Red Sun (3 page)

             
And that’s exactly what I did.  I had a good two hours from the time Alicia and dad went to bed and when it was time to leave.  Christina wasn’t even a factor because she was spending the night at a friend’s house tonight.  So, I stuck to the arrangement.  I shot Tarik a text and went down to the kitchen to get the keys and go.  That’s when I hit a huge road block; the keys were missing.  I’d gotten dressed and everything to get this far and have everything fall apart.  Tarik would be pissed if he knew that I didn’t double check such a vital detail.  I assumed the keys would be here and honestly didn’t even consider that this would happen. 

             
I stood there and paced silently.  My eyes shifted back to the bowl.  It wasn’t completely empty; Alicia’s keys were there.  Maybe all hope wasn’t lost after all.  It didn’t really matter which car I took as long as I brought it back and parked it the same way I found it.  I bit my nails while I thought.  Before I could talk myself out of it, I reached in the bowl, held the keys together to keep them from jingling, and then tiptoed toward the garage.  I did everything else according to the original plan, the only difference was that me and Tarik’s mode of transportation was slightly different than what we intended. 

             
When I pulled up in front of Tarik’s house in Alicia’s black Mercedes, at first he wouldn’t even walk toward it.  I rolled down the window.  “Would you get in?”

             
He shook his head no and continued to stand there.

             
I sighed and looked down at the time.  “Tarik, if we don’t go now, we’ll spend the whole night looking for a parking space and all of this’ll be in vain.  Come on!”  I shouted sternly through clenched teeth. 

             
Tarik scrunched up his forehead and mumbled to himself as he walked toward the car.  Before touching the door handle, he pulled his sleeve down over his hand.  When he climbed in, I shook my head at him.  ‘What was that about?”

             
“I’m not leaving no fingerprints or
nothing. 
If you go down, you goin’ down alone.  Why you ain’t take your dad’s truck?  See?  That’s why I can’t leave nothin’ up to you.  You can’t never stick to the plan,” he rambled.

             
“I wanted to take the truck, but my dad’s keys weren’t where I thought they’d be.”

             
“You didn’t think to check that before you got ready to walk out the door?”  He shook his head again.

             
“I didn’t think I had to!  They’re always there!  He must’ve picked them back up for something.”

             
“You be messin’ up.”  As soon as the words left Tarik’s mouth and I shifted the car into reverse, my phone went off and I instantly got a bad case of the bubble guts.  Before I could even look down to see who was calling, Tarik had gotten out of the car and was sprinting back to his house.  I watched as he held the leg of his baggy jeans and threw his hood over his head as if he needed to conceal his identity or something.  I should’ve been mad at him for leaving me, but I honestly would’ve done the same thing to him if the shoe was on the other foot.

             
“Where do you think you’re going in my car?”  Alicia asked on the other end.  I had to think fast.

             
“Uhhh…I was just running out to grab something from Mc Donald’s.  I got hungry.” 

             
She breathed into the phone.  “Solei, you have exactly five seconds to get yourself back in this house and put my car back in the garage.  If I were you, I’d be back in four.”  Alicia hung up the phone and all of a sudden I felt like I had to throw up.  From his bedroom window, Tarik watched me backing out of his driveway, shaking his head the entire time.

             
I barely stepped foot in the house and Alicia started popping off at the mouth.  “Have you lost your mind?”  She asked.

             
I had nothing to say.  It was probably best that way.

             
When I didn’t respond, she turned and started talking to my dad instead.  “Did you know she was leaving out tonight?”

             
“No!  Her curfew is midnight, why would I give her permission to leave out this late?”

             
Alicia rolled her eyes.  “You let her do whatever the heck else she wants to do, so I figured I’d check.”

             
My dad looked like he wanted to slap her – kinda wish he had.  “Hold on.  Watch yourself.  Solei has boundaries.  It’s not my fault she doesn’t know how to stay within them.”

             
She laughed.  “Did you really just say that your child’s behavior is not your fault?  That’s half the problem right there.  You never want to take responsibility for anything.” 

             
He took a deep breath.  “Could you please, just this once, stay on subject so we can deal with this situation.”  Dad turned to me and looked me in my eye.  “Where were you going?”

