Drive

What has anxiety, four friends & hard weekend ahead of him? A young adult who will discover that a story has several paths it can take. All you have to do is read between the lines

 

☼

           

Allen had known for some time that his weekend was going to be terrible. The day prior he had stumbled into a palm reader’s booth while in the farmer’s market with his friend Molly and although he had tried to leave, the woman had said something that fastened his feet to the ground:

 

“ Your aura is warm but it is weighed down with a blue hue, like a sun drowning in the sea” 

He’d foolishly stayed and gotten his palm read, the woman telling him of an ‘upcoming journey and a trial that surpasses the weight Atlas bears on his shoulders’

He had pondered on her stone cold words for many a minute afterward, and now it had taken a toll on his mood. His shoulders slumped forward and his eyes were glued to the wispy glowing orbs that were the lights of the city spanning several miles along the highway but surprisingly, the child like awe that often came with such a view had vanished, replaced with a dry, sullen pout, the weight supported by a hand that creased beneath. 

A faint electro pop tune played on the radio whilst everyone in the car; a total of six young adults crammed into a metallic blue 1995 Volvo 940 were engaged in a heated discussion about something Allen wasn’t too interested in. His friend Madeline, who sat next to him was the first to realize that Allen’s mind had flown far away and roosted in a cold misty valley somewhere.

Somehow Madeline always felt other people’s moods, her body temperature changing according to how they felt, especially when it came to Allen. She’d come to understand him through the little nuances that came about around him; the long stares, the deep sighs, the awkward grabbing motion he did on his neck when he was nervous; she saw all and felt all. This time she noticed a faint blue light that covered his upper body, making his drab checkered flannel and navy blue t shirt glow.

Tapping his shoulder, Madeline asked

“You’re okay?”

He jumped and smiled responding with a garbled “huh?” that sounded like he’d swallowed a large bag of lozenges.

“Oh y-y-yeah, I’m chill, just watching the lights, yeah. They’re pretty tonight”

Madeline watched him smile then perch his head on his hand, his mind floating away again, just this time his cheeks were slightly flushed with a red that was usual for someone of his copper brown complexion.

The car’s engine hummed as they drove along the coast, the sound of waves lapping against the shore, driving until they pulled into a grove shrouded with tall trees, a neat dirt path cut between, leading to a small house decorated with fuchsia flowers that ran along  vines that decorated the outside. The car’s purring stopped as it came to a halt while its occupants made their way out and into the house with an assortment of backpacks and plastic bags with food, drinks and toiletries.

Allen grabbed his black backpack, slinging it over his shoulder, remembering to pick up a big bag of cashews he’s bought for himself at the convenience store before they’d made the trek to the hidden cottage.

Inside, Allen’s eyes focused on the décor; varnished redwood tables, a large tiger tapestry draped on one side and a unicorn tapestry along the right wall, cream coloured chairs that accentuated a cobblestone finish that looked like Enid Blyton had designed it.

The curtains were a heavy mauve, blending themselves with the redwood furniture, making the cream chairs pop into focus. Allen’s friends were seated all around the cobblestone fireplace unpacking, then moving to their respective rooms; Ashton, the ringleader, whose family owned the house looked like the cliché Gap model with blonde close cropped hair along with chiseled features were neatly tucked into a white tee, a sweater tied over his shoulders, brown shorts and loafers with black sun glasses, the tag still on them, Jaime, a slender girl who  wore a blue knitted sweater, jean shorts and sandals holding a designer bag on her shoulder, her features reminiscent of her Asiatic Caucasian heritage,  her hand clutching Ashton’s as the two smiled, heading to one of the bedrooms.

On the other side of the room were Freyja, a pale, barefaced blonde with freckles that lit her face up like stars, laughing while unpacking a box of food into the cupboards with Vashti, a half Desi, half African girl with a short curly bob that touched her shoulders, some strands of her hair clutching her glasses firmly placed on her nose, the frames a faded gold, matching the tone of her dark brown skin. The two stopped halfway, looked each other in the eyes and latched their faces onto one another, intimately invading the other’s space with tongues and hands swarming all over limbs and posteriors. It was only when Madeline, cleared her throat the two jumped away and laughed, blushing whilst knocking her shoulders playfully as if to say ‘sorry for that, but you can watch next time if you ask’.

