again. I collapsed onto my knees and placed my head in my heads. "It's all my fault that he's gone, it's all my fault that the vineyard is dead... it's all my fault..." my voice started to fade away.

Kai kneeled down in front of me and picked up my chin. He looked me straight in the face and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"It's not your fault Karen..." he said. There we sat... I felt like I had only seen him but yesterday. We talked... and I cried... and he comforted me... everything was back to normal. Finally I stopped crying. We both stood up. I looked into his big brown eyes and hugged him. He held me in his arms, and I finally told him how I truly felt.

"Kai... I missed you so much. I'm so glad I'm finally home again. I never meant to leave you that night, but I needed to get away from everything," I said, "Kai... I'm finally home; we can finally start again where we left off... I love you," I said to him, and kissed him. It was exactly what I missed for 2 years... being with him... but the kiss ended too suddenly. He pushed me away. I looked at him, confused by what had just happened.

"Karen... we can't just do that. It's not that easy," He said to me turning away.

"Why," was all I could say, "Everything was going so great before?"

"It was... before you left here. Yes, when you left I was heartbroken. I thought about you every day. But finally I just convinced myself that you weren't coming back. I grabbed hold of my life..." He said in reply.

"Please... no... don't do this to me," I cried.

"I'm engaged to marry Popuri next spring..."