Chapter 17

 Chapter 17! #BokWitIt

I spin around and glare at my dad. "Hello Dan." "I'm your father, respect me as such." "No, Zachary Daniel's my dad now, he was more of father than you ever were." He walks forward and Bruno stands in front of me, protectively putting his arms out. "Get outta the way punk." "He's not a punk!" "I think you should leave." Bruno and Dan stare each other down. "Move out of the way Peter." "No." "Just go away you child abusing, wife beating, lying, drugged up, drunken low life." "Don't you ever talk to me like that!" "Why shouldn't I?! It's all true! I've seen the bruises mom had, I felt the pain of your hand slapping my face, I've seen you do the drugs, I've seen you get so drunk you don't even remember our names, and I've heard the lies. Ya know, mom divorcing you was the best thing to ever happen to this family." He lunges forward but falls to the ground. Bruno's shaking him hand. "Oh my god! Nice shot! I think you broke his nose!" I watch him wither on the ground holding his nose. "Let's go before he stands back up." We run off the beach and follow the road the rest of the way to Bruno's house. We walk into his room and it's still exactly how I remember it. "Wow, so many memories in here." "Well, there's about to be another one." He walks up to me and he puts his hands on the small of my back, pulling me in against him. He starts to kiss me and I undo the buttons on his shirt, letting it slide off his shoulder. I run my hands over his chest. I start kissing his neck. "Damn babygirl." One thing leads to another until were out of breath and sweaty. "How was that?" I look at him and smile. "Hmm......Oh my god that was great!" He laughs and I fall asleep in his arms.

*

"Carlos?" I look around the field. I look up and the sky is gray and I can hear distant thunder that seems to be getting closer with every rumble. The more I looked around the more everything seemed dreary. "C.....Carlos? I'm kinda creeped out here." He walks out of the shadows with my grandfather, both looking very tired and sad. "What's going on?" They walk over to me, both with tears running down their cheeks. "Brooke, it's time I told you what's really going on." Carlos says. "What?" "This place is called the golden gate. This is where dead people come, their evaluated here, if they pass they go to heaven, if they fail they go to hell, which is called the dark forest. Brooke, 'it' is really going to test you and everyone else, you might loose this battle. It's going to be long and hard." I start fiddling with my ring. "This is going to test both of you Brooke, you can't hide from it anymore, you have to tell them. We both knew this day would come, and it's came at a really bad time." He tells me what 'it' really is. I crumble into his arms a crying mess. Were both crying. Rain starts falling out of the sky. "You need to go back." I nod my head and drink the water out of the pond.

*

I woke up with tears running down my cheek. I looked over and Bruno was watching me with a worried expression. "Hey, are you ok? You were crying in your sleep." I wipe them away. "I just had a nightmare, that's all." He kisses my forehead and we gather out clothes up and get dressed. Bruno goes into the bathroom and I sit on the edge of his bed. How am I supposed to tell him? Oh god, ever since I came back I've been causing nothing but trouble! What if something happens to him? I couldn't live with myself knowing I caused it. Why can't I jus live a peaceful life? I never asked for this! I sigh and walk out onto the balcony, looking out onto the beach. I rested my arms against the railing and closed my eyes, letting the peaceful sounds of the waves fill my ears.

*

They watched as she walked out and leaned against the balcony. I zoomed up on her wrist and noticed the small star. "Shit." I mumbled "What?" Asked my apprentice. "She has a star. She knows we're coming." I said behind my binoculars. I put them down and stared at the same star that was on my wrist. "So she's from the golden gate?" "Yes, we're from the dark forest, so she's probably being taught by her grandfather and Carlos. We must tell Master Chu." "Agreed, we need to stop her from going their, should we go ahead and attack?" "No apprentice, we cannot. We must wait for the right moment, and we still need to finish our elite training." "Yes mentor." I sighed and scratched my nose, wincing in pain. "Mentor, what happened to your nose?" "He punched it, it's most likely broken." "Ugh, I hate him! She would always talk about how much she loved him. I should have killed her when I had the chance." "Agreed, but you were far to careless, you left the keys in plain sight, as well as letting her out of her sight. She ran and was able to evade you." "Everyone thinks I'm dead." "Good, it brought her out of hiding." The apprentice looked down at the rusty pickaxe he held in his hands. She was going to pay for everything. He was going to terrorize her until she killed herself. She was going to pay.