             
“And don’t lie and say you were going to Mc Donald’s,” Alicia interrupted.

             
I ran my fingers through my hair to keep from fidgeting.  There wasn’t enough time to think about what I’d say, so I just told the truth.  “To a concert.”

             
“A concert?  What kind of concert starts this late?”  My father asked.

             
“It’s a Hip-Hop legends concert; it starts at midnight,” I explained.”

             
My dad started pacing and Alicia was trying to find out if looks really could kill by practicing on me.  “So you thought you were gonna just walk out of here with her car and walk back in without anybody finding out?”  I put my head down.  “Just when I was starting to think that you were gonna try to do better.”  His words made me feel ten times worse.  I hadn’t even given him a full twenty-four hours to be proud of me before messing up.

             
“Dad, I…”

             
“Nobody wants to hear your excuses, Solei,” Alicia chimed in.  “Please go to your room and…..and just get out of my face.  If I keep looking at you, there’s no telling what I might do.”  She turned away from me and put her hands on the counter.  Under her breath, she mumbled, “I wish you’d just find somewhere else to go,” thinking that no one heard her.  My dad snapped his head in her direction and looked at her in a way I’d never seen before, but instead of sticking around to see what’d happen next, I hurried upstairs and slammed my door before either of them could get started on me again.  It wasn’t even thirty seconds after that when the arguing started.  This time, I couldn’t make it out word for word, but this one felt different.  The air in the entire house had changed as things escalated downstairs. 

             
When I heard Alicia charge up the stairs and to their room crying, I listened for my father to follow behind her like he always does…….but he never did.  After about an hour or so, Alicia finally stopped sobbing and the house became eerily quiet.  I lay across my bed and again waited in vain to hear my dad come up the stairs.  I’d heard them argue before.  I’d even seen Alicia storm off crying before.  But my dad not running after her to apologize?  That was something altogether new.  I didn’t quite know how to process that.

             
The next morning, the house was just as silent as it was when I’d fallen asleep the night before.  It was almost 10:30, so I assumed that I was home alone.  I pulled on a pair of socks and stretched before opening my door and making my way down the hall toward the stairs.  When I reached them, I stopped.  At the bottom, on the last step, my dad sat there with his head in his hands, still and quiet.  I wasn’t sure what to do.  I didn’t want him to get mad at me for disturbing him, nor did I want him to think I was so self absorbed that I couldn’t step outside of my own shell to see about him.  I kept my eyes on him the whole time I made my sluggish decent.  He still hadn’t moved, and I started praying that he wasn’t crying.  The last time I’d seen
him
cry was also the last time
I
cried which was at the funeral almost four years ago.

             
When I got beside him, he was sitting with a blank stare on his face and his eyes fixed on the floor.  I hesitated for a second and then sat down on the step too.  At first he didn’t say anything, so I sat there silent just like he did.  The only noise was the clock on the kitchen wall counting the seconds as they passed.  I assumed Alicia had already left to tend to her mother like she always does on Saturday mornings.  My dad almost always goes too, unless he has to work or something. 

             
Hesitantly, I glanced over at him again and tried to avoid his sad eyes.  He hadn’t shaven this morning because I could see the stubble even against his dark brown skin.  Shaving is part of his usual morning routine which means that he’s so upset that he hasn’t done any of that yet for the day.  I looked back down at the ground and just sat.  I hated seeing him hurt like this; especially when I knew that it was all my fault. 

             
I flinched a little when he shifted and pulled his hands away from his face.  I waited and listened for him to speak, hoping that he wasn’t too angry to talk to me.  When he cleared his throat, he had my full attention. 

             
“There’s been a change of plans,” he blurted.

             
Although he hadn’t said anything grave, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.  “Like what?”  I asked softly.

             
He didn’t answer right away, just sat there fidgeting with his wedding ring for a few seconds.  Eventually, he came back to the present and started again.  “You know that contract I told you about; the one to build that community center down in Conway on the Reservation?”

             
I nodded.

             
“Well, I’m not gonna be commuting like I’d originally planned.”  There was a pause while he gathered his thoughts.  “When I leave on Monday, I won’t be back until December; I’m staying the whole six months.”

