Scarlett grabbed her paintbrush and jammed it through the easel, tearing it into pieces as she screamed at the top of her lungs. After a few minutes of this, she stepped back and admired her destruction, before tossing her hair from her face and glancing over at Rachel, who was standing nearby in the living room, her eyebrows raised.
"You okay there, champ?" Rachel asked, and Scarlett smirked, plopping the paintbrush in her tin and putting her hands on her hips. "I feel better now, yeah," she said, "...it's been a rough week." "You're tellin' me," Rachel said, wiping her own brush down before dipping it back into her glass of water and cleaning it before setting it down and pulling a pack of cigarettes out from her smock pocket, sliding one out before noticing Scarlett watching her, and then decided to pull a second and hand it to her. After they'd slipped them between their lips, Rachel put the pack back into her pocket before pulling out her lighter and lighting them, both women standing there smoking now. "You're so lucky you're gay," Scarlett said, making Rachel laugh. "It is kind of a blessing, yes," she replied. "Seriously, men are...men," Scarlett said, plopping herself down onto the couch, Rachel joining her shortly. "Well, we're always looking for new recruits," Rachel said, taking a long drag and making Scarlett laugh. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I could sleep with a woman," Scarlett said, "but I am grateful for your friendship regardless. I don't know that I'd be as sane as I am right now if I didn't have our weekly sessions to look forward to. Plus, I think I'm actually getting pretty good at painting!" Rachel and Scarlett glanced slowly over at Scarlett's destroyed canvas, and Scarlett shrugged. "Anger issues notwithstanding," she added. *** Calvin was leaning against his car, hanging out at the river he'd been disposing Brighton's materials into lately, reading a magazine and chewing gum when he heard another car slowly pull up. He looked up and noticed it was Wyatt's car. Calvin tossed the magazine back into the car and then walked around to the trunk of his car as Wyatt parked and, much to Calvin's surprise, both Wyatt and Celia climbed out. "You brought help?" Calvin asked as Wyatt tossed Celia his keys so she could open his trunk and pull out some of the units contents as Calvin was doing. "Well, I figured it'd go faster if we had someone else," Wyatt said. "You look like shit," Calvin said, eyeing Wyatt up and down as he schlepped box after box onto the grass beside them. Wyatt chuckled, leaning against Calvin's taillights, hands in his coat pockets. "It's been a rough few days," Wyatt mumbled, "I also brought my shredder from my office. I figured the less we had to rely on a single one, the faster this could go." "Smart thinking," Calvin said, finally getting the last box out and then shutting his trunk before standing now, facing Wyatt, their eyes meeting; Calvin sighed and then added, "I sort of feel like we're doing him a favor, getting rid of this stuff. If we were smarter, more organized, we could give it to the cops and ruin his image, but...then they'd ask how we obtained it, and I don't wanna go down that road. The less involved we are, the better. Brighton can continue to be a martyr, whatever, so long as we don't go down with him." "Yeah, I can't go to prison for Grudin's death, I have a kid to raise," Wyatt said, before looking at Calvin and adding, "sorry, I didn't mean-" "It's fine," Calvin said, smiling weakly, "Let's get this started." Calvin picked up his shredder and opened one of the boxes, beginning to shred some of the photos inside as Wyatt walked back to his own car and helped Celia pull more of the smaller boxes with some of the tapes inside them out. After a moment she exhaled and wiped the sweat from her brow on her jacket sleeve before looking up at Calvin, then towards Wyatt. "He's right, you do look like shit," she said. All Wyatt could do was laugh. *** "The truth of the matter is, like...when you've been with someone this long, it's hard to imagine your life before or after them," Scarlett said, she and Rachel still lounging on the couch, smoking; she took a puff and continued, "like, Wyatt and I have been together for so long that it's hard for me to not only remember my life before meeting him, but also wonder what my life would be without him. I don't wanna sound co-dependent, I'm not, but it definitely is true that your partner becomes your life." "I wouldn't know, I've never had a long term relationship before Sun," Rachel said, exhaling a smoke ring into the air and chuckling, as did Scarlett, impressed. "Well, honestly, you might be lucky in that sense. We met in high school. We were kids. In one way it's comforting, you know, to know someone that long? But on the other hand, I wonder if it hasn't somehow stunted us in some way because by having