5 comments/ 8805 views/ 6 favorites F3 The Green Flash By: MSTarot (Author's note: This story is an entry into the third Friendly Anonymous Writing Challenge (FAWC). The true author of this story will be kept secret until Wednesday, November 20, 2013, when the author will be revealed in the comments section following this story. There are no prizes awarded during FAWC; this is simply a friendly competition.) (Inspiration for this and all FAWC 3 stories was taken from a single picture, which can be found here (The tags for this story are FAWC, incest, brother /sister, Maldive islands, bungalows, tsunami, swimming, traveling, romantic, green flash) * * * * The bright red bathing suit draws my eyes back to my sister, swimming in the crystal clear waters. Looking from the photo to the real thing I can not see that ten years passing as affected her much. Those few passages around the sun have meant little to her beautiful face or body. However, other things than time have taken their toll upon her. In ways that don't show, at least not to those just meeting her. She still smiles and laughs but there is a inner shadow of sorrow that only those who knew her before... before the waves came, can see. Asleep in the seat next to me, even I don't see the inner damages that years of therapy and pills have patched with emotionally thin plaster. They hide only behind those blue-gray eyes. But even when dreaming, as she is now, I can see that there is an edginess to her. Her eyes snap open when she feels my gaze lingering on her. Patrica, looks at me with uncertainly slowly fading. She swallows, then forces a smile. "Are we there yet?" The question heard so often on trips like this one when we were children, makes me smile. "Almost." She nods, looks past me out the window for a moment, then begins to fold up her blanket. The stewardess seeing this, comes to take it. "We'll be landing soon, " she tells us unnecessarily. "Thank you." I can hear the nervous tension in my sister voice. Patrica is trying to keep the tears in check, but she's been doing that since I called her three days ago. It's begun to fray her nerves. The emotional explosion I was expecting at the announcement didn't come to pass, but I can see that the brutal memories have turned and turned in her mind, tearing her to shreds. I saw the medications nearly leaking out her eyes when we met at the airport. My sister is just holding it together. But then... so am I. The empty glass I hand the stewardess still reeks of vodka fumes. My sister isn't the only one to have undergone psychiatric care to get back into mental balance. She simply had needed a lot more of it than I did. Years more care need to heal, destroyed in moments by a phone call. So simple a thing as a phone call has her falling back into her meds for comfort. As the passengers around us start getting ready to land I spend my angst by looking out the window. Watching the water turn into small coral surrounded islands. Some hardly big enough to park a boat on. Then the rows of raised bungalows start to appear. I have to look away. That I will soon be staying on one of those again is beyond imagining. Memories both wonderful and terrible come rushing at me as I slide the window shade down. I try to focus on the ones that don't involve running in terror so I find myself thinking of my friend, Eazier. At first our local guide, while we were first staying here, he became so much more than that... in those horror filled days that followed. Even more so in the years that have followed. He and I have kept in touch by phone and computer over the nine years since my sister and I left the island. But that tear filled goodby cannot even begin to rival the tears that I shed when I got his phone call three days ago. "Your mother is alive," he had told me softly. "She is here." Six words. Just six. Six words that started so mad a dash across the world. My sister and I were on a plane within hours, with hardly a travel bag to our names. Eazier promised us a bungalow to stay in for free. Being the manager of the ClubMed Kani has it privileges. Unlike being a B-movie actor and failing screen writer. I had to loan the money for the plane tickets from my life insurance. Feeling the plane banking I open my case and drop the old photo into it, the image sliding down my most recent attempt at a screen play. "Selling anything?" she asks. "A couple of pieces. Nothing spectacular yet," I shrug. "The acting's paying better." "Then why continue writing?" she asks as she snaps her seat-belt together. I can see that she's wanting to talk to keep from crying... or screaming... or both. "It's still a pay check, and sometimes it's a bit more steady." "I saw your movie. You're looking good," she smiles. Chuckling I shake my head. "It was a bit part." "But it was a big movie. Did you get to met some of the famous names?" She giggles, knowing my loathing for the Hollywood names dropping types. "A few," I hedge with a grin. "I got you a couple of autographs." "Who?" "Not telling," I chuckle at the look she gives me. She's about to demand an answer when the pilot comes on