             
I didn’t know what to say.

             
“Alicia and me……we just need some time apart, so I’m gonna just stay there and work.  That way I won’t be spending so much time on the road traveling back and forth and I won’t be putting a whole bunch of miles on the truck either.”  He was trying to look at the glass as half full, but it wasn’t working.  I saw his eyes starting to water.  “I called Ted this morning and talked to him about renting this little place right outside the Reservation.  Since I’m the foreman on the site, the company offered it to me when we first got the contract because I’d have to be there so much. I’m gonna take him up on that.  At the time, it didn’t seem feasible because I thought I needed to be here……but I guess things have changed now.  We leave Sunday night.”

             
I wasn’t sure I heard him right.  “We?”

             
He nodded a little.  “Alicia made it clear that if I was gonna be gone, you had to leave with me.”  It looked like it hurt him to speak the words.  As much as he’d tried to convince himself that Alicia didn’t favor Christina over me, it was becoming more and more clear to him that she did.  Without another word, he stood to his feet and trudged to the bathroom.  There was nothing else for me to say; it was official.  I’d be spending the next six months in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.  Looks like I’m moving to Conway…..

Chapter One

              I made it back from the shop getting my micro braids just in time.  I cut it close, but I had a feeling that it’d be a long time before I’d be able to get my hair done again so I had to get something that would last me a while.  Dad wanted to leave out by six so we’d get to Conway early enough to get somewhat settled before he needed to be in bed.  He had to be on site by seven the next morning.  Most of our things had already been shipped to the rental house, so we grabbed the few bags we were traveling with and didn’t say much to Alicia or Christina on our way out.  When the trip first started out, we were both so deep in thought that we didn’t say much to one another.  But about an hour and a half in, Dad started getting sleepy and struck up conversation to keep himself awake. 

             
“You looking forward to this move at all?”

             
I shrugged, not wanting to scream ‘
noooooo’
at the top of my lungs.  That would just make him feel bad. 

             
He smiled, reading my thoughts.  “It might not be as bad as you think.  I know you’re not all that deep into history, but the locals have a pretty rich past; maybe you can keep busy doing some research on that.  Plus we’ll be right outside the reservation so maybe you’ll meet some new friends while we’re here.”  He looked hopeful.

             
I worked to keep from snarling at him.  After all, this wasn’t his fault.  “No thanks.  I think I’ll just stay in and peruse the internet.  Maybe I’ll chat with Tarik all day.”

             
He shook his head.  “Just this once, why don’t you step outside the box and try something new.  You never know what’ll happen.”

             
I stared at him with a blank expression. 

             
He laughed and then looked back at the road.  “I’m just trying to help.”  I turned to look out the window, laughing a bit myself.  The next six months were about to be like the last six months; boring and uneventful. 

             
Outside, the scenery was beginning to change.  Growing up in a city as big as Chicago made it difficult enough to move to the peaceful suburbs of South Carolina when I first came to stay with Dad, but the longer we drove the further and further the buildings began to space out.  Eventually, ten and fifteen minutes would pass from one place to the next.  The clean manicured yards I had become used to, gave way to thick, mysterious forest that hadn’t yet been tamed by the invasion of urban development.  Aside from the road we followed through the trees, there was no evidence that another human had traveled this way before us.  Against the deep purple night sky, the stars were brighter than I’d ever seen before.  I had to roll down my window just to get a better look.  They were so clear that I should’ve been able to reach out and grab one with my finger tips. 

             
It’d been more than twenty-five minutes since we’d passed the small run down gas station a ways back and that was the last building I’d seen.  I was beginning to get a feel for just how far out we were going to be and the thought of not having a mall or nail shop in close driving distance made me sick to my stomach.  My dad slowed down and came to a complete stop in front of a small house that sat in a clearing in the midst of the forest.  He reached over to the piece of paper sitting on the dashboard which had the directions written on it.  He double checked the address and then turned off the car.  I started to panic. 

             
“Is this it?”  I asked.

             
“Yep.  Come on and grab what you can.  I’ve gotta get in bed.”  He pulled the big suitcase and my duffle bag from the backseat and disappeared in the blackness as he paced toward the house. 