known one another that long, it kind of makes it feel like we're still that age. I don't know, it's all so complicated." Rachel pushed her cigarette into the ashtray on the table next to the couch and sighing. "I can't imagine that, honestly," Rachel said, "I would like to. I know it sets the bar super low, but like...your life is my dream. Just have a house, some kids, be a wife. So fucking traditional, but there's comfort in that familiarity, you know? But then I start to wonder what if that breaks down and then I'm trapped? It's scary." "That's the risk you take for love," Scarlett said, shrugging, finishing her own cigarette and handing the remains to Rachel for her to also dispose of; she let the smoke escape from her lips and then said, "just because I can't see a future without Wyatt doesn't mean I want to, you know? I love him. I love him so much it's like physically a threat to my mental health. But I think so long as you work on maintaining the relationship, then it's all gonna be fine." A moment of silence passed over the room, and then Scarlett sighed. "The problem is when they stop working on it," she said quietly, causing Rachel to nod. *** Wyatt and Calvin were seated on the fold up chairs Calvin had brought from his folks place - though he hadn't brought a third as he hadn't expected Celia to attend - while they shredded things. Celia sat on Calvin's trunk, handing them papers and pulling the film out from the VHS's for them to shred. "I feel like I should've brought my fishing rod," Wyatt said, making them laugh. "Fuck, I don't think I've fished in years," Calvin said, "my dad used to take me." "My dad never did that sort of thing with me," Wyatt said, "come to think of it, he rarely did anything with me that could fall under the 'father/son bonding' umbrella." "Well, my dad used to take me paintballing," Celia said, causing the guys to stop what they were doing and look at her; she smirked and nodded, continuing, "yep, you heard me. You're lookin' at a paintball champion right now. I know I don't look it, but I could whip both your asses with one hand tied behind my back." "I don't think you can shoot a rifle with one hand tied behind your back," Wyatt said, "I think it's actually physically impossible." "Semantics," Celia said, "you'll be singin' a different tune when I'm through with you." "Yeah probably cause you'll shoot him in the nuts," Calvin said, causing them to laugh. Celia hadn't thought about her father much lately, but maybe she should give him a call. Lately she'd been so caught up in work, and with this situation regarding Brighton's storage unit, that she felt like her personal life was falling by the wayside. Wyatt looked at Calvin and licked his lips. "You got any gum?" he asked, and Calvin reached into his shirt pocket, pulling out a pack and tossing it to Wyatt, who pulled a strip and slid it into his mouth before tossing the pack back to Calvin, thanking him, adding, "you know...this is kind of nice. I mean, not exactly because of what it is we're disposing of, but it's nice to be outside. I feel like I spend all my time indoors, either at home or at my kids school or at the office. Often I feel like I forget what the sky looks like." "That's poetic," Celia said, "I try and take my son to the park regularly, partially for him, but also partially for my own sanity. It's good to go outside. Good to a part of the world again, even if only momentarily. Even if all I do is sit on a bench and read a book while he exhausts himself, it's still better than sitting in some stuffy room somewhere, it's true. So yeah, fucked up as this situation may be, at least we're getting some fresh air. There's a silver lining to everything." "That isn't true," Calvin said quietly, causing them both to look at him as he said, "sometimes there's no silver lining. Sometimes life just takes something from you, something that mean the world to you, something that is your world, and there's no upside. No positive. It's just unnecessary cruelty for the sake of unnecessary cruelty. That's the uncomfortable truth many people don't want to face. That sometimes evil just is, and that not everything has a 'reason'. My wife and child didn't die for a greater good. They just died because one man couldn't hold his liquor. That's just the world being the world." Wyatt grimaced and scratched the back of his head, as Calvin put one of his hands over his face and started crying. Celia slid down from the trunk and approached his chair, stroking his hair to comfort him. Wyatt had never really thought about Calvin's loss, and how immense it really was. Could he even function half as well as Calvin appeared to if something happened to Scarlett, or, god forbid, Mona? He doubted it. "Well, at least this way we've stopped two men from hurting children," Wyatt said quietly, and Celia looked at him, making him just shrug. "I guess