*

Bruno walked out of the bathroom and stood beside me. "Hey." I opened my eyes and smiled. "Hey." "Whatcha thinking about?" "Nothing." "Your not a good liar." I sighed. Bruno lifted my chin and I looked at him. "Ever since you woke up something's been bothering you. Please tell me." He starts to caress my cheek with a worried expression. "I...Uh...I'm just worried about Dan coming back." "Still not convinced babygirl." I sigh again. "About my first year in college, I was walking back to campus and I accidentally bumped into a man. I told him I was sorry and he gave me this letter and said it was from my father, dan. I opened it and it said 'You're going regret everything.' I just crumbled it up and threw it away because he's all talk no action. But since he's shown back up I guess I'm just a little worried that he might actually live up to his word." Bruno pulls me in and hugs me. "I'm not gonna let him hurt you, I'm here for you." I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet smell of his cologne, and listened to the steady beating of his heart. My thoughts were interrupted by a whistle. I looked down and standing on the beach in their bathing suit were Phil, Ari, Kenji, Phred, Eric and Jamaero. "Come on lovebirds the water feels great!" I looked out onto the water and saw amazing looking surfing waves. "Come on let's go!" Bruno quickly changed into his swim suit and I slipped my bikini on. "I'll be right back!" I ran across the beach to my house. "Ma! Going surfing with the guys!" "Be careful!" I walked into the garage and looked around, then I was it. My surfboard, I loved it. It was mostly white, but it was thickly out lined with blue and it had 3 yellow flowers on the middle. I grabbed it and ran back down the beach. They guys were waiting for me. "You surf?" Phred asked. "Yeah city boy, it's like second nature to us Hawaiians." "Well then, show us how it's done master." I smiled and ran out to the water. I paddled out a ways and waited for the perfect wave.

*

Bruno stood and watched her in complete awe. She stood up and the wave took her. She glided across it like a pro. Her face had a very concentrated look on it but her body seemed so relaxed. "Wow." I said in pure awe. "What are you wowing at? The way she's dominating that wave? Or that amazing body?" "Dude! That's my wife your talking about!" I punched Phil. "Hey! I was just asking!" We started laughing. "Man, you better wipe that drool out of the corner of your mouth." I glared at Ari. "Really?" "She's really something special to you isn't she." "Yeah, she's different, she's funny, lovable, my best friend, she's my everything. I've dated a lot of girls but none of them make me feel the way she does."

*

I rode the wave back in to the shore. "Beat that city boy!" I yelled as I ran back up onto the beach. They all started clapping and I played along, bowing. "Thank you, thank you. Now, show them what you got Bruno." I handed my surfboard to him and smiled. "I...don't...can't...surf." "Bull I've seen you surf, now go!" I shove him towards the water. He looks back at us and hesitantly goes into the water. "He can surf?" Jamaero asks. "Used to, we'd come out here somedays and surf till night." "I would've never thought he surfed." Ari said. "He was never good at it, I mean he could stay on for a few seconds maybe a minute, but he would always wipeout. He could never ride a wave like I can." He paddled put about the same distance as me and waited. A few small waves came but he blew them off, then a huge wave came along. "Oh my god. This is going to be funny." He stood up and the wave took him. He wobbled a bit and started flapping him arms like a bird. We started cracking up and he flipped off my surfboard, when he fell off we could actually hear him scream before he hit the water. Me and the guys started busting out butts laughing at him. My surfboard washed ashore, as well as Bruno's swim trunks that had caught the edge of the board. Me and the guys were laughing so hard we were doubled over with tears in our eyes. Bruno got about waist deep and stopped, crossing his arms. "Forgetting something?" I held up his swim trunks. "Can I have them pwease?" I started walking out. "Maybe?" I smile and hand them to him. "Better now?" "Yes." We look out to sea, where the horizon and clear blue water meet. I see something gray and watch as it slowly creeps forward, then a fin appears above water. A scream escapes my lips in horrific realization that it's a shark, and it's heading straight for us. My legs feel as heavy as lead and I can't get any part of my body to work. This is the exact same place that Carlos died in my arms, and now this is about to be the exact same place I die. Or is it?