Madeline’s hair was divided into two neat buns, bright red scrunchies keeping them in place. A silver chain dangled along her neck giving her dark cocoa skin an odd but beautiful shimmer. Allen’s gaze tore away from the tapestry to stare at her, specifically; her full lips that made his skin tingle with excitement, making it uncomfortable to look at her for long periods without his mind forming a collage of thoughts about her.  She noticed him looking at her, and then smiled, coercing Allen to turn away.

She walked over to him, taking her hand and slapping it along his shoulders softly causing him to spin, almost losing his balance.

“Hey, listen. Try to have fun this weekend Al. Don’t get caught up in whatever’s bothering you” she said, her face now etched with a soft expression.

Allen paused, choking on his words, like usual when he was nervous. His hand made its way to his neck and he grabbed it awkwardly, laughing.

“Aha, of course, this is time for us to have fun. But I’m not thinking about anything.. j-just admiring the décor is all” he’d replied, his words shaky.

Madeline came closer and hugged him, whispering into his ear:

“When you want to talk, just come find me okay?”

She kissed his cheek then walked off to find her room, leaving Allen there to soak in the rest of the house. He sat in one of the chairs, taking out his phone, placing his earphones into his ears then playing a soft ambient song that encouraged the fatigue within him to take over.

 

****

 

  

 

☾

 

The sound of laughter caused Allen to stir from his slumber, as he looked around to find the source of such a noise. There was no one inside the cottage but Allen peeked through the curtains on the west end to see the others had begun to construct a small setup for a campfire. He had figured they didn’t want to wake him and thus he set about to get ready for the evening.  

After a shower he’d donned a grey hoodie, a blue t shirt, cut off jeans and slip in sneakers, taking care to comb his hair and apply a fair amount of cologne. He then headed outside where the muffled sound from before had been uncapped to real a more crisp sound of people laughing, arranging stones and gathering firewood.

“ Look who finally roused from sleep. Haha come gimme a hand” said Ashton lugging what looked like a heap of freshly cut logs. Allen took some from him and placed them in the large circle Freyja and Vashti had constructed to accommodate their soon to be conjured friend, the night’s source of warmth.

Madeline was on the other side helping Jaime get food from some boxes to prepare when she looked over to see Allen who was neatly arranging the logs within the stone circle. He noticed a pair of eyes locked in his direction, seeing that Madeline was smiling, mouthing;

‘Are you okay?’

 To which he hesitated but nodded ‘yes’ to after a few seconds.  The campfire sprang to life following Ashton’s pouring of gasoline onto the assortment of logs within the stone circle, a heap of others piled atop one another in a corner. Everyone then sat, devouring the food they’d bought, while Ashton passed out beers to everyone, an expensive brew he had not stopped talking about since he had come home from college, that he’d said ‘made mosaics out of mundane nights’

After several rounds of downing the brew, everyone, though somewhat intoxicated, were still coherent enough to partake in the group ritual of sharing the most significant event to date in their lives whilst the fire illuminated their faces with a soft amber glow.

Ashton volunteered himself to go first and as usual talked about his most recent feat of winning an inter college rowing tournament, making trials for the Olympics and his most recent induction into the Tri Alpha Omega fraternity. Jaime, immediately afterward, her hands interlocked with Ashton’s recounted how she had acquired an internship at a prestigious law firm in the city, with hopes of maintaining a permanent position once she graduated in the fall.

Freyja and Vashti’s hands too were intertwined, as Vashti sought to open her mouth before Freyja blurted out “We’re moving in together, like next month!” unable to contain her excitement. They kissed, everyone around the campfire smiled widely.

Madeline lured everyone’s eyes to her by quietly admitting

“I fell in love with someone..”

There was a deafening silence but it wasn’t due to awkwardness but rather out of immense curiosity.

“ He.. he’s wonderful. Like I don’t think I have ever felt something this intense for someone since..”

The trees around them howled in suspense, sounds filling the ears of those by the campfire ; a mixture of leaves raking the air and crickets belting out a compressed chorus.

