Chapter 2: The Threads of Fate Converge
After we went down a couple of slides, Gia and Danny met up with us and grabbed Rom to go down the taller slides with them. She looked back to me as if to ask if it was okay to leave me, and I just gave them a thumbs up and said, “Okay, I’ll be in the lazy river if you need me.” That’s all I planned to do anyway. The chaos of kids running, water splashing, whistles blaring from lifeguards, was starting to manifest itself in me by way of a severe headache. I just needed to be alone like I always was and disassociate from my surroundings, and I’ll be good.
I walked into the lazy river and grabbed an innertube to lay on. I closed my eyes and relaxed on the inner tube in the river, and let the sun beat down on me. Gradually the screams and chaos around was eventually drowned out by a feeling of serenity. Kind of like at lunchtime in the cafeteria in school, so many people are talking it eventually just drowns out to white noise if no one is talking to you directly. I wish I could relax like this every day.
“MARRRKK!!” No sooner did I think this did my peaceful moment in the lazy river come to an abrupt end by Gia shouting my name throughout the park. I jinxed myself. Why would I think that? Of course, with my luck this would happen. I was so shocked by the sudden loud noise right next to me that I flipped off of the inner tube into the water.
I rose back out of the water to be welcomed by Gia giggling at me. “Did I scare you?” She asked devilishly.
Ignoring her comment to get to the root of why she was here, I asked in an annoyed tone, “What is it?”
Her mannerism immediately switched to serious as she explained, “It’s Rom…She fell because a stupid kid ran into her while heading back to the slides. She has a cut on her knee…It’s bleeding.”
I crawled out of the lazy river begrudgingly as my head started to throb a little bit. I motioned over to Gia to follow me, “Come on let’s put some first aid on it then. How bad is it?”
“It’s bleeding!” She exclaimed in horror.
“That’s a very broad answer…”
I shook my head in dismay as I continued toward our rest area.
When we got there Rom was sitting in a seat beside Daniel, and there was also a girl about my age standing behind her, arms folded tightly, and looking away nervously from Rom. She had not too long, not too short dark-brown hair with a bleached streak, tanned brown skin, and an athletic body. Her eyes were maple and had a fire to them that was welcoming. A warm aura was emanating from her. That may just be from the look of concern on her face though as she looked upon Rom’s wound. The swimsuit she wore was black with purple straps, and it was the same length as Rom’s. “She’s beautiful.” I acknowledged to myself, but instead of feeling excitement at the opportunity to talk to her, all I felt was the suffocating feeling of depression. I shook my head. I’m here to take care of Rom, not wallow in self-pity.
I got next to Rom and knelt down to her level and looked at her cut. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Gia made it out to be, but I still saw tears swelling up in her eyes. “Are you Danny’s brother, Mark?” The older girl standing over Rom asked.
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I replied with a sarcastic, “Yieep.” as I reached for the first aid in the bag next to me, “You are?”
I started digging in the first-aid bag and brought out the cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, Neosporin, and band-aids as she responded back saying, “Sandy Davis! I’m Gia’s stepsister. Did she not tell you about me? She’s talked a lot about you. Mostly complaining at the dinner table though.”
“Sandyyy! Guhhhh!” Gia complained to her, to which Sandy retreated from her a bit.
I dabbed a rubbing alcohol-soaked cotton ball on Rom’s cut, and said, “Yeah she mentioned you here and there, but she never really said what you looked like, or even your name for that matter.”
“Oh, that’s weird. She’s usually super talkative around other people.”
“It just wasn’t brought up! Why bring something up when no one asks?” Gia responded to the conversation hastily, leaving an air of awkwardness.
I shook my head at the comment, “You always bring something up when no one asks.” I thought to myself. She would normally give every annoying detail about everything in a loud obnoxious tone.
I smeared the Neosporin on Rom’s cut, and then I carefully placed the band aid on the wound. “Woww…Do you do this a lot?” Sandy asked in amazement.
As I was putting the materials back into the first aid bag, I told her, “Well, it’s not like it was a big cut or anything, but I’m used to fixing cuts and scrapes like this. Dad is home on and off, so I have to bandage up myself and Danny when Mom isn’t home. We both used to go outside to play quite often, so I had a lot of practice fixing up small scrapes and cuts.”
Rom put her knee down, and I could hear her whisper, “Thanks.”
I looked at her downtrodden face with a smile and said, “No problem. I brought the first aid kit just in case this happened.”
“Thanks for doing this. I’m really bad with blood, even if it’s just a little bit.” Sandy told me.
I remembered how little blood there was, but I stood back up and told her, “No problem, I just want everyone to have fun today.” I looked back at Rom, “You can go back in the water. It may sting a little at first, but it shouldn’t hurt it. I can just replace the band aid again after everyone is done.”
“Has everyone already eaten lunch? It’s past noon.” I asked as I picked up the now light bag of food mom had prepared for us.
“Mark…” Danny murmured to me, “You really are acting like mom…”
“Shut up!”
I turned to go back to be met by the wide eyes of Gia staring at me in awe. “You should be a surgeon…” She told me in a spacey tone.
Flabbergasted by the comment I couldn’t help but say, “What the fuck?”
It was just a cut wasn’t it?
Danny grabbed her and dragged her back to the slides saying, “Come on, let’s head back to go on the tall one again!”
Rom followed close behind them as they left to the slides. I started my way back to the lazy river before I heard, “Where are you going?”
I turned around to see Sandy looking at me with a confused look. I pointed to the river, and I said, “Back to the lazy river.”
“Have you even been on all the slides yet? I haven’t seen you up there.”
I turned back around in the direction of the river, “Not yet…”
She ran in front of me, and she gave me an earnest look as she said, “You have to go on them before you leave! It’s so fun! I can go with you if you want?!”
I wanted to say no so bad. Everything in me was saying to tell her no, but her earnest expression along with her hazel eyes forced me to say, “Fine.” In a defeated tone.
She looked so innocent! It was like I was looking at a lost puppy. Even if I wanted to say no, it was physically impossible for me to refuse with that pitiful look.
“Yayy! Being alone made for a lot of uncomfortable conversations!” She exclaimed as she skipped her way over there.
“Ahh… So that’s why she asked me?” I thought to myself, “Her pleading eyes made sense now.”
As someone who likes to be alone, I understand the feeling of not wanting people to talk to me. If it meant that I could help someone else in their plight to not have conversation, I will gladly help them accomplish this goal. As I looked up at the stairs to the massive slides though, I couldn’t help but feel my stomach drop and think to myself, “What did I just agree to?”