章 2: UNEXPECTED TURNS
Coral Miller
I guess I wasn't dreaming after all, here I was standing with the mystery man by the beach. I'd always dreamt about hanging out with the love of my life by the beach and here I was with someone I didn't know enjoying the beach which totally took my mind off the previous issue I had hanging heavy on my chest. A few minutes ago I was scared of this almost perfect stranger and here I was totally comfortable in his presence.
My mind was off everything and I was just lost in the oceans, just enjoying the moment with the mystery man. It just dawned on me that I didn't even know his name.
I turned to face him to ask for his name but I was cut off with his next words.
"I think you should call your mom, while you were out she kept buzzing your line" he said, his face so serious and yet so gentle.
Reality finally dawned on me all over again, I was going to be in trouble and my mom was going to kill me. I walked a bit far from where he stood as I planned on what to tell her. I had to think of a lie, a convincing one. My mom and I we're finally bettering our relationship after we lost my dad four years ago. I knew I was a pain in her ass for years now but I didn't mind, I enjoyed it and that was the only way I could make myself feel better. For a year now we've been going for therapy in order for us to move forward in our relationship and so far it's been helpful. Telling her I was at the beach this late would only ruin things and make her start pestering my life all over again.
The buzzing of my phone drew me out of my thoughts, I looked at the screen 'Mom' displaying on the screen. Shit! She was calling, I've got to think of a lie. I picked up the call, placing it over my ear and just my other hand to cover the mouthpiece to prevent her from hearing the crashing waves.
"Hey mom," I said, my voice laced with happiness. I was definitely just pretending, I didn't want her noticing I was sad or anything of such.
"Coral," she called out and heaved a sigh over the phone.
"I've been worried about you coral, why do you keep on doing this to me?" She asked, her voice was filled with sadness and worry. From the way she sounded I could imagine her sad face in front of me scolding me.
Before I could respond, she continued talking.
"I've been calling your line, no response. It's 11pm in the night and you're not back home. I came early from my night shift hoping to meet you at home. Coral, why? Why do you have to keep on stressing me? I thought we were getting better with therapy? You've gone back to your stupid behaviors. Your dad would be very disappointed in you" she said, the tone of her voice mixed with both sadness and anger altogether.
Here she goes again saying my dad was disappointed in me. She doesn't have any right to talk about my dad if he's disappointed in me or not. She probably couldn't just tell to my face that she was disappointed in me and then she ends up using my dad as a disguise of her disappointment in me.
I had always been a dad's girl, losing my dad when I was just twelve was one of the most tragic things to ever happen to me and moving on after his death was truly impossible for me. My mom would always say I was a spoiled child as a result of me being a dad's girl but I wasn't really concerned. All that mattered was that my dad and I were best friends, he was everything to me and we were inseparable.
Losing him to cancer only broke me and my mom even more, we were not the best of friends or even friends, I always found it hard relating with her. So I'd go out and do something crazy and she would always be called to answer for it.
"Coral, is that the sound of the ocean I'm hearing?" She asked, her voice sounding more alert.
"No mom, Melissa and I are just watching a dolphin documentary on Melissa's laptop" I said so confidently. Lying had become something I was so good at ever since my dad died and I started living a wayward life.
"How can I believe you coral?" She asked, a silence came along with it, I guess she was expecting an answer.
"You've never believed me mom, you never believed I could change, you never believed I could do anything right." I said, my voice filled in anger and frustration.
"Dad would have believed in me, he was different and better than you could ever be even in a thousand years" I shouted angrily.
"I miss him everyday, I feel alone everyday and you can't fill the hole because you're not him and you can never be him!" I shouted even more over the phone. I turned to see if the mystery guy could hear me but I couldn't see him. I looked around and I couldn't find him anywhere. That's strange, he was standing there not so long ago.
My mom speaking over the phone took my attention away from looking from him.
"Coral, you think i don't miss your dad? You think there's no space in my heart that needs to be filled?" She said, pausing in her words as she starts sobbing.
"I tried coral, I tried to make it better for both of us. I miss him so much. You don't understand how much pain I went through when I lost him"
I could feel her pain through her voice over the phone call. My mom always acted strong and never broke down in front of me, at times it made me feel like she didn't miss dad or maybe never even liked him.
"You literally had a fling with a man just one year after dad died and you expect me to just believe you miss him?" I said, not minding if it'll hurt her or not.
"Coral!" She shouted through the phone. I instinctively took the phone away from my ear as she had shouted through the phone.
"You know what? Believe whatever you want to believe, but just know I loved your dad and no man could replace the love your dad had for me" she said, bursting into tears and ending up the phone call.
I looked at my phone screen in surprise, my mom was actually crying, the woman whom I actually thought was emotionless was literally crying on the phone and she hung up the phone call without buzzing me to come back home. This was new and strange to me at the same time.
I walked up to where the mysterious guy stood initially to find out where he was. I saw his footprints in the sand and followed it, I trailed after it and found a bit distant from the motel kneeling in front of a gravestone.
"I miss you so much dad, I miss this place, I miss everything dad" he said, sobbing.
I mistakenly stepped on a twig that made a sound drawing his attention to look back at me.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt" I pleaded, trying to make him see reasons for my disturbance.
He turned to face the gravestone, his gaze fixed on it as he used the back of his hand to dry off his tears.
"It's okay," he said, standing up and walking away from the gravestone back to the beach.
I looked at the gravestone. It had the name 'Clinton Anderson' inscribed on it, probably family.
I followed after him and stood beside him as we both watched the crashing waves in silence.
Good thing my mom wasn't buzzing my phone telling me to come home, cause I wasn't in the mood and I wasn't ready to go home just yet. I guess we both needed space. I could just hang around the beach some more with this stranger. We remained in silence for over thirty minutes just watching the crashing waves and our hands folded over our chest. It was a beautiful sight, as the stars were out and the reflection of the moon was shining beautifully on the ocean.
"So was that your dad?" I asked, breaking the silence that ensued between us.
"Yes!" He replied, his voice cold and distant not batting an eye from the ocean.
I was hesitant if I should ask the next question or I should just remain quiet. Asking him further questions would seem like I was prying into his life and that wasn't my motive. I'm someone who's usually just very curious about everything and anything and I really wanted to know more about him.
He saw my reactions and how hesitant I was acting. As though he was reading my mind, he spoke out.
"You can ask me whatever you want to ask, Cherry," he said, looking down on me with a smile on his face.
Cherry?! What?! What does he mean by that?
My curiosity just rose up to a hundred.
"Cherry?" I asked, looking confused.
He laughed loudly pointing at me, I believe the expressions I was displaying on my face at the moment got him laughing out loud.
I made him laugh at least, seeing him sad when he knelt in front of the old gravestone broke my heart.
His smile was truly the most beautiful thing ever.
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