announcing the landing we all know were about to be making. It's funny the pilot is probably from India... but sounds like he's from somewhere in Texas. But then I think that must be part of flight training world wide. Traveling with our dad through out our childhood my sister and I have landed in some strange airports. Some of them down right scary, but the short runway at Malé International Airport on Hulhulé is more than scary. The pilot has to hit full reverse even as his wheels at touching down, then the breaks can only just manage to stop the plane before it reaches the end. All I can say is I'm glad I don't have to watch the water coming at me, like a growing blue line, from the cockpit. Our small bags in hand we leave the plane and start towards customs. At the end of the concourse I see Eazier. He gives us a huge smile, then throws open his arms. Rushing forward I almost knock us both down as I wrap him in a hard hug. He returns it equally. "Corbin! Hello, my friend. It does my eyes good to see you," as I turn him loose he turns to Patrica. "but you my beautiful, Tracia. You are a wonder to the heart!" With her eyes gleaming my sister steps into his hug. "It is so good to see you, Eazier. And how is Sori?" she asks. Eazier's smile could make the sun envious. "She is as ever, the Joy of my life. She would be here to meet you as well but our youngest had to go to the doctor," he waves off the concern. "She is fine. Bumps and bruises like any child will get... but Sori can not help but be a mother and worry." Patrica nods, but her smile slowly fades. "Our Mom?" I ask. Eazier, sighs. "She is here. She arrived five days ago. She is with a man. A much younger man if my eyes are not being liar." he pauses for a second. "They are both wearing rings." * * * * * * The bungalows are as I remember them from before... before the waves came. Beautifully built out on long piers that stretch into the clear waters of the shallow tidal shoal. They run out hundreds of feet from shore, like giants palm fronds. Each 'leaf' capped with a hut built to look like the ones the natives use to live in, but with all the modern conveniences. The waters surrounding them are as crystal clear as memory and photos showed them to be. I barely notice them. Patrica is numb. I'm not much better. Entering the large open room I let my bag drop to the bed. Uncaring, I stumble past the wonderfully crafted furnishings. They could be cheep plastic for all that I see of them. The Laccadive Sea, stretches out before my eyes a clear, clean, brilliant blue. Like white chunks of ice the other islands stand up from the water. Some topped with a bit of green. Most have the same long 'fronds' of bungalows like this one. Looking down, into the water, I can see fish swimming by. The water is so clear they look almost like birds flying. I hardly see any of it really. "Corbin?" "Yeah." "What are we going to do?" She steps up next to me, then hugs herself tightly. "I use to love this view." Reaching over, I wrap Patrica into my arms and pull her close. She turns and buries her head against my chest. I can feel her shivering in fear against me. I wonder just which of the many sources is causing it but decide that doesn't matter. What causes the fear doesn't need to be understood to offer a strong hug to chase it away. After a moment I take a deep breath and try to answer her. "We are going to go see her," I bury my face in her hair. The vanilla smell of her perfume is at odds with the faint flowery scent of her shampoo. "We'll figure all this out, together." "What if she doesn't want to see us? She's married again, Corbin." Patrica holds tighter to my chest. I feel her start to shake. "I don't care. She owes us at least an explanation. Why didn't she come home? Where the hell has she been?" I lean back and lift my sister chin till she looks me in the eyes. "She's our mother. We at least deserve that much." I hold my sister to my chest as she starts to cry. First gentle sobs, then soul tearing grief filled tears, heavy with a decade of anguish. I don't try to quiet her tears. I even shed a few of my own. Resting my cheek on her head I watch the sparkle of the setting sun on the waves. Old memories, nice ones, of watching the sunsets here come back to me then. Every sunset was more beautiful than the last, to my younger eyes. Watching this one through my tears I have to say that hasn't changed. When I feel her tears end I kiss the top of her head and loosen my arms a bit. Looking down at her face I see her look over her shoulder to face the sun. I watch her features turn to gold before my eyes in the fading light. "The sunset is so beautiful," she says softly after a moment. Patrica turns in my arms and rest her back against my chest. I hold her tighter again me and together we watch the last of the brilliant bands of red and azure turning to deeper purples, and midnight blues. Then as the sun sinks under the waves the sky turns a million shades of color, they glow from the water like it has caught fire from the heat of the sun. "Did you see that?" she asks suddenly. "See what?" I ask startled. "The