They had known what she had wanted to say. It had been a long time since Madeline had talked about her last relationship, a tumultuous ordeal that left her a broken vase that held no flowers, with only water leaking out of it constantly.

She had since recovered from it, but everyone still sat, sipping the brews, waiting for her to finish

“ He is terrific, absolutely and entirely” she said smiling, as she breathed a sigh of relief. Allen watched her gaze as her eyes briefly met Ashton’s, who held it along with her before breaking it briefly. Apart from Allen, Vashti too had seen the unusually long and loving stare between the two, picking up the trail Allen followed, but she kept quiet, not wanting to draw too much attention to what had transpired.

Allen,  too caught up in what he’d seen hadn’t heard when Jaime had asked him to go and nothing but jumbled, chewed up words came out. Everyone laughed, while Allen sought gather himself. He opened his mouth, the only words rolling off the base, floating from the tip of his tongue were:

 “Yeah I’ve got nothing”

“Allen I heard you were signing a huge deal for your manuscript. You’re going to be a best seller” Freyja chimed in

“Well yeah, I mean that’s just…”

“Absolutely terrific, Allen, oh my gosh” Madeline said, her skin radiating within the firelight.

He touched his neck, laughing nervously seeing her react like that. She noticed, flashing him a smile that set the area in and around his sternum on fire. The feeling however dissipated when he noticed her glancing back at Ashton, whose usually tense facial expression were either him in deep thought or merely to maintain his magazine cut out aesthetic became relaxed, replaced with a smile that if Allen didn’t know better, would be the precursor to something tragic happening, however, he watched the two of them quietly pine for one another, as he sat there amidst the heat of the fire, his body cold with silent dejection.

****

 

Everyone had gone to sleep when Allen decided to brew a cup of coffee after the festivities had ended at the campfire. With the fire snuffed out, he resorted to taking an electric lamp, trodding out into the chilling night air.

He stood there sipping from the mug, warming his cold body when he heard footsteps behind him. Startled, he pulled a pocket knife only to realize the would be ‘attacker’ was Vashti, who too it seemed couldn’t seem to settle in for the night just yet.

“Couldn’t sleep I’m assuming” she’d asked

“Not really, so I just decided to come out here and um, take in the night’s wonder works.” Allen replied, taking another sip from the mug.

“Allen I saw what happened at the campfire.. are you alright, I mean like really alright? I mean..”

Allen touched his neck but this time lingered on the spot right above the nape of it, smiling awkwardly responding with a “Yeah I’m fine haha”

Vashti walked toward him, releasing her hands from warm pockets, resting her left on his shoulder.

“Allen, I know what you saw..”

“What’d I see?” he replied laughing

“Allen.. stop”

With those words, he finally broke character, his shoulders slumped, his face wrinkled with a sadness Vashti couldn’t quite define.

“ I wish I hadn’t seen that, I mean I didn’t mean t-”

“Allen, you don’t need to explain yourself, I understand.”

Her words felt like clay weighing down the scale balancing his fragile state. Adjacent to the clay on the other side was a stone that acted as the counterbalance to maintain it, but any more prodding and eventually, everything would be out of alignment.

“I’m.. okay..or rather I’ll be, I guess”

“You really like her don’t you”

Allen broke; His head dipped, clutching the mug so tightly it would have broken. He released a sigh that any god or creature far or near would have heard, stopped and listened to with great sympathy.

Vashti had pushed too far and she’d known it. Her arms looped around his frame, cradling whatever wanted to leap out of him at that moment. He embraced her and felt a soothing warmth he hadn’t felt since he’d been born, certainly not since Madeline’s smile that late evening.

A colony of fireflies emerged from the trees, rising above them, carrying with them the sadness Allen felt onto the winds, lighting the night up, dancing amongst the hosts of stars,  keeping the horrors of the night seeking to gain strength from his morose state  at bay.  

 

 

****

 

⎈

The drive to the beach was an anti climatic faux experience being that it was minutes away from the cottage but Ashton insisted that they did for the “West Coast Cliché” feel everyone came here for. Everyone else thought they could have done without it.  However when they arrived, the beach was moderately empty, probably due to the fact said beach was hidden within a cove that very few people frequented, so Ashton said. It seemed times had changed.

