Over the Rainbow - Book One - 'The Gathering Place' (25 page)

The sudden reminder of her mother made her pause,
and she thought guiltily that perhaps she should at least let them
know she was alright. She pulled out her phone, her hand hovering
above the screen, and then she frowned at it, knowing that with a
push of a button she would have to endure the admonishments and
recriminations of her father, remonstrations about honor and duty
that would only cast a wet blanket of guilt and remorse to what had
been, so far at least, the most fun she had had in a very, very
long time. Closing the vintage flip-phone with a snap, she replaced
it into her purse, checked her teeth for any unfortunate adherences
or smears, and then straightened, noticing with a hint of surprise
that the room was now entirely deserted.

As she entered the narrow hallway that led back to
the dance floor, a hairy arm jutted abruptly in front of her nose.
Alani stopped stiffly and looked with apprehension to her left,
only to see a gold-rimmed tooth in a huge, lupine smile.

Mako looked down at Alani with a malevolent gleam in
his eye, smiling evilly, his words chilling in spite of their
outwardly friendly tone and sending a cold bolt of fear through her
bowels.

“
Hey, Lani- long time no
see!”

Chris sipped at the fresh beverage
that had just been delivered by a smiling, winking cocktail
waitress when the table suddenly rocked and the drinks toppled and
sloshed across the table, a giggling, clearly intoxicated Trina
bouncing off the high chair next to him and crashing into his lap.
She looked up at him with her eyes unfocused and said leeringly,
“Well, look who it is! Couldn't stand all that
quiet
, eh?”

“
Oh, Hi! What are you
doing-?”

Trina interrupted, her leer
twisting into a scowl, “What am I doing
here
? Should be asking you the same
question... So, why
are
you here? Get a better offer?”

“
What? No, I- I just kinda ended
up here, I guess... How's it going?”

Trina hiccupped and replied, “All right I guess. You
here with someone...?”

“
Uh, yeah- Yes, I guess I am. I'm
sorry... I didn't mean to-”

The slap to his face came out of the blue, a burst
of stars in his eyes, and before he could respond, Trina had
righted herself and stalked off, lurching drunkenly from side to
side as she left.

Chris held a hand to his stinging face and then
pulled it away, fully expecting to see blood. “Sheesh! That went
well...” Chris stood, rubbing the sting from his cheek as he
started toward the men’s room to clean up the soggy mess that was
his shirt.

Alani pushed at the immovable object that was Mako,
her face twisting into a disgusted mask of loathing and her voice
betraying a distinct undertone of fear. “Hey! Let me go!” She
slapped at his arms futilely in alarm as they tightened around her.
“What are you doing? Stop it!”

Mako responded with oily menace, “Hey, you can't
even say 'hello'? I no see you in what, like eight years-?”

Alani choked back the bile in her
throat and snapped bitterly, “That's only because you were
in
jail
! Get the
hell out of my way!”

Mako hugged her tighter, rocking her slightly from
side to side as if to console her, the sensation gripping her heart
in a cold vise as his arms tightened around her and he said, “Hey,
relax, jus' take it easy. I'm not gonna hurt you…”

Alani glared at him and hissed,
“Yeah? That's what you said the last time- let
go
of me you sick
bastard!”

Mako suddenly whirled and shoved
Alani against the wall, her head striking with a sickening thud as
he pinned her shoulders to the crumbling plaster and stared at her
with a malicious intensity. “Now dere you go callin' names again-
you remembah the
last
time you say somethin' like that to me?” Alani froze in
terror as she looked into his dark, soulless eyes, his intentions
now frighteningly clear as an evil leer stretched tightly across
his face.

Her gaze was suddenly attracted by a flash of
movement and flickered over Mako’s shoulder. Her eyes widened in
alarm as she saw Chris framed in the narrow opening of the hall,
still rubbing his cheek as he approached, blissfully unaware of his
damsel in distress.

Chris paused at the entrance to the hallway, a cold
nudge in his mind as if responding to a strange telepathic bond. He
looked down the length of the dimly-lit passage and saw a sight
that froze the blood in his veins- Alani writhing in terror as a
huge dark individual leaned into her, a sickening, stomach
tightening sight that conveyed nothing good. Before he could even
think, much less react, Chris lunged towards them and blurted out,
“Alani? Hey-! Hey! Hey!!! What are you doing to-?” He skidded to an
abrupt halt as the large Hawaiian released Alani and whirled to
confront him- a deadly-looking knife somehow materializing in one
hand. Chris backed away quickly, his hands in front of him, saying,
“Whoa! Hey! Hey, now, take it easy man!”

Mako advanced slowly, almost leisurely on the
retreating form of Chris, the knife waving lazily in space, slow
circles reflecting fractured flashes of light as it moved. He
smiled his predatory smile and said, coldly and threateningly, “You
bettah jus' move on now, Haole boy- I take ovah from here,
okay?”

Chris paused in his retreat. “Whoa! Whoa, there-
easy, dude! Just- just put the knife down, and no one gets hurt,
alright?”

Mako barked a cold laugh and suddenly lunged at
Chris, the knife whistling in a high swipe at Chris’ eyes.

Alani’s cry of- “Watch out!!” was unnecessary, for
Chris was already moving, his movements a blur as he wove quickly
backward out of the path of the knife, and then whipped forward and
grabbed the knife hand in a vise-like grip, crashing into the
startled Mako and wrapping his other arm around the powerful
Hawaiian’s neck, spiraling them both into the wall with brutal
force, the violent impact cracking the plaster.