sky flashed green. Just as the sun disappeared." Shaking my head, I chuckle. "You've been watching too many Johnny Depp movies." "Ah! Your one to talk! Who got to act with him?" She moves a bit and I let her go. She turns to look at me in the slowly growing darkness. "It was a couple of lines and half of them ended up cut out." I take her hands and looking down at her smiling face, grin back. "I'm hungry." "Hello hungry. I'm sleepy," she tries to smile even as she starts to yawn. "I'm going to go lay down, bring me back something." She starts to move away, but I catch her and pull her back. Stepping towards her, I hug her again just as hard as before. "I love you. Get some sleep," I tell her softly. She looks up at me after a moment. "I love you too." Leaning back into the hug she kisses the side of my neck. "Enjoy your dinner and don't forget about me something." * * * * * * Moving quietly, least I wake her, I walk out to one of the hammock patios. Laying down I let my beer rest on my stomach as I lean back and look up at the stars. The heavens are alive above me with thousands of clusters of twinkling lights. The massive river of the Milky Way slips the sky from horizon to horizon. The beauty of it dwarfed only by the rising crescent moon. Like a scythe of ice, its rising from out of the waves reaps the light of the stars from the sky. As I watch, my eyes growing heavier with every moment and sip of beer, I start to drift off to sleep. A gasp and a soft cry startles me awake. Sitting up I look into the dark bungalow. Patrica is sitting up in the bed, the sheet clutched hard in her hands. "You okay?" She pauses for a moment then nods. "Bad dream?" I ask softly. "Yeah." I pat the soft cushion next to me. "Come here." Bringing the sheet, wrapped tight around her, my sister makes her way out to join me. As she lays down she spreads the soft white sheet over the two of us. She cuddles in close to my side. "Just like when we were kids," I say with a smile. "Mmhum," she wiggles in tighter. "It's what big brothers are for." Putting my arm around her, I feel the soft skin of her shoulder and the softer silk of her nighty under my hand. She lays her head into my chest and gives me a little hug. After a moment, I see she is looking up at the stars. "Where is Scorpio?" she asks softly. "Your sign is to far north to be seen here. These are all southern stars," I tell her. "Oh yeah, that whole silly round Earth thing." She turns her face into my chest, her hand massaging my chest. "I miss Dad." "I do too," I say with a sigh. "Being here kind of brings it all back." "Yeah..." Holding tight to each other, we watch the stars as they wheel and dance across the sky above. A few at first then more or them begin to fall. Shooting star, after shooting star flames across the sky. I turn to ask her if she saw them, but see that she has fallen asleep, her head pillowed on my chest. It's not long before I join her in the land of dreams. With her at my side mine are pleasant for the first time in days. * * * * * * A soft shake of my shoulder wakes me. My eyes open then squint as the pale light of the coming dawn hits them. Turning my head I look past my sister to the glorious play of color begins to brighten the sky. As the sun rises above the sea she moves her head and is haloed by it's golden light. When she smiles at me it's like and angel given form. "Good morning," she says softly. "What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and ... Patrica... is the sun," I say with a smile looking at her beautiful eyes. The medicated haze of the previous days is absent from them. With a blushing smile she reaches up and smooths back my hair. Then she frowns and tries to do it again. "You, have hammock hair," she tells me with a giggle. "Well, I know how to fix that." Rolling quickly over the top of her I catch her arms and tumble us both, with her screaming, off the padded cushion and into the warm salty water. The rush of bubbles past my face, the near hot tub level warmth of the water, and the sudden shock of it all wake me fully. Then, as I surface, I get hit in the face with a splash of water. "YOU COMPEAT ASS!" Laughing, I shake the water out my hair as I tread water. I catch her elbow as she starts to swim away. "I had to figure some way to get you into the water. You use to love swimming here." I move till I'm swimming right in front of her face. Her eye lashes sparkle with droplets of water, they glow silvery white in the dawns light. "You mean before we nearly drowned here?" she asks. "Yeah," I look deep into her eyes. "Doesn't the water feel wonderfully warm?" She swims silently for several moments then looks up at me. Slowly a smile appears. "Yeah, it does feel good. I just wish I was in a a bathing suit, not a nighty!" I laugh till she splashes me again. "You didn't bring a bathing suit. Come on swim with me." I float up onto my back and backstroke away from her. After a moment she joins me. She slices through the water with far greater ease than I can manage. The years on the swim teams coming back to her as muscles remember their old skills. Skills