He took a long drag of his cigarette, holding the smoke in his lungs, feeling the burn. He exhaled slowly through his nose, and watched the smoke curl into the night sky in small wisps. It was so peaceful here, so serene... He felt like he was a part of the scenery; a part of every budding flower, and flying bee, and every lapping wave. He felt as if he'd been here all his life, and he wondered silently-not for the first time-how he'd ever be able to leave such a paradise."We can be alone up here... Just me and you..." It was his brother's voice, clumsy and slurred from too much liquor. Elijah wondered a moment where he'd been able to get drunk... He and his friends had been looking for a place for a few days now, and every night, returned to their hotel rooms sober. He heard a girl laugh; probably the one that had been hanging around lately. The Corrupting Devil, as he'd begun calling her to his friends, smiling as he did so. The door to the roof, which was much like a trapdoor, or an attic door, closed loudly with a bang. He flinched. He saw two silhouettes beginning to make their way over to him, each of them tangled to the other. Drunken sex. Ah, he missed it... He hadn't had any of that in a while, now... (Damn, where's a bar when you need one?)
He took one last breath from his cigarette, the ash almost meeting the filter. He punched it out on the roof, and hopped down, landing softly in the sand. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the cigarette box, tapped it a couple of times, before pulling another one and lighting it. It was beautiful outside.
He ignored whatever he was leaving behind him. (So she really IS the devil that's corrupting Zach! Shame on her!) He followed his feet, allowing them to wander. He wasn't all too surprised when he turned up at the beach. It was one of the few places he knew how to find... Well, how to find his way there, and back again. His feet dragged lazily, the cigarette end burning red in the darkness. He couldn't see the smoke anymore; not now that he was away from the lights of the hotel.
There was another dark shadow, just beyond him... He couldn't quite make it out... Just a silent blob, leaning against a palm tree...
Ao, he realized as he got closer. It was Ao. She had a pad of paper lying in her lap, a charcoal pencil gliding over it in controlled, even strokes. Tentatively, he walked closer. "Ao?" He asked quietly. She flinched, and he saw her hand jerk spasmodically, creating a dark line across the center of her pad. He smiled apologetically, though he doubted she could see him in the darkness. "Sorry."
She looked up at him. He thought she was smiling in return... Blasted, who could tell? "Thought I was the only one who came out here at night..." She gestured for him to sit, and he complied. In the last couple of days, he'd seen quite a bit of Ao and her friends, though upon reflection, realized that it would've been difficult not to. The size of the town hadn't been under-exaggerated at all.
"I was kind of kicked out of my smoking spot tonight..." He smiled, trying hard to keep mental images out of his mind.
She looked at him, and for the first time, noticed the cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. She took it, and stamped it out carefully beneath her sandal. "That's gross," she replied, laughing a little.
"Fair enough," he told her, watching the spot he'd seen his cigarette last. He sighed. "What are you doing out here, anyhow?"
"Drawing." It was a short answer that he was certain she'd cut that way on purpose. He leaned in over her shoulder slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of her work. She pulled the pad up, cradling it against her breast.
Elijah chuckled. "Fine, fine... I get it. The drawing is all yours..." He looked up to see a couple more people by the ocean... They took a few steps, and soon were riding the waves as he'd seen everyone doing earlier. "I thought it's not safe to swim at night?"
"It's not, but... Well, it's Raven and Kalika. Since when have Raven and Kalika done the smart thing? And they've NEVER done the safe thing, so... yeah." Ao was watching them, smiling in a way that he hadn't really ever seen anyone smile before. Almost... sisterly, and innocently.
He had an idea that people of the island were much more innocent than people on the mainland. After all, how corrupted could the teenage culture be without a decent bar in miles?
"They're pretty close, then?" She nodded. "They're not dating, are they?" He hadn't meant to sound so disgusted, but... Kalika was, after all, twenty seven, and Raven was at most nineteen.
Ao laughed. "No, they're just really close..." Her voice drifted off, reminiscing, perhaps...
"Story to that one, isn't there?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, actually. He saved her life." Ao leaned back against the tree. She'd tensed at some point in the conversation, and was making obvious attempt to collect herself as best as she could. Truth be told, she wasn't exactly used to spending much one-on-one time with guys... Even when she and Kew had dated, there'd normally been someone else around... And the time's it HAD been just the two of them had been more than awkward.
Elijah sat, waiting expectantly. She had paused for too long... He almost wondered if he'd hit a raw nerve... Certainly she wouldn't be telling him now...