Everyone had settled, choosing a spot that was right by edge of the shore and in front of a rainbow painted snow cone cart manned by a youth who vaguely looked like he was from the South Pacific, warm smile and all.

Jaime had set out to tan, getting Ashton to lather her skin with enough lotion to cover every vital part of her otherwise pale body, covered by a ruby red two piece bathing suit.  There she lay, book in hand, listening to something that vaguely sounded like an upbeat pop tune.

Vashti and Freyja wasted no time in heading toward the water, each donning blue and white with multi coloured hibiscus flower bathing suits respectively, hair tied into both long and short buns to avoid snagging.

Ashton too headed for the water after Jaime was settled, his black beach shorts giving off a shimmer as he ran into the water.

Madeline was on the sidelines, wearing an emerald green one piece bathing suit, the colour making her skin pop, when Ashton saw her and veering one side, past the rocks and deeper into the cove, beckoned her to join him to which she obliged.

Allen stood on the shore, his Grey tank top and navy blue swim trunks flapping in the sea breeze. A family was nearby, the parents fast asleep as the young adult children sat aroumd texting. Allen’s eye caught sight of a girl with tanned skin and reddish brown hair, staring off into the Great Blue. She must have felt him staring for at that exact moment, she turned in his direction, smiling. He too smiled, turning back to watch the shore when he noticed movement in his peripheral vision.

The girl was walking towards him, clutching a small novel in one hand, the other holding a glass bottle of Coca Cola.

“Geez, they still make those?” Allen said, surprised at his assertive approach.

“Yeah, they sell them down there still. The people really love it, since it sort of fits in with the antique beatnik vibe we got going on out here” the girl said, casually.

“What do you call this beach?”

“Oh, this entire area is called Siren Cove, but this beach, it doesn’t really have a name. However people call it Fertile Beach because a lot of people have sex and or get pregnant here. They say it’s the sand or the air that really drives people to lose all composure out here.” She’d explained

“Here, take some sand and breathe in slowly. There do you feel yourself slipping into primitive carnality?” she’d asked

She poured some sand into his hand then took some into her own, breathing in the salty air.

They both laughed uncontrollably, throwing the sand onto the ground.

“So I assume you have a name?” Allen said, his hand resting on his lap. He’d realized he hadn’t had the urge to place his hand on his neck the entire time but he was relishing the moment.

“Rivkah. That’s my name and you?”

“Allen, plain old Allen. You’re name means ‘ensnarer’ in Hebrew right?”

“Haha yeah, that’s interesting you know that. You know what they say about names though. You embody the name you’re given”

Allen thought of a clever joke.

“So you’re into bondage? Is that what you’re getting at?”

Rivkah laughed so hard she fell back on the sand rolling over. When she got up, her eyes were watering, with bits of sand bespeckled her face which Allen realized was already populated with freckles.

“You’re funny, I must admit.” She’d said, finally gaining composure, her hands resting on her now exposed thighs, previously covered by a blue sundress decorated with marigold embroidery.

“You’d think so but on a normal day I’m pretty bland.” He said

“Well I’d like to think I’m a good judge of character, so if I think you are funny or have the potential to, then you probably are.”

Allen gave into his niggling urge and rested his hand on his neck, laughing awkwardly.

Rivkah noticed.

“You’ve a nervous tick don’t you?”

“N..Not really? Haha”

She took his hand from its position and rested it on her thigh.

Allen’s hand started to shake but Rivkah held it tight, pressing it against her lap, all the while staring at him with her hazel eyes, the colours changing momentarily to a hint of blue then coffee brown depending on where the sun it.

“Whatever it is you’re tethering, hurt or fear, you can to let it go”

“You don’t even know me. How’d you know that?”

“There doesn’t need to be a familiarity to know pain. I can feel it in your aura. It’s tinged with a heavy blue.”

Allen looked at her with a heaviness that only others who knew what it’d felt like would understand. She held his hand, soothing him, lightening the weight of his gaze.