             
With the biggest attitude ever, I slammed my door and grabbed my pillow, laptop, and suitcase from the backseat and did my best to see him as I made my way blindly toward the front door.  The air smelled strange to me; kind of like mint and stagnant water mixed together.  The sounds of frogs and crickets were so prevalent in the air that I tread slowly because I was afraid I was either gonna step on one or be attacked by one.  I’m probably the least outdoorsy person on Earth.  I hate to get dirty, I don’t do bugs, and I was nearly having a nervous breakdown walking up to the house without really being able to see where I was going. 

             
Just in the nick of time, my dad got the door open and flipped the switch that worked the porch light.  With a clear path, I just about ran the last few yards I had to go.  I dropped my bag on the floor and looked around at the four walls that would be home to me for the next half a year.  The dank, musty smell was unfortunately one of the houses nicer features.  I tried to hide my expression as I looked around, but it didn’t work.  The old flowered wallpaper was once white with pink flowers, but was now yellow with roses that had been worn down to a sad shade of dirty peach.  The furniture that was left behind by the last tenants looked like it survived nuclear fallout.  There were holes the size of my fist in the couch, stains that I had to force myself not to be too curious about, and a pattern that was trumped by nothing other than the smell imbedded in the material. 

             
Hesitantly, I walked down the small hallway leading to the bedroom and took a deep breath before turning on the light.  It wasn’t as bad as I was imagining it to be, but it was nothing short of depressing.  The walls were painted a pale shade of hospital green and the light in the ceiling didn’t have a fixture.  There was nothing but the base and a dusty light bulb.  The closet door was propped up on the wall near the window and the carpet was gray so I couldn’t tell what was on it, but my imagination helped me fill in the blanks.  Next, I glanced over to the right where the bed was.  It was a plain steel frame; something like what you’d expect to see in a jail cell. 

             
I heard my dad coming down the hall and I tried to straighten my face.  He stood beside me and put his arm around my shoulder.  “It’s only for six months,” he reminded me.

             
“I know……but I don’t even know if I’ll make it
that
long.”

             
He laughed.  “At least they left us some furniture.  I thought we’d be spending the first few weeks on the floor.  But see?  You have a decent bed and everything.”

             
I turned up my face.  “Yeah, I guess.”

             
He patted my shoulder.  “Just grab one of the extra blankets I brought and throw it over the mattress.  Our stuff should be here in a few days and you can make the bed up the right way then.”  He smiled weakly.  “I’m about to lock up and turn in.  Just turn out the light when you get ready to go bed.” 

             
When he left the room, I stopped to look around again.  This place was terrible and it was no one’s fault but my own that I had to be here.  With that thought, I decided to suck it up and deal with it for the time being.  Besides, it’s only for six months, right?  I backtracked to the living room while my father freshened up in the bathroom.  I grabbed two blankets and trudged back.  When I covered the mattress, I made sure that none of it was left exposed because there was no way I wanted any of my skin touching it.  When I was satisfied, I situated my laptop beside my bed so I could listen to my music, and then I lay down.  I had to ease my head on my pillow because my braids were so tight.  It took a few seconds for the stinging to stop, but eventually, I was about as comfortable as I was gonna be.  The light switch was right over my bed, so I looked around one last time and then let the room go dark.

             
The next day, Dad was long gone when I awoke.  I didn’t get up until a little after one in the afternoon and yawned as I walked to the kitchen.  The dusty cabinets weren’t very promising, but they were my only option for food.  Seeing as how the refrigerator was pulled out from the wall and unplugged, I figured there was no point in checking there.  I placed my hand on the dull handle and held my breath when I eased the cabinet door open and peered inside.  Nothing but a can of Tuna Fish and an old Zebra Cake sat alone on the shelf.  I weighed my options.  I wasn’t starving, so I decided to just wait until my dad got home to beg him to get me something to eat. 

             
I sighed and looked around.  It would be real easy for someone to fall into a deep depression in a place like this.  Everything was dull and ugly and because of all the trees, there wasn’t much light getting in.  However, the trees shade did nothing to keep the temperature of the house down.  It was blazing.  When I first got up, my skin was already a little dewy, but the short walk to the kitchen made me break out into a full sweat.  I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand as I hurried around to open all the windows, hoping to get some sort of relief.  I sat back on my bed and waited to see if it would cool down.  Unfortunately, with each passing minute, the sun rose higher in the sky and made the temperature soar higher too. 