"Raven's family didn't live in Kauai." She knew it seemed like an odd way to begin the story, but it was the best way she could think of. Best start from the beginning, after all. "They were close friend's of the Stecks. That's Kilika's last name, by the way... Kilika Steck. Not Hawaiian." She laughed. "He's the only one that can trace island blood in him all the way back, and he doesn't even have a proper Hawaiian name..." She seemed to realize she was rambling, because she dropped the topic quickly. She continued. "Anyway, the Vaughn's, that's Raven's last name-had come out here to see Kilika's family. God, Raven must've been like, four at the time...
"The Vaughns loved Hawaii... Couldn't get enough of the ocean. Mrs. Vaugn said that it was the only place that still seemed clean. I guess they loved it a little too much or something...
"If Raven was four, that would've made Kilika about twelve. He's been surfing since he was like, two or something. His parents were huge surfers. Anyhow, there was a storm one night. I guess the Vaughn's thought they could handle it. It didn't look too bad, after all... I guess they didn't know that in Hawaii, the larger part of the storm is usually in the water, instead of in the sky..."
Elijah almost wanted to ask her to stop... Whatever she was about to say was probably nothing he wanted to hear. Of course, he had instigated the conversation in some sense, and felt the overwhelming need to at least hear her out.
"Well, they went out on the boat, even after the Steck's told them not to... The Stecks, well, before they moved away, could read the ocean better than anyone out here. But they went, the Vaugns. I guess they didn't really think that the ocean could be too bad...
"The sad part, is that they took Raven with them. I mean, those waters were ROUGH. I mean rough. You don't even understand... I was only five, so I don't really remember, but I've heard stories... What I DO remember, though, is hiding in a room with Iokua, with the windows and doors boarded shut. Some people actually thought it could be a tsunami... Thank Makua that it wasn't. Still though, it was pretty bad.
"The rains started coming, I remember that too. Raven and I had been hanging out a lot... I mean, we were about the same age... I was worried. I didn't know why everyone just kept saying that they hoped she was ok... I mean, it's scary to a five year... I didn't know... I just didn't KNOW what was happening anymore..." Elijah nodded in what he hoped was an empathetic manner. In all actuality, he couldn't even begin to relate. There were storms in California, but people never worried whether they were tsunami's or not. He tried to compare this danger to an earthquake, something he'd had a little more experience with... And even if that really didn't help, he was an actor after all.
He saw Ao look away, and bring her hand nonchalantly to her face. He watched as she rubbed her eye, making it seem like she was drowsy. He'd seen the tear, though, that she'd wiped away.
She noticed him looking, and quit trying to hide her face. "I know it's stupid for me to get so worked up... I mean, it was how many years ago? I'm sorry, I really am... I guess I'm just a wuss..." He could tell she was embarrassed. She began to stand again, and this time, she looked back at him. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have wasted your time... I should probably be going..."
Elijah stood, and took her gently by the arm, pulling her back. "No, continue... I mean, I can't go away knowing only half the story, can I?" He smiled at her reassuringly. "Besides, you're not a wuss... Not at all."
She smiled at him a moment. "Thanks." She rubbed her eye again. "Anyhow, all I really remember is sitting in a dark room-the power had been knocked out-and then a pounding at the door. It was Kilika. He'd gone out on his surfboard in this storm, and saved Raven. Her parents weren't in the boat anymore... It was a miracle that she still was. But he saved her life. She would've died." Ao shrugged. "I should be getting home, though..."
"And since I only came out for a cigarette, I suppose I can go back to my room as well..."
"I'll see you tomorrow, then. Bright and early." Ao smiled at him, as she grabbed up her sketch pad-still held protectively to her chest- and took off at a light jog towards her home. Elijah watched her leave.
He now had to agree... She was a pretty thing for certain.
* * * *
The storm was billowing outside, but it was nothing to the storm that had formed inside him. His stomach and mind were doing synchronized flip flops... Though his parents had told him to calm down time and again ("It's just a storm, Kilika... Don't worry so much"), he couldn't settle his insides. He knew something his parents didn't... Something that was entirely his fault.
He knew where the Vaugn's were, and what would probably happen to them if someone didn't go to help them.
Perhaps he was doing the stupid thing; it would've been much more wise to go to his parents and tell them that their friends were out on the ocean, but logic wasn't his high suit. Besides, who had time to go through the proper channels when they could very well already be...
He didn't dare to think it.
His parents were in the basement, gathering candles. He grabbed his surf board, and pried the door-which had been nailed shut-open. The wind blew back in his face, warning him from leaving his house. He pushed his way past, wondering timidly how if he couldn't handle the wind, he'd ever handle the waves.
He felt as if he'd never get to the beach. The wind blew sand in his eyes, making it impossible to see straight. Still, he pressed forward, wandering blindly in a paradise turned Hell.