that saved my life a decade ago. I wonder, as I swim next to her, if she has been in the water even once since that day. The warm waters of the salty sea both hold us up and help sooth tangles nerves. The change in her is marvelous to see. I see it helping to slowly put to right what therapy and pills could not cure alone. I see a joy returning to her face that has been long missing. From the smile she has when she looks at me I must be undergoing a similar healing. Slowly, hunger and the long hours of travel begin to wear on us again. We swim to the wooden ladder by our cabin. "Go up and get us some towels," she says after pausing to hang on the ladder. "Why me?" "Because I'm the one in a silk nighty, you ass," she points "Up!" With a moan for aching muscles I pull myself up the ladder, gallons of water pouring out of the cotton 'board' shorts I layed down to sleep in last night. "White is see though," she says giggling. Sousing water off my arms, I shake my head and go to get us some towels. As I come walking back with one around my neck and one for her I see her climb her way up out the water. The pale blue nighty clings to her body like a wet second skin. "Corbin? Corbin!" "Oh, sorry. I think you win the wet T-shirt contest." I hold out to her a towel but can't help but look. As she reaches for it I pull it back and look her up and down again. "Damn." "Humph! Give me the damn towel already!" Chuckling, I hand it to her. After a second she stops drying herself and looks up at me still looking at her. "Would you please turn around?" she asks holding the towel in front of her body. Grinning, I turn. "Perv," she mutters. "I can't help it that my sister is beautiful to look at," I say before I can stop myself. There is a moment of silence then I hear a soft whisper. "Thank you." * * * * * * It should take more than a few minutes stroll to reach such a life changing moment, but that was all it took. Eazier pointed out the hotel where our Mother was staying. He said he had seen her in the restaurant for nearly every meal. Her and the man she was with. With me holding Patrica's trembling hand we walked the short half mile. The many sights and sounds, that would normally attract the attention of two young tourist, all but went unnoticed by us. I didn't see the beautifully landscaped surround that the hotel must pay a fortune to keep that nice. The passing groups of young ladies, in bikinis, don't even catch my eye. The hotel's restaurant, like almost everything on the island, faces the sea. We enter from the lobby side entrance. I know her even though she is looking away from us. There is a youngish looking man at the table with her. He is laughing at something she said. Smiling her reaches across the table to take her hand. The sparkle, from the diamond ring on her finger, catches the light. He looks up as we cross the room with his table our clear intent. Patrica's fingers tighten on mine. The man looks at us curiously, but smiles as we come to a stop, just a few feet away. I judge him to be maybe ten years older than me. Looking at the back of her head I try to find my voice. I want to udder so simple a word. Just three letters. I should be able to say those two M's and an 'O' together so easily, but that word connected to anyone has been lost from my speech for nearly a decade. I can't make my mouth form the word, no matter how hard I try. Looking over, I see Patrica is having the same trouble. "Can I help you two?" he asks after a moment of us just standing there looking at their table. She turns to see who he is talking to. Her face blanches white even as her hand drops her glass to spill upon the table. Her hands, trembling, come to her face and cover her mouth. "NO...NO! IT CAN"T BE!" With a scream she jumps to her feet, knocking her chair over in her hurry to get away from us. The young man, clearly confused, gets to his feet and places himself between us and her. Mom has retreated till her back is against the large glass windows. "What's going on here?" the man demands of me. Looking past him I make eye contact with my Mom. Her hands are still covering her mouth holding in the screams she wants to be making. I can see that she is all but hyperventilating. F3 The Green Flash "Hello, Mom," I says softly. She starts to slowly shake her head. Slowly at first anyway, then with a near frantic speed. "No. You're dead. You're both dead!" she says, trembling each word. "We survived the waves, Mom." Patrica says, as she starts to hold out her hand towards our mother. At the frantic shaking of Mom's head she lets it drop to her side again. I hear an anger come to her tone as she asks. "Why did you never come home?" Mom doesn't answer. The man, looking from us to her, finally finds his voice again. "Priscilla?" he looks at her till she looks back. "You never told me that you had kids." The stab of that is like a knife in my heart but nothing at all compared to what my Mom says back to him. "I don't! I did, but I don't. They died," she says, her voice in tears. "How can you stand there looking at us and say that?" Patrica asks with her voice hardening. "You're