Mako roared like a bull and flung his weight against
the form of Chris behind him, smashing him into the wall as he
fought to remove Chris’ arm from around his neck. Chris yanked the
knife-hand violently backward, slamming it into the wall as he
jammed his thumb into the pressure point on the inside of the man’s
wrist. The knife dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Mako
ripped his hand from Chris’ grasp, reaching back for a hand-full of
hair as he again flung himself against the wall, Chris’ head
hitting hard, the already cracked plaster now falling in chunks to
the floor.

Chris slumped slightly as the impact sent a renewed
explosion of stars through his vision, and he tightened his grip on
his assailant’s neck, desperately trying to gain an advantage
before he lost control entirely. Glancing past Mako’s shoulder to
Alani, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw her own gaze narrow
into an almost vicious gleam of impending victory, and as he
watched her line-of-sight slid slowly from Mako’s face- to his
crotch.

Mako flinched with a sharp
expulsion of breath as a result of Alani’s well-aimed kick,
slumping with a muted groan as he fell to the floor with a thud,
unconscious before he hit. Alani stepped back with a look of
careful consideration, and then without warning her foot swung
again. Mako’s neck snapped back with a sickening crack as Alani’s
foot connected with his face and she paused with her hands on her
hips as she surveyed her handiwork, a tight smile and a look of
cold satisfaction crossing her face as she said softly,
“
Now
we’re even.”
Reaching for the hand of the still-dazed Chris, she tugged at him
and said with a hint of desperation and anxiety, “C’mon, party’s
over. Let's get out of here!”

Chris staggered down the hall as
Alani pulled him toward the lights and noise beyond, and he looked
back at the crumpled, unmoving body in the shadows and asked with
concern, “Uh- Shouldn't we call the cops? Dude had a
knife
...”

Alani responded tensely, “He won’t
be out for long. He’s gonna wake up way before they would get here,
and when he does he’s gonna be really,
really
pissed! Come on!” Alani
dragged Chris through the milling crowds, all of whom who smiled
and nodded at the pair, blissfully unaware of the mayhem that had
just occurred a few meters away, and she strode with a sense of
urgency out into the warm, tropical night, walking quickly away
from the fading sounds and flashing lights of what Chris realized
had just become a most
interesting
night.

Alani leaned quietly against the weathered wooden
railing of the pier, staring silently at the full, bright Moon as
it hovered above the distant horizon. Finally, Chris broke the
uncomfortable silence as he rubbed the back of his still-tender
head, “So, who the hell was that? Some old boyfriend...?”

Alani laughed bitterly and replied, “No. Not even.
He- never mind...”

“
He what?”

“
He was our star quarterback in
High School, the captain of the football team and the big kahuna on
campus. He thought that he could have anything- and anyone. In
fact, he bragged about it- said that by the end of the season, not
only would he score twenty touchdowns, he would score with me. The
stupid pig…”

“
And- what? What did he
do?”

Alani blurted out, “NOTHING!!” But a slight welling
of tears built behind her lovely eyes, giving away the truth of a
painful, repressed memory as she continued, “It's none of your
business, okay?” A single tear broke free, trickling down her cheek
in a glistening wet track and disappearing into the corner of her
mouth. She took a deep, shaky breath and looked deep into Chris’
eyes, finally saying, “I- he- never mind. I'm okay, he didn't- hurt
me, okay? Just leave it alone... It doesn't matter anymore.” And
then a stuttering sob wracked her shoulders and she leaned onto
Chris, an unexpected flood of tears now dampening his collar, the
pent-up emotion now pouring from her in shaking waves as she broke
down and cried uncontrollably.

Chris was caught off-guard by this sudden outpouring
of emotion, and patted Alani awkwardly on the back, trying to
smooth over what had just become an extremely uncomfortable
situation. “Hey! Hey! It's okay... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- Are
you sure you're okay? Do you want to go home?”

Alani replied defiantly, sniffing back tears and
smiling a forced, pained smile, “No! Not now, not yet. Chris,
listen! I said it doesn't matter! It was a long time ago, anyway-
doesn't matter…”

Chris hesitated, unsure of his next move. “Alani?
You know, you can tell me, if it will help...”

Alani whirled on him in anger, a
wail of frustration edging her voice, “Why do you even care!? What
the hell is in it for
you?!”

Chris responded forcefully, his
own voice now charged with emotion, “Why does there have to be
anything
in it
for me? Can't I just
be there
for someone else for a change? Just once, just to
listen...?”

Alani broke, conceding to Chris’ entreaty, “ALL
RIGHT! All right, if you really want to know...? He RAPED me!!
OKAY?? And no one will ever care, because they won't have to,
because no one will ever know, because it was all- my- fault!”

“
But-!”

“
NO! I was young, and stupid and
drunk- Okay!?” Alani broke down completely now, sobbing almost
incoherently, her shoulders shaking and breath shuddering as she
wept.

Chris held her tightly, unspeaking as he waited for
her racking sobs and heaving breaths to subside. And then he asked
gently, “What- what happened?

Alani sniffed, wiped away a final tear and flung it
onto the breeze. “We- we were at a party- after the game, one time.
Anyway, he was drunk- we all kind of were, I guess, and- we just
kind of started making out, and- he started to get carried away,
and then I got scared, and then, I tried to stop him, but he
didn't- he wouldn't stop, and I told him 'No', but he wouldn't
stop, he just kept- he just kept- he kept on…” Alani bit her lip in
memory of the pain to still its quivering, took in another deep,
shuddering breath and then continued, “And then, I guess I finally
must have screamed or something, because all of a sudden all of my
friends were in the room, and they pulled him off me. It made him
really angry, being humiliated like that in front of his team and
all, and he never forgot it. He tried to blame me, said I came on
to him, tried to make like it was all my fault, but everybody
really knew the truth.” She paused, and then smiled, a bittersweet
remembrance of the past.