Disclaimer:
Content in this story may be unsettling and graphic to some readers; Read at your own risk.


Go here for chapters one and two: http://www.writingforums.com/fiction...out-david.html




Chapter Three: Sunburn

August 2008:
Chelsey took David’s hand, leading him out of his car and onto the beach. Their feet hit the warm sand and they both laughed as they fell into the ocean. David took Chelsey in his arms and dragged her from the water to the sand. Where the two lay, they held each other's gaze and shared whispers of their love.

It was mid-afternoon when the two decided to sit and eat. Chelsey applied sun tan lotion as David fixed up a package of hotdogs. After the hotdogs, both fed one another the contents of their small cooler; strawberries, some grapes, and a small piece of chocolate cake, giggling and sharing smiles.

As the two enjoyed their evening the night soon fell upon them. David fixed a fire using a couple logs, paper, and a lighter. He looked at Chelsey as she wandered to him from the woods. She had changed from her swimsuit to her short shorts and a baggy sweatshirt. She seated herself in front of the fire, her bronze legs curled up by her hands.

David kissed her and sat down. “You have sexy legs,” he said, and brought his thick lips to her ear. “You know that right?”

His voice made her smile and her light brown eyes beam. “Oh, stop. You know, I like your sunburn.”

David hadn’t noticed it, but his pale skin was now a deep red. This made him grin. “You know just what to say, babe,” he replied. “And I love you.”

Chelsey grabbed his chin and tilted his face down for a long kiss. “Now, let’s keep it that way,” she said in a sly voice.

Under the light and sound of the fire they exchanged what they love about each other, kissing all the while. It was soon they had both drifted off staying in the other’s eyes, only to wake up to the same thing they had fallen asleep to soon.

XXXXX

David woke up first the next morning, holding Chelsey in his arms. He kissed her nose, then whispered in her ear once again, “Wake up, sexy.”

With a yawn, Chelsey came to. Her brown looks were a mix between gnarls and sand and her sweatshirt was a wrinkled mess. Through all this, she managed to not have the urge to hide herself from David. He noticed this and pointed it out. “You have a nice bed head, you know that?”

Chelsey laughed, then flicked him on the nose. “You can really be an ass you know that?”

They both started laughing. In a moment, they both became serious. Neither spoke; there was the sound of the beat of the other’s heart. They kept their eyes looking right into each other's. Chelsey kissed David, holding him by the chin, not wanting to let go.

David placed his hand on Chelsey’s hip as they went on. It was like this for another minute or so before the two’s lips departed. Then in a hushed tone, Chelsey spoke three words, quiet, but strong. “I love you.”

XXXXX
The two packed up the truck that had taken them there. It was a small, beat-up truck, but it was something David could call his own. He didn’t care about the rusted off paint, or the torn up red seats. That rusty-red hunk of junk was his.

He was confident getting in, taking Chelsey’s hand after he got it started up. It was a two hour drive home and the two were not ready to go back. It would be a time to continue to confess their love for each other and they both would hold on to that.

A little halfway through the drive, David brought up what the two were going to do their senior year. Chelsey wanted to develop a trait that she could fall back on when she would become a stay-at-home mother. She thought about starting a daycare, but she thought it would take away from the kids she wants in the future.

“David, what do you want to do?” Chelsey asked, as it had never been brought up in previous discussions.

“I want to run my own auto-body shop,” David said. “Do custom paint, maybe some of the basics.”

“You will be my little grease monkey, won’t you?” Chelsey said as they stopped at a stoplight.

“Yep, and you will be my little housewife,” David said.

Again, the moment got very serious and David spoke again. “I know I say it a lot, but I love you Chelsey.”

The light turned green and David let a little on the gas, waiting for a response. When there was one, he turned to look at Chelsey. It was then he saw a black ford’s head lights. Then time just slowed down. He saw Chelsey, look at him, giving him a big smile, showing her teeth. One that has got to mean something. He saw her brown eyes, shining in the mid-morning sun. Her hair falling like a wave of chocolate onto her shoulders, still covered by the sweat shirt. And her soft lips, that felt so good next to his.