not my kids. Their dead. They have to be dead!" Before we could stop her she turns and runs through the glass door to her right. I watch, unable to believe, as she runs across the patio and then down the white beach towards the sea. I see her reach the water line then drop to her knees hugging herself. I can tell from here that she is crying. Patrica turns loose of my hand. At first I think she is going to follow but then she stops at the window. Her hand comes up to touch the glass, almost like she's trying to reach out to touch the distant waves. It tears my heart to see her fingernails clawing at the glass. Looking from my sister I see the young man looking at me. "Can you... explain... what's going on?" he asks with a shake of his head. "Are you Priscilla's kids?" "We are," I say after swallowing down the lump in my throat. Looking past his I see my sister's shoulders trembling, her hand balling up like she wants to smash the window in front of her. Moving past him, I let my hand come to rest on my sister's shoulder. I can feel the muscle tension under my fingers. "It's going to be alright." I tell her in a whisper. She shakes her head no. "Well... um..." I look over my shoulder back at him "...look I'm Timothy Ross. I'm your mother's husband. I... I guess that makes me your... your stepfather. Ah... look I need to go see to her. Why don't you two have a seat." he gestures to his table. "Ah... order anything you like. I'll be right back." Nodding to him I watch him follow the path our Mom blazed down to the water. Looking past his departing back I see her still kneeling at the edge of the wave line, clutching herself and rocking back and forth. The sandy foam rushing up to wet her knees even as he is reaching her. "She didn't believe it was us?" Patrica shakes her head then turns around in my arms. Her hands clutch at my shirt. "Our own mother..." "Shush, hush now. We just startled her. We've had days to get use to the idea that she's alive. It was just a shock to her is all." I hold my sister as she starts to cry. Looking up I see the reflexion of someone standing behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I see the waiter is looking at us anxiously. "Can I get you something sir?" he ask looking at the table. "Are the Ross couple coming back?" "They should be. Just... something to drink. Soda," I tell him softly. Turning back around I let my cheek rest on my sister's hair. I can still feel her tears against my chest though she is now silent. Her pain subsiding into shivers of agonizing loss. Looking over her head I see again, in the reflection of the windows, that we are the center of attention from the other patrons in the restaurant. I don't care what they think, I just hold tight to my sister. I look past their ghostly images down to the beach. I watch Mom's new husband... Timothy... get her to her feet. He holds her to him then starts to make his way back towards us. She stops after a few steps, shaking her head. I see him talking to her even as my tears fall unheeded into my sister's hair. He leaves her standing there and comes back up towards us alone. Looking past him I catch my Mom's gaze for a moment then she turns and looks back out across the waves. "He's coming back," I whisper to Patrica, softly. "How about her?" "No." She takes a deep breath then turns to stand at my left side. I rest my arm around her back. A few moments latter, the door opens and I look up at my new step father. He stops, looks at us then gives a big sigh. "Priscilla... your moms really upset. Um, look why don't the two of you meet us here for breakfast tomorrow morning?" he pauses to sigh again. "She just has to have some time." "Time?" demands my sister. "Easy Patrica," I rest my hand on her hip and pull her in tighter to my side, then look at him. "We'll be here." He nods, then after a second where he clearly can't think of what to say, holds out his hand to me. * * * * * * With a smile I wrap Sori into my arms, even as a wave of children breaks past me to hug Patrica. I love the sound of my sister's laughter as she hugs them all back. "It is so good to see you again, Corbin." Sori, lightly pops my chest. "YOU should have come to see us. It's not like we are all the way around the world. Just halfway!" Laughing, I hug the tiny woman again, then hold her out at arms length. "If I had remembered how beautiful you were I would have." "Shameless flatterer!" she says with a grin. "Come, dinner is nearly ready." With a small army of kids following us we make our way into Eazier's small house. It's looks so very different from when I saw it last, but then it had just been unburied from the mud and still had a wrecked boat leaning against the side of it the last time I saw it. Eazier seeing me looking around and smiles. "See, I told you. If you went home, I could take care of the rest." he hold his arms out gesturing to the repaired home. I look over at Sori. "So, how long did it take him to get all the work done?" I ask her grinning. She laughs. "About two more months, after you left," she tells me with a shake of her head. "Then, after we