Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Memories

“What do you think?” Howie asked as they headed out of the main building.
“She has a great body.” AJ replied seriously.
Brian punched him. “Not Ashley, you moron. Helen!”
“Well, I think she’s okay too, but a little too stiff.”
“You’re unbelievable. I’m going to tell Amanda,” Kevin threatened.
“Hey, you’re the one married. I can still have my opinions.” AJ retorted.
“Too much opinions,” Brian muttered under his breath.
“So what do you think about Helen?” Howie started again patiently.
Nick shrugged. “She looks okay,” he said. “Knows what she’s doing, I think.”
“Yeah, sounds like another you, Kev. A perfectionist.” AJ drawled.
Kevin shrugged. “Somebody’s going to have to deal with the details,” he said placidly.
“Who knows what she’ll be like one we get started,” Howie mused.
“Pretty darn hot, I reckon.”
“Will you knock it off?”
They were outside now, the warm sun hitting them with its bright rays. Ahead of them was a small, village-like place, with a nice garden in the center and wood cabins surrounding it. The walls were painted a soft rose hue. There were about ten cabins, five on each side. Each door had a balcony in front.
“Here’s your cabins,” Mike explained. “ One for you and your bodyguards. Crew and management stay next door. Plenty of room, and quite nice.” He glanced at his watch. “Well, that’s it for me, guys. I’ll see you back at the States. Have a good time.”
“Aren’t you staying with us?” Nick asked, surprised.
“Nope. Julian can take care if it. By the way, if you’re itching to get out, there’s a nice pub down near the city somewhere. Just ask Helen first. She might get cross if you don’t turn up for one of her sessions.”
“Sure, Mike. Thanks.’
“See you later, man.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.” Brian yawned. “I’m going to my room.”
They organized themselves and settled into a room each. Nick’s cabin was second from the end, between Kevin and AJ’s. As usual, Rachael followed him to the door. She had a thoughtful look on her face. He guessed that she was thinking about the new people they met. But with Rachel, he just never knew.
His suite was not too bad. He gave it just a cursory glance, throwing down his bag. Bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. The only thing that really interested him was the view he had outside of the sea and the-
He came out of the bedroom, a bemused look on his face.
“What’s funny?” Rachael asked.
“There’s a water bed in there.” He said, grinning.
Her expression didn’t change. “Is everything alright?”
Okay, so she didn’t get the joke. “Yeah.”
She nodded. “Good.” She turned to leave.
“Hey,” he called out suddenly, making her stop. She turned back, waiting.
“Uh…” he grimaced. Why did he always get tongue-tied every time those eyes probed at him? “…It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He said lamely.
She frowned slightly, but didn’t see fit to comment. The door closed softly behind her.
Nick sighed and began to get ready for a shower.

**********************

Rachael walked into her suite and looked around. She immediately checked under the coffee table for a bug then stopped. Damned habit, she thought ruefully and sat down on the plush sofa. They really wouldn’t bug this place, not when all the electrical signals immediately registered to the Navy base only two miles away.
She looked into the room she had, and thankfully, there was no waterbed. she packed away her clothes and got ready for a shower. After the long flight in the jet and the long drive here, she felt positively grimy.
After shower, she changed and began to pack the rest of the things away. She always traveled light, another habit of hers. She knew that wasting precious time by packing bags was critical in the job she had. Wryly she remembered what one of her colleagues said. When you gotta go, you gotta go.
She took out her towel and saw a faded piece of paper drop to the floor. Frowning, she reached down and picked it up. The familiar scrawl handwriting read, “…meet you down at the bar. Don’t be late.”
She sighed. If only she had seen this earlier. Christ, what am I talking about? She thought. That was ten years ago. Memories that didn’t do much but haunt her. They would lie silently in her mind for only so long before suddenly creeping up to make her breakdown again. It was nothing but a memory, but it still caused as much pain as it did when it happened. She looked down at the paper again. Jake had taken too much for her. He took the blame for what happened, when it had been her choice. Considering everything that had happened, he was lucky to be alive. I’m a fucking curse, she thought bitterly. Everyone around me runs, gets hunted, and even…dies.

Rachael was the middle child of her family. Endowed with a skinny frame and sickly complexion, she was the ‘ugly duckling’ of the Harrison children. She was shy, hated large crowds, and was a loner. She was also a serious tomboy, always outside playing in the dirt on their Farm in Kansas. With her wiry build, short-cropped red hair and overalls, people often mistook her for a boy. She hated it, especially when she was compared to her younger sister, Cassandra. Cassie was a beautiful redhead with bright personality and a pretty smiling face. Even though she didn’t tell her, Rachael had been always envious of her sister.
“Don’t worry about it, Rocky,” Her brother would say to her soothingly. “You know who you are. That’s all there is to it.”

Rachael adored her brother. Jake was always there, and despite the large age difference, they were like best friends. He looked out for both of them, her and Cassie, but Rachael had always felt close to him. She could tell him everything, and he would listen, and that’s all she needed.
As the years flew by, however, things began to change. Jake became more and more withdrawn to himself, sometimes shutting them out completely. Rachael, depressed, turned to Cassie for an explanation. “I don’t’ know,” Cassie shrugged.
“Mom said he’s growing up.”
“It’s called growing pains, darling,” her mother told her later. “He’s just going through some stages that just needs some space, that’s all.”
‘Growing pains’ had a double meaning in their house. They grew up in a rigid, strict and loveless family. George Harrison was a veteran colonel in the army well respected for his abilities and leadership. He fought in the World War II in England and later in the Korean War. He had received a fatal injury that crippled him for life.
He was a strong believer in Male chauvinism (In English that means he was a sexist pig who thought women didn’t have a brain). Rachael had to constantly bear her father’s complete ignorance of her presence She didn’t know why he ignored her, didn’t know why he hated her. He poured all his attention to Jake, and the lecture of ‘being a real man’ never failed to crop up at dinner tables. Rachael hated him more for that, for hurting Jake and pressuring him.

Some more years flew by again, and Jake told her the shocking news.
“Rocky, I’ll be going away for a while.”
“What, to college?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m going to join the Navy.”
Rachael shook her head, hiding her disappointment. “You don’t have to, Jake. You know how dad just…”
“I’m not doing it for him, Rachael,” he told her. “In a way, I’m doing myself a favor. I want to see what it’s like.”
“But…won’t they make you go to war and stuff?”
He grinned. “I sure hope so.” He said cheerfully.
“Oh.” She looked up at him. “You are coming back, right?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”

***********************

Promises made, promises broken…how many times did that happen, Rachael wondered drowsily. It’s the same all over the world. Sooner or later, we all break someone’s trust. Someone’s….
The knock on the door made her realize where she was. She was on the couch, in someone’s villa resort, about 10,000 miles away from home. I must have dozed, she thought and got up to answer the door.
“Hey Rachael, you in there?” it was Marcus’s voice. “The guys wanna look around. You’d better come out in ten minutes.”
“Right.” These people didn’t know her. After twenty years people still didn’t have a clue. Everyone except Jake, Cassie, and…
She opened the door. “I’m ready.”