Time returned and David felt the impact of the truck, crushing his passenger seat. The force caused his head to hit the window, making him go fuzzy. He remembered being pulled out. He remembered the sun shining, also mocking him. And he remembered Chelsey’s face.

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Chapter Four: Tip Of The Iceberg

December 2008:
“It’s been three months since I lost David, four for Chelsey,” Liam said into the tape recorder. “I am alone as I have been since that time.” Liam looked up from his lap and clicked the stop button. He stayed across the park. Snow fell from the cloudy sky, each minute the horizon getting darker.

He was the only one here. It was getting to late for little children, and most people would rather stay out of the chill. It was all quiet, except the wind. It didn’t move the trees, or make the snow that made the branches sag fall off. Liam looked over to his left to see a snow-covered playground. He looked to the right to see a field filled with snowmen and snow angels, all poorly made, but he need not care.

His finger slowly found the record button once again. “I don’t act like I am fine," he started. “It has just gotten too hard to bear.” He shifted his position on the bench. “The stares at school, the whispers when I get into class. I'm even sick of those telling me it can only get better, because from where I am standing, it’s getting worse.”

Liam stopped for a moment and saw a cardinal land its small body on a nearby tree. He thought about it for a moment. It doesn’t go south, but as far as Liam could see there was no food to be found. Hastily, he felt his pocket. There was a packet of sunflower seeds he had planned to eat later. He hit stop, and got the seeds out of his pocket.

Liam tossed them out of his hands onto an undisturbed patch of snow and then waited.

It took awhile for the animal to fetch the seeds, but it knew it was an easy meal. After it was done, it flew off, probably never to think of Liam ever again. Liam was fine with that. He wanted the bird to fly away. It was one less person to watch him so very closely.

Once again, he tapped the record button. “Guilty by association. That is what people think of me now.” The boy continued. “They make assumptions about me now. Too many to count.” His breath got heavy for a moment. Earlier he hadn’t seen his breath, but now it was very visible. “David killed himself, so they wouldn’t be surprised if Liam would.”

Liam wanted to tell these people to shut up, maybe punch a couple people for the whispers that have reached his ears. Each person seemed to have their own opinion on it. Liam has told himself that they could think what they want, but he knows it isn’t true. It burns his ears every time he hears one. He then thinks that they should think of him that way, but he always shakes away this thought.

Either way, Liam doesn’t know what to do with his life anymore. He wanted to be a counselor, but he lost that desire after he met his. He didn’t want to listen to one. Liam could only hear the ******** that came out of his mouth. Telling him time will mend things, just like everyone else. He didn’t want time. Liam wanted Chelsey to make him and David watch movies every Friday. He wanted David to help him study up for a math final. Liam wanted the everyday thing. The thing he has lost.

“I guess who ever will hear this will be my friend. The only have to listen, because talking back won’t be an option,” Liam said. “I will be out of this town by then. Far away. Where? I don’t know yet.” He paused. “But I will find out. I have to find out, because this place is killing me. Everywhere I look I see a memory of a time with David, or Chelsey...”

“Like this park. I remember coming here with Chelsey,” Liam said. “Our dad would talk about a baseball game on this bench.” A chuckle escaped his lips. “I hated those days. You always made me play Red Rover with the other kids, when I all I wanted to do was feed the ducks at the pond. I remember the day when you finally caved in and I got to do what I wanted. You told me the ducks were stupid, until that day.”

“You oohed and ahhed at the ducks. Seeing the the ducklings float on by, obediently following their mother.” Liam’s voice became light. “We fed them and then you almost fell in... Well, you did fall in. Knee-deep in pond scum and you made me promise not to tell anyone about it. That was the only secret we kept from David, wasn’t it?”

A thought had struck him. “If we had kept that a secret, how many secrets did you two keep from me? Was there something you too kept from me? Or maybe it wasn’t going to be a secret. It had only just formed last August, hadn't it?” Liam dropped the recorder. “There was something about that day David wasn’t telling me... Isn’t there?”

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