moves back in, it smelled of tidal mud for years. I must have burned a wagon-bed worth of incense to try to get ride of that smell." Patrica is there then, she lets her hand come to rest on the tiny woman's shoulder. Sori turns to look at her then opens her arms wide for my sister to hug her. The two women are teary eyed as they embrace. In the days that followed the tsunami Sori had become a surrogate big sister to me. To Patrica... she was even more. She had became the mother we had lost. "Every... everything looks beautiful," she tells our hostess. "If I hadn't see it I would never know it had been... damaged." Sori pulls back and just looks at Patrica's face. Under that soft loving gaze my sister face begins to break. After the first tears start to fall, Sori takes my sister's hand and leads her into the small back bedroom. When the door closes I hear my sister start to cry. Eazier shoos his curious kids out the door to go play at the neighbors across the street. When he looks back towards the closed door and the sound of crying, he sighs. "I take it things did not go well?" he asks softly. He holds out a glass offering me a drink. "Thanks. No, things went pretty bad," I meet his concerned gaze. "She took one good look at us, then ran out the room denying it was us." "How could a mother deny her children?"he asks then shakes his head. "I am sorry. I should not have said that. I don't know what she has been through, I have no right to judge." "You have children. If Sori was dead, and you believed that they had died with her... what would your reaction be to seeing them alive?" I ask trying not to let the bitter resentment I feel show in my words. I'm sure he can hear it though. Eazier sighs. "It is not my place to judge... but come my friend, no such dark thoughts. Dinner is nearly ready. This is the first time in ten years you have been under my roof again! And I promise this will be a better meal than the last we shared here." Laughing, I nod. "I could tell that even as we walked up to the door. It smells wonderful." After a few more moments the door opens and the ladies rejoin us. Holding Sori's hand Patrica looks red eyed but much better. She is soon laughing with the rest of us as Eazier offers to go get some canned meat and soda crackers. The memories of that meal so many years ago comes back. I love the way her face brightens again. Then we are again inundated with a hoard of children, both Eazier's and now the neighbor's. Patrica and I are the center of childhood curiosity. Their parent's have always forbidden them from bothering the tourists, but as Sori tells me, given that we are eating dinner here we are not tourists. Over the next few hours, with Eazier's children sometimes translating, we answer question after question. What is America like? Whats it like to live not on an island? Then they find out I'm an actor. Oh lord. Finally, when dinner is a memory, Sori grabs her broom and with a threat centuries old and understood across many lands scatters them home. Eazier is trying to apologize for their children's behavior but Patrica and I are laughing too hard. He then smiles and joins in. Sori, in mock threat, takes after him with the same broom. Defending himself he finally manages to catch the broom. He pulls his tiny wife to his chest, and leaning down kisses her nose. Looking over at my sister I see her smiling but it slowly slips a way. The beauty of their family life when held next to what has happen to our is stark. Then she looks over and see me watching her. Slowly her smile reappears, then turns into a grin. With her eyes twinkling she rushes forward, catches the broom from Eazier's hand and comes after me with it! "I'm borrowing your broom, Sori," she says over her shoulder as I run out the door. With her swinging at the back of my head I can't see their reaction but I can hear their laughter. I finally manage to turn enough to see them waving at us from the front door. I can hear their laughter even as I run out into the street with my sister in hot pursuit. Then the kids in the yard next door, Eazier's included, see us and decide that I'm a new game. Suddenly it's not just my sister but a whole crowd of people chasing after me, with Patrica at the lead swinging the broom at my head still. I run just ahead of them laughing the whole time. As we near the pier out to our bungalow I 'let' them catch up with me. Before she can hit me more than twice I catch the broom and take it away from her. Picking my sister up I spin her around and around as quickly as I can tills she is begging me to stop, she's so dizzy. With her leaning against me to keep from falling, we watch the hoard of children go running back up the street. They are led by Eazier's children clutching their mother's broom like a band major's baton. They make it all of about fifty feet then one of the kids in the front is 'it' and off they go with the broom just a swinging. "We may owe Sori a new broom," I say softly, then start laughing. Walking with Patrica under my arm down that long wooden pier to our room we take our time. Slow steps, often lurching from side