When he got to the ocean's end, he felt as if he might be sick. The waters were growling angrily at him, their swells surging higher than he'd ever seen them. He gulped. How could he ever surf these...?
On the horizon, he watched as lightening split through the sky, sending a sickeningly loud rumble of thunder down the coastline as an afterthough. He shivered. The skies were black even though it was hardly past mid-day... How could he have been so stupid? HE had been the one to tell the Vaugn's that the storm wouldn't come until tomorrow... And they'd taken his word on it...
With that thought in mind, he barreled into the very bowels of this Hell, paddling as hard as his little twelve-year-old arms would take him... He hadn't considered how large the ocean was, or his odds of finding them...
He couldn't hear anything more than the distant beating of waves on the rocks, the tossing and turning of billions of gallons of water, and the shrill whistle of the wind. His own thoughts were fogged over by his need of survival... All he wanted now was to live through this... for the Vaugn's to live through this...
Then he saw it... A sight that made his stomach leap for joy to his throat... A boat. A rowboat. He paddled closer and closer... There was no one in it. He couldn't see them... But then he heard it. When he was only a few feet from the tiny vessel, he heard a child's cry. It sounded so far away, being split by the wind, and carried off into the clouds and the waters and the rains and the...
Closer. Closer. He was almost there... And peering over the side, he saw a little girl... A familiar little girl, save for the tears falling steadily down her cheeks, and the fear in her eyes. "Sh..." he cooed gently to her, pulling her from the boat onto his board, "it'll be all right... Come on, Raven..."
"Mommy! Daddy! I want my... my... my... Mommy!" She wailed, curling into his chest as she sat down on the board. Kilika was at a loss for words... How could he explain this to her...? "Mommy and Daddy fell out... They're there!" She pointed to the water-the ink black waters that looked more terrifying than even the very Gates of Hell could. "Get mommy! Get daddy!" He held her a moment more, ever mindful of the danger they were in. Finally, he spotted a wave... Huge compared to what he normally surfed, incomprehensibly big, as a matter of fact, but small in comparison to some of the other swells. ("Has anyone ever surfed a wave that big, and lived to tell the tale?" He wondered idly to himself...)
It was approaching faster than any wave he'd ever seen before... The size, the speed of it was all so overwhelming... His chest felt ready to collapse from the fear... He knew he was surfing for his life, now... Surfing as everything depended on this surf, because in his truest heart, he knew that everything DID...
The wave was beneath him... He paddled along it, waiting to stand until he absolutely had to. He'd have better balance as long as he could sit. The wave began to grow, and the top began to break... He pushed himself up, catching his balance almost immediately. He felt Raven hold tight to his leg, and he wondered a moment if that was a good thing.
He swung his free leg around, pushing the board so that it followed the inside of the trough better. The board began to tip sideways, following the motion of the water beneath it. 'No...' he silently begged, 'don't wipe out... not now... please, not now...'
"Kilika! No... NO! I want Mommy! Daddy!"
Kilika couldn't pay heed to the little girl sitting beneath him. She knew nothing of what was going on around them, only that her parents were no longer with her.
He felt as the wave began to collapse. It was unmistakable... First, he could feel the trembling in his board. He looked up... the water entirely engulfed him, as he rode through the tunnel it had created. If it shifted just right now, it'd all fall on him... Most waves, that'd be no problem, but this one... They'd never get their heads above water again...
He willed his board to move faster, to graze the water more sharply... The trembling beneath his board began to grow... He was still twenty feet from the end. 'Please... Please...' And all the while, through the confusion, he could hear her... Hear her wailing, calling for her parents... Begging to go back and retrieve them... He'd done this. He'd destroyed this family. It was his fault... All his fault... How badly he just wanted to sit down with her, to cuddle her, and to whisper untrue promises that everything was ok. He wanted to rock her to sleep as he'd done so many nights before, while her parents chatted noisily in the other room with his own folks... What he wouldn't give for the simplicity of what the world used to be!
The wave was beginning to close on the other end, water touching water, and creating a domino affect. Nothing but blackness behind him, as the water-tunnel began to close. It was thrashing ever forward, reaching out to him, to claim him as a prize...
Then he was out, the wave completely demolished behind him...
Ordinarily, he knew where to surf, and what patches to avoid. There was the bay, where if the water was too shallow, you'd bottom your board out, as the fin hit the sandy bottom. There were patches of seaweed, and sharp rocks, but he couldn't remember that now. He couldn't SEE that now... The board hit something solidly, and threw both him and the tiny girl from it. He cursed himself. He'd KNOWN those rocks were there. He'd known that since he was five years old!