Whoever this girl was, whether she was extremely forward or simply just as magical as she looked, familiarity needn’t not be there when it came to connection either.

“Let’s get a snowcone, and I’ll pay” she decided, getting off the sand hoisting Allen up with her left hand.

Brushing sand off his beach shorts, they headed to the vendor, whose smile, wider than the yearly earning of an oil mogul, otherwise brightened the mood.

He’d made one for Allen, a plain red icy treat in a small hard plastic cup with an overlapping diamond pattern, while Rivkah’s, a blue one topped with multi-coloured hard candy, in a similar cup. They bit into their snowcones, Allen getting some onto his nose.

Rivkah took her finger, scooping up the residual parts of it, then sensually placed it onto her tongue, with her eyes closed.

The vendor, enthralled by this, dropped his ladle into the ice tray, his mouth ajar.

Similarly, Allen, stood there stunned, as she grabbed his hand, taking him toward the water, all the while he noticed she was still clutching the small book she walked over with. The cover an East Indian painting of a bevy of saree clad women fraternizing with Bengal tigers in front of a beautifully manicured garden covering a large blue door.

At that moment, Ashton emerged from a large rock that Allen assumed led to some secret cave somewhere, his face red, his skin bore subtle bruises. He gave Allen a “who is this girl you’re with” look, Allen replying with said eyes “I’ll tell you later” as Ashton lay next to Jaime, kissing her.

Madeline emerged moments later, her head held down, her skin too bearing sutble bruises which she tried to hide by folding her arms.

Her and Allen’s eyes met and she smiled but Rivkah pulled him closer to the water simultaneously, caused her head to dip, her smile fading.

Vashti and Freyja were locked in a passionate embrace by the rocks and Rivka, took her dress off, donning a similarly blue two piece underneath, pulling Allen’s top off as they dove into the water.

After the sun decided to take a short hiatus out of their sight, everyone packed into the car.

“Where are you staying?” she asked out of nowhere

“Hollister House just down the road from here” he replied

“Good because I’m picking you up at 9. Throw whatever on you want. But be ready” she said assertively, making Allen nervously laugh.

“Well… um okay haha I’ll be ready.” he finally managed to get out.

Rivka kissed his cheek and headed across the beach to the beckoning of her parents and brothers on the far end, who hopped into a pearl white 2015 Mercedes-Benz M-Class jeep.

Allen saw she’d left the unopened Coca Cola on the beach; uncapped it and drank it before, heading into the car back home.

 

****

 

 

-

All gathered around the dinner table, everyone was partaking of a large, layered homemade pizza, chicken and vegetarian samosas the girls labored over, and beer when some lights edged into the grove stopping at the door of the house.  Ashton wiped his mouth, then went to the door to see Rivkah in jeans shorts, a pink blouse and brown sandals, her wrists adorned with beaded bracelets while her hair was wrapped into a neat bun, held together with a wring of flowers or rather a head tie whose designs made them look rather realistic.

Ashton laughed and then said:

“ Allen, I think this is for you”

Vashti, Freyja and Jaime giggled, tapping Allen’s shoulder, whilst Madeline too smiled, but it disappeared when she saw who it was at the door.

Allen went outside to see who it was and nearly choked on pizza crust.

“Come on now, you just saw me today and you already want to off yourself?” she said jokingly

“N..N-No I-”

Rivkah laughed

“Come on, get in.”

 

****

The road stretched for miles along the captivating coast, the city lights populating the view, an array of  bright colours and hues, taking the little of what was left of Allen’s breath away. He looked over at Rivkah, whose tan skin radiated in the moonlight. If he didn’t know better, at first glance he would have assumed she was some type of goddess that had somehow managed to mask her divinity in a fleshy human jacket strong enough to retain her form.

An indie rock song played amidst the wind blowing through her hair. She took her eyes off the road and realizing he was gawking at her, she smiled, taking one hand off the steering wheel, using it to close his mouth and cup his chin lovingly. They finally pulled up to a cliffside spot where the car was parked, the two emerging from it. She popped the trunk revealing a case of beers, a large felt blanket and two apples.

They laid the blanket on a small soft patch of grass then sat, a playlist of music playing from a speaker she’d hooked up to her phone.