to side as one of us looses balance. As we get close she pulls in tight to my side. In the far distance the laughter of the children is fading away to nothingness. We begin to hear other sounds then. Sounds from the bungalows we are walking past. Soft music and conversation. Loud music and laughter. No music... but moans and breathy grunts. Patrica giggles and hides her face against my chest till we are well past that last one. Then we are walking out to ours. There is no music here. No laughter. No conversation even. Just a silence broken only by the sounds of the waves. Just silence. I looked down at her face then. I could see just how strongly that silence was weighing on her. On my beautiful sister. Why I did it latter I couldn't say but at the time it seemed appropriate. Leaning in I kissed her. Not a soft gentle peck but a true kiss. Her lips are incredibly soft against mine, carrying with them some of the spices from dinner. She tastes of coriander, and cumin, strong peppers and warm curries. After a stumbled pause she began to kiss me back. Then her hands were on me pulling me in closer to her. Her face tilted and her lips came alive with an inner passion I didn't know that my sister had. To my surprise and delight her tongue brushed my lips, asking to be let in. Even as I open my mouth to that silky greeting I hear a soft moan come from her lips. Slowly, kissing each other as we go, we back into our room. Then there is a bed at the back of my knees, and before I can stop us we tumble into the mass of twisted sheets. There is a moan from her then that rivals our neighbor's in both volume and intensity. I realize that her legs have parted to either side of mine and than my thigh is pressed hard into her. I can feel a warm heat from her thighs against my skin and a silky feeling that can only be from her panties. The gasp as we hit the mattress parts our lips. As we pause for breath we look into each others faces. I notice then that I have half of her breast cupped. "Corbin?" she looks at my shadowed face. "I...I want.. I'm sorry." Patrica goes to pull away from me but I catch her by her arms and pull her back. "Don't, it's okay. I understand," pulling her in close I bury my nose in her hair. The shampoo smell is gone but a deeper scent, a more personal scent has taken it's place. "It's okay." After a moment she chuckles. "What?" I ask brushing her hair with my fingernails. "Do they teach kissing in acting classes?" Looking up, she brushed her finger across my lips. "You're a good kisser." Chuckling, I answer. "No, that was a learn as I went along skill. I've gotten only a few kissing scenes so far. I was too nervous for any of them to be great." I have to laugh at the memory of the first one. "My first one was fun though. The director made us do about seven takes. She asked for am eighth, but he told us to get a room." "Well, it sounds like she was having fun. I can understand that. Is she famous?" Patrica props her head up on her hand and looks down at my face. She starts to play with the buttons on my shirt. "Do I know her?" "Not yet and no. She may become famous though. She has a lot of passion for acting," I shrug denying anything else happened, but my smile tells other wise. "Passion for acting?" Patrica asks grinning. "How about passion for you? Did you follow the directors advice? Shaking my head, I brush her hair again with my fingers, trying to get it out her face. She moves it back behind her ear, then lifts an eyebrow wanting her question answered. "We just had dinner together." "Just dinner? No after dinner desert?" she asks, biting her bottom lip in a teasing grin. Chuckling, I deny anything else. This time my eyes aren't giving away secrets, none I don't want them to give anyway at least. My sister and I talk about my sometimes career for the next hour or so. It's when I'm telling her about my time as an extra on one film that I notice her eyes have closed. With a smile I lean in and place a soft kiss on her lips. Then I settle myself next to her, covering us both. She make a soft sound and snuggles into me tighter, as a cool breeze ruffles the curtains. We fall asleep in each others arms; her soft hair blowing into my face. * * * * * * A scream wakes me, then as I turn I'm being clutched at by Patrica! Her hands are clawing at my shirt trying to pull me. I realize even as I'm waking she's trying to save me from drowning...again. "It's okay, It's okay. It's just a bad dream," I tell her softly trying to calm her with my tone of voice. Her wide eyes take in my face, her mouth is parted as she pants. Pale and trembling in terror, then turns to crying in painful loss and memories. I pull her to me, holding her warm body against mine. Her body shakes against me as I feel her bury her face into my chest. "The waves. The waves," she whispers into my shirt. "Shush, it's alright. That was ten years ago. It's just a bad dream." I rock her in my arms against me a little as she continues to cry. "It's okay baby, it's okay. We're okay." I hold onto Patrica as she cries herself out and slowly drifts back to sleep. I wish I could follow. Not