He didn't have time to berate himself, however. Not yet.
He felt himself sink beneath the water. For a glorious moment, all the world was muted. Darkness engulfed him, and nothing outside of that darkness existed for him. The waves were a distant murmur, and the raging sky with its stripes of electricity and claps of thunder were a forgotten memory... He almost wanted to stay there... Had it not been for Raven, he may have. Fighting seemed too hard, now. He'd already fought so hard... He wasn't sure he had the strength to continue any longer.
Then came the next problem. He couldn't tell which way was up anymore. He struggled, turning him this way and that, trying to allow himself to float again. Every time he began to drift closer to the surf, the waves would push him back down. If he could just remember which way was UP...
The next thing he knew, he was gasping for air, drinking it in as if he'd never have another breath in his life. He paddled. He could see the shore from here. If he could just pull Raven and himself to shore, they'd be ok; if he could just get them out of the ocean.
Where was Raven?
"RAVEN!" He called, knowing his voice was lost to the screeching winds around him. Still, he had to try. "RAVEN!" His voice was desperate-raw emotion seething into his cries.
Then against all odds, he heard her. He heard her! Thank Makua, he heard her! Oh, what a glorious sound her crying was! Her incessant sobs were music and dancing magic to his ears! She was alive! That little girl lived where all adults should've died! He looked around him, scanning for a bobbing head of soaked chestnut. He didn't have to look far. She'd anchored herself to the very rock that they'd hit, her tiny arms wrapped tightly around it, holding on for dear life. 'Bless you, child! Bless you, and your instincts, and your strength, and your crying... bless you! Bless you, child!'
He pulled himself across the waves-not an easy job-but he could almost touch here, so he pushed himself along with his toes, everyone once and a while, coming across a rock he could push off of. He finally got to the rock, and bundled her into his arms again. Her own tiny arms encircled his neck tightly. He held her, wondering for a moment whether he was hurting her or not. Somehow, though, that didn't matter. All that mattered was that he got her to land; then he could take her to Iokua's house, and they could find shelter from the raging elements inside their house. Their house that would be warm, and dry, and safe...
He wasn't sure how he made it. He'd later relate that it had been a lot of diving under water, mouthfuls of foul salt water, what seemed like hours of aching muscles, and a determination that began and ended with the package in his arms. Somehow, though, he got her to shore, where the rain was beating ruthlessly on them still. He dropped to his knees as he pulled himself up the sandy beach, and set her down momentarily. Her eyes were wide, and intense for a four year old. She put her hand on his forehead. "Ok, Kalika?"
Kalika nodded. "I'm perfect, now." She nodded, and laid herself down on the beach. Kalika knew they weren't safe here, not yet, but he wasn't sure he could move again. His legs were aching him, feeling as if each had a thousand pounds tied to the end of them. He'd never be able to make it... It was so far away... He looked at her tiny form, moving only with uneven breaths. He smiled. He'd gotten this far... He couldn't leave her, not now. He'd saved her from the ocean, he certainly wouldn't allow the whether to steal her life now... Again, he picked her up (she seemed small for a four year old), and he put her head onto his shoulder, holding her there, praying to Makua that she'd live... 'Please let her live...'
Only moments later, he was standing in front of the sanctuary he'd searched for. He banged loudly on the door. "IOKUA! IOKUA! Please, open the door! Please!" He doubted whether the nine year old boy COULD open the door, with or without the inclination. Suddenly, though, he heard the bolts on the door click back, and then the door was open, a dark little boy standing within an even darker house.
"Kilika! Are you crazy? What are you doing? It's a storm out there!" He opened the door wider, allowing entrance to the two visitors.
"Is that Raven?" Ao walked closer, her tiny feet padding slowly on the wooden floor. She took scared, fearful steps... Perhaps she was afraid she'd see the worst... But as she looked at Raven's face, she smiled. "She's ok?"
"She will be... We just have to dry her up. Maybe get her warm..." He looked towards Iokua, who nodded. He left the room a moment.
Kilika sat down on the couch, still cradling Raven. Ao took a seat next to him. "Are you OK, too, Kilika?" Kilika nodded. Her brow furrowed as she asked her next question... Perhaps she'd been wondering whether it was polite to ask it or not? "What happened? Why were you outside? Where are Raven's parents?"
Iokua returned with a fresh pair of Ao's clothes, and a quilt his grandmother had made him. He laid them both down on the couch.
"Kilika? Where are they?" The ignorant innocence of a child. Ao's eyes were open wide, expecting... And before Kilika could stop himself, he was crying large, hot tears, full of anger, hurt, and self loathing. Tears, that in all reality, he'd never quit crying.
* * * * *