that's as good a silver lining as any," Calvin managed to say through his tears, before adding, "but it doesn't bring them back." *** When Sun Rai got home that night, Rachel was making dinner. Rachel heard the door close, and heard Sun Rai enter the kitchen before feeling her arms slip around her waist and feeling Sun's face pushing itself into Rachel's hair, breathing her scent in, making Rachel giggle. Rachel set her spatula down and turned around to face Sun, who quickly pressed her lips against Rachel's, surprising her with this level of affection. "What was that for?" Rachel asked after the kiss. "I just had a long day," Sun whispered, burying her head under Rachel's chin, as Rachel held her close; Sun continued, "my dad is getting worse, and I don't know what to do about it. Sometimes the only thing that gets me through the day is knowing I get to come home and hold you." Rachel felt touched, and had to hold back tears. She squeezed Sun to her chest and kissed the top of her head, promising to finish dinner and then hold her longer. For as much as Rachel had admitted she couldn't see herself with someone that long, she also couldn't see her life without Sun Rai in it either. She'd loved her since high school, and had always regretted never making her move, and now, to have her and hold her, it would kill her to have to let go. After dinner, they sat on the couch - Rachel sitting upright as Sun laid across her, her head in Rachel's lap so she could pet Sun's head - and watched awful reality TV. After they went to bed, with Sun falling asleep first, Rachel laid under the blankets and stared up at the ceiling. How could she have these two lives? On one hand she was living the dream, with a beautiful girl she loved to hell and back coupling with domesticity, and on the other hand she was involved in the most horrifying situation, trying to untie what appeared to be an enormous web of child abuse. She didn't know what to think, and all she knew was that if she didn't keep them separate - or find a way out of the other - eventually Sun Rai would learn of her involvement in Grudin's death, and the framing of Brighton, and then her life would implode in a way she wouldn't be able to survive. And that scared her above all else. *** "Welp, I'm takin' off," Calvin said, putting the now empty bins into his trunk along with his shredder, and stuffing the folded chairs into his backseat. As he opened the drivers side door, he stopped and looked at Celia and Wyatt doing the same at Wyatt's car. "You gonna be okay?" Wyatt asked, and Calvin nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Go home, eat dinner with my folks, just try and find some sort of joy in the world," Calvin said, "Wyatt, don't ever let someone take your family from you. It's the most precious thing you can have, and to lose it means losing yourself. Please don't ever let someone do to you what they did to me, intentionally or unintentionally." "I'll keep that in mind," Wyatt said. "Thanks for the help. We can meet here again in a few days," Calvin said, "I have some work with Mr. Wattson, but otherwise I'm usually free. I'll call you when I'm ready. And Celia, thanks for coming and helping." "Not a problem!" Celia said cheerfully, waving as Calvin climbed into his car, started the ignition and drove off back up the little hill and down the road. Once his car was out of sight, Wyatt looked at Celia, who had just finished loading their own materials into his trunk and shut it, her hands running through her bushy hair. She then hopped up onto the trunk and sat there, looking at the early evening sky, as Wyatt joined her to do the same. "...he's damaged," Celia said. "Well look at what he lost, honestly," Wyatt replied, "I mean...truth be told, I'd likely be a basketcase if the same thing had happened to me." "What do we do if he loses it?" Celia asked, and Wyatt looked at her. "What do you mean?" "What if he becomes uncontrollable, does something stupid?" she asked, clarifying, "he blew a man up, Wyatt, we can't ignore that forever. He built a bomb and blew a man up. And not just any man, but a local politician. What do we do when he loses it, does something even worse?" Wyatt shrugged and looked off towards the road as cars passed by. "Guess we'll deal with that when we come to it," he said, "but, truth be told Celia, I don't see it happening." Wyatt would revisit this conversation in his head in just a weeks time, and by then, he'd regret not listening to her.
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A group of former high school classmates reunite at their 10 year reunion, and discover they each want something different, many with someone else there. What ensues is a labyrinthian relationship amongst them involving crime, murder, romance and, in one particular case, terrorism. Archives
May 2024
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