dreams but memories keep my eyes open till I see the first rays of pink beginning to lighten the sky. Only when I can see that the sea is where is should be do I close my eyes and fade back into sleep. My dreams are dark and formless. * * * * * * The restaurant is nearly full, with people eating their breakfast, but the two people I'm expecting to see are not here. The table they had yesterday is already taken by a couple in their mid to late sixties. The flowered shirt the older man is wearing catches my attention from across the room. "Well, maybe I'm early." I mutter to myself as I start looking around for a place to sit and wait. I notice then a few of the people are some of the ones from when we were here yesterday. They are looking at me, without looking like they are. I wish Patrica had come, but after this morning's nightmare she said she couldn't handle any more. I left her half asleep, with a promise to bring back breakfast for her. "Sir?" I turn to look at the waiter. "This was left for you, this morning," he holds out a tray to me with a white envelope laying in the middle of it. I notice my hand is shaking as I reach for it. ~.~.~ Corbin, Patrica, I love you both. YOU are my Children and I will always carry a bit of you in my heart. I've spent ten years trying to come to accept that I lost you that terrible day. I'm sorry that I am not the mother that I should be, the mother that you needed me to be. I was too young when I married your father, too young when I had you, and far too young when I lost all of you. If you remember I was not much older than you are now and I lost every thing I loved in moments. The fact that I wasn't there beside you when it happened tore me to pieces. That I had run off because your father had made me angry seems silly now. That I never said goodby to you two before I left broke the pieces into pieces. It took me years to get those pieces back into some semblance of order and now when I thought I was finally healed... I saw you standing there. It brought back all the pain, the loss, the guilt I felt. It showed me that I was never truly healed from what happened. I need time. Time to accept in my heart the knowledge that your alive. That my children are alive. You, are both adults. You, don't need me to take care of you anymore. I promise right now you can do a better job of taking care of each other than I could do as I am now. I want you both to know that I love you still, very much, but at this time I have to take care of myself. Priscilla. ~.~.~ The paper crumpling in my hand, I turn to start for the door. Patrica is standing there looking at me. She holds out her hand towards me. "Let me see it, please," she says with no emotion to her voice. Reluctantly, I hand it to her. She smooths out the crumpled paper and begins to read. I watch her face expecting almost any emotional outburst from rage to tears. I can tell when she finishes the short letter. She lets it fall to the ground, from her fingers. Then she slums to the floor following it. Like a wet puppet with it's strings cut she collapses. "Patrica!" My sister does not respond to my voice or to my shaking her shoulders in anyway. Her eyes are open and she's looking off into space, her face blank of any resemblance of life. Only her breathing convinces me she hasn't just died. "Sir? Sir, should I call for a doctor?" F3 The Green Flash I look up, from my sister's blank eyes stare, to see the restaurant's manager standing there with the waiter from earlier, both are looking concerned. I notice in passing that other people at the various tables are standing up to look at what's happening. The man in the flowery shirt start to move towards us, but is wife catches his arm and stops him. "I think she just fainted," I tell the two men next to me after a moment. "Bad news in the letter." With their help, I get her to her feet and into a chair on the patio. He brings a glass of clear sparkling water. I finally manage to get her to take a few sips. That's all she does though, lifeless as a doll she sits there looking out into the water. I do notice her eyes for a second follow a speed boat as it goes by, leaving a white contrail of water in it's wake. I look back inside and see that we are being watched by almost all of the restaurant's patrons. Their stares at my sister in her moment of weakness brings a cold rage into my heart. A few of them look away from my eyes when they settle on them, some do not. I turn back to Patrica. Her head has drooped to the side like it's taking her too much energy to keep it held up. Placing her arm over my shoulder, I get my hand under her knees and lift her into my arms. She leans her head into my neck. "Our mother did die with the waves," she says softly as I carry her towards our bungalow. * * * * * * She didn't say another word to me all the way to our room. I carried her tucked in against me, her body light a feather down in my arms at first becomes a trial after the long walk. But it's a trail I'm willing to endure for her. As I gently lower her to the bed though I sigh in relief. As I start to move away though she