“You’ve a really nice taste in music” Allen said after some time of biting into his apple.

“That girl at the beach seems to really like you, though her and that guy, what they’re doing, it’s shameful.” She replied, throwing Allen off.

“What do you mean?”

“The really pretty girl with the perfect dark skin and the pale boyband asshat with the half Asian girlfriend”

“Oh.. um”

“No need to reply to it. Haha just stating what I saw”

Allen went quiet.

“ That’s what was bothering you at the beach I figure. You like her don’t you”

“I..um..”

He looked at Rivkah with some concern

“What’s your role in all of this?”

“I’m here to open your eyes to the possibilities of life Allen. There’s more than one door that leads to Eden, but you’re looking to take the one with the longest cue.”

“There’s no c-”

“Haha I’m not implying what you’re thinking. It’s a metaphor for the paths you have that you can take”

“These paths.. they represent..?”

“People, Allen. They’re many possibilities where people are concerned. You know, I had a dream about a man going to a farmer’s market getting his palm read. I remember something vaguely about ‘an upcoming journey and a trial that surpasses the weight Atlas bears no his shoulders’?” or something like that.”

Things were suddenly starting to make sense to him now. She too was a path he could take.

“You.. you barely know me.. I mean how could you.. is that how you knew about my pain?”

“Life’s funny like that Allen. Sometimes things just occur and can literally just fall into place, but all you have to do is take the risk”

“But things, life’s always hard for me..”

“Life isn’t hard for you Allen, you just make life hard for yourself.”

She looked at him, her pupils dilating with her smile.

“ That book, at the beach, the one with the East Indian painting with the blue door”

“Oh that? It’s a book called The Paths to Nirvana by a writer called Priyanka Sharma. Basically, the book is about a boy called Adel who journeys across the world via a magical blue door shown to him by Krishna; a gift for saving his life from a tiger.  When the door opens, there are several paths he can take that lead to this blinding light. Whenever he picks a path, according to where he wants to go, it leads him to a different country and he has to make decision in order to see where he can go, blah blah, the point is, the premise of the book is the power of choice.”

Allen sat there, digesting what Rivkah told him, the waves below lapping the coast, causing sea spry to fly free, carrying a salty scent throughout the night air.

He turned toward her, realizing she hadn’t moved, her breathing slow and steady, looking at him.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?” she said smiling

Allen leaned in, kissing her, clutching her face, her lips soft and tasting like apple and watermelon lipgloss.”

She flung her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, as she glided her tongue along his, reaching for the back of his throat.

He pulled away after he realized something.

“I’m.. I’m leaving tomorrow..”

“Then I’ll give you something to remember me by” she said seductively

“How will this w-”

She released a hearty laugh, rocking her head back then looked at him

“For f***s sake, stop talking”

 

Rivkah pulled him in again, pushing him onto his back, climbing on top of him, leaning over and kissing him some more, their hands running all over one another’s bodies, removing articles of clothing, with nothing but the night air and the heat of their bodies to act as cover.

The two of them then sought to sin with one another under the moonlight.

Afterward, when they were lying underneath the covers, their skin pink with satisfaction, she took her phone up and opened it, tapping his name into it

“Give me your number and if this is the path you want to take, when I message you, reply with a door emoji”

“When will you message me?”

She laughed, replying with a clever answer:

“You’ll see a message if this is the path I want to take also”

“That’s a bit ambiguous”

She put her finger over his lips to hush him up.

“ Be Adel, Allen, Just pick a path and go with it. Let the blue door guide you”

She plopped her head onto his chest, hugging him whilst he looked up at the stars resting on his right arm, connecting each star to form the paths he could take.

 

****

                      

 

 

∞

 

Allen awoke to the sound of everyone packing their things into the car, checking a clock on the wall to realize it was noon. He showered, entering the kitchen wearing a faded red tank top, khaki shorts and slippers playing with one of the beaded bracelets Rivkah had given him.

Vashti and Freyja had left a chicken cutlet sandwich and a large blue berry muffin alongside fresh coffee out for him with a note neatly tucked underneath a napkin.