             
I gave up.  I looked in my bag and grabbed out the shortest pair of shorts I could find and my white tank top.  Once I pulled my braids up off my neck, I grabbed my shoes and hurried out of the house and onto the front porch.  So, now, not only was I hungry and bored, I was sweating like a pig too.

             
Above me, in the trees, there were birds everywhere.  Collectively, their chirping was deafening and honestly a little threatening to a self-professed hater of nature.  I kept an eye on them as I took my first step off the porch.  Nothing would make me madder than for one of them to crap on me when I’m already so unhappy.  Under normal circumstances, I would’ve stayed inside and lazed the day away, but nothing about my present circumstances are normal.  So, seeing as how it was about twenty degrees hotter inside, I made an executive decision to stay out for a while. 

             
Off the side of the house, there was a pathway that I hadn’t noticed last night.  It appeared to lead deeper into the woods.  I figured that if I was going to be outside, I may as well go exploring while I’m at it.  There didn’t appear to be anything out there but trees and dirt and as long as I didn’t have to touch any of it, I’d be fine.  So, I went for it.  Frequently, I checked over my shoulder to make sure I could still see the path behind me to ensure that I’d be able to find my way back to the house.  The occasional squirrel got closer than I would’ve liked, but for the most part I was surprisingly calm.  There was a much appreciated breeze that started blowing about fifteen minutes into my walk.  This wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.  In fact, I was beginning to enjoy myself.  The house had long been out of view, but I wasn’t nervous about getting lost because there was only one single path and I hadn’t deviated from it. 

             
Ahead, I could see that there was a steep drop off where the trees suddenly plunged and thinned, leaving more of the sky visible than in any other direction that I turned.  I subconsciously started walking faster to see what was up there despite the fact that my face, neck, and chest were sweating profusely.  I hopped over the log blocking my path and pushed the branch out of my face that hung from a low-bearing tree.  I took a few more steps and saw the golden shimmer of the sun as it glittered over the surface of a beautiful blue lake that stretched so wide from left to right, that I couldn’t see where it ended.  But if I looked straight across, I could see that the lake was a brief pause in the forest that picked up on the other side, just as thick and green as it was where I stood.

             
If I was careful, I could walk down the slight hill that would take me closer to the water’s edge.  The thin trees were easy to grab hold of on my way down, so I made it back to level ground quickly.  I stood there for a moment and inhaled the same minty smell I’d picked up the night before, but didn’t find it as offensive this time.

             
Now what sort of nature-hater would I be if I could swim?  Learning how to do so never was much of a priority because I was always too concerned about messing up my hair to bother.  Normally, I wouldn’t even venture close to water deeper than my knee, but the extreme heat pushed me past my breaking point.  All I could think about was trying to cool down. 

             
I dipped my hands into the lake a few times and brought the water to my face and let it run down my chest.  I stood to wipe my hands on my shorts when I noticed something on the other side of the river moving in between two trees.  For a second, I couldn’t make out what I was seeing, but then the figure emerged out into the open and I realized that it was a person; a guy actually; about as red as the clay beneath my feet.  He was gorgeous!  It was as if he’d climbed right out of my dreams and materialized before my eyes!  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t breathe.  Or maybe I wasn’t really trying because I was so captivated by this beautiful new stranger who’d just given me a sudden urge to go watch
The Last of the Mohicans
. 

             
His long, jet black hair hung down his back, only revealing its length when the breeze blew through it and carried it up into the wind every so often.  Even with the distance between us, I could see that he was massive; tall in comparison to the trees surrounding him.  The span of his shoulders was broad and intimidating, almost threatening in a way.  I let my mind wander and imagined what he felt like; his sweat dampened skin in my hands.  The thought of it made me shiver in the heat.  He walked through the woods barefoot and shirtless, allowing the sun to beam off his skin and make his crimson complexion blaze with intensity.  If it had been twenty below zero, after seeing him, I still would’ve been sweating.