He picked the note up, laughing as it read:

 

Freyja: Judging from your inability to get up and that wide grin you had in your sleep I presume your night terrific, haha (you stud, hope you made a mess of her)

Vashti: Ignore her crassness Allen; I trust you had a lovely time. Tell us the details when we get back home xx

P.S. we left breakfast for you on the table.

 

He ate his breakfast, reminiscing on the night before, unable to control his smiling. When he had finished, he packed all of his things into his bag heading outside. Jaime was packing stuff into the car whilst Freyja and Vashti, as usual, in a passionate embrace stopped mid liplock to beckon Allen to come in for a hug. All three women kissed his cheeks, rubbing their hands along them to wipe any lipstick off. He laughed.

Inside the house, Ashton, who donned a white t shirt, red shorts and Vans, found Madeline packing her things, ready to go to the car.

“Hey you. You’re okay? You kind of dipped on me last night after we-”

“Oh it was nothing. I was just really tired, that’s all”

A chuckle managed to escape her lips and Ashton thrust himself between her and the bags, his jaw clenching as he looked into Madeline’s eyes, kissing her deeply.

She recanted from their embrace abruptly.

“Jaime’s right outside”

“It doesn’t matter..”

“Yes..it does. It does matter..” her face now holding a sad pout as she carried her things out of the door, Ashton clutching his head in quiet frustration.

She saw Allen, and smiled, with Allen noticing she was struggling with her bags, that all before today were light, but today they seemed extra heavy.

“You mind helping me?”

“Sure of course”

He was about to lift her bags when he turned around to hear a car horn echo through the grove. The familiar convertible pulled up, with a plainly dressed but nonetheless beautiful Rivkah, whose morning after glow was unbelievable, her skin  radiant and smooth, glimmering in the summer sunlight.

Allen glanced back at Madeline who managed a slight smile

“Go, ahead, I’ll be fine”

“Are you sur-”

“Go Allen” she said laughing, which quickly disappeared when he turned his back.

“I came to give you some food for the journey”

“Thank you but I only live across the coast. It’s like 20 minute’s drive from here”

“Oh well in that case you’ll be seeing me soon. Still take the food though silly.”

He took the basket and tried to open it but Rivkah slapped his hand

“Only open it when I text you and no moment sooner”

“Okay then”

She pulled him in closer, clutching his head and kissed him hard, pulling away after a lengthy embrace, much to Madeline’s dismay.

She then slid a book into his hand, said book he realized was her copy of The Paths to Nirvana.

“But..”

She silenced him with another kiss then smiled, placing her fingers onto his lips.

“Just remember to charter your paths Allen, now and hereafter. Also I have a second copy.”

****

 

With everyone piled into the car, it roared to life,  making its way out of the grove.

Allen turned to get one last look at Rivkah who blew him a kiss as the car pulled onto the road, to trek along the coast.

He propped his head onto his hand, smiling from ear to ear.

The sea salt permeated the fresh air as they drove along highway, Ashton cranking a familiar electronic bop on the radio, causing everyone to burst into chorus.

Allen’s phone  suddenly vibrated , which jumped him. He opened it to see a text from an unfamiliar number he realized was Rivkah’s.

The text read:

“I picked my path. Seems like it leads in your direction. What’s yours?”

Allen paused, looking at his phone smiling. He texted an emoji of a door to which she replied with :

“See you soon then, you’ve chosen well xx”

 

Madeline looked over at Allen, who shut his phone off, beaming and joining in the amateur choir’s belting ballad. His aura now tinged with a bright yellow.

She watched him drift off into his own head while she looked out onto the coast, noticing a faint glow coming from Jaime’s stomach as she held Ashton’s hand. She looked down at her own to see a similar faint glow, peering onto the coast, preparing for the chaos to come.

“An upcoming journey and a trial that surpasses the weight Atlas bears no his shoulders”:  it all made sense now.

 

 

Author's Note

Feedback is welcome

Reviews

[A.C. Jones]

really enjoyed this story...simply for the characters. I love when authors pay attention to characters, and you did so well in a short period of time.

[Patrick Schultz]

Thank you so much :)

I try to stress heavily on character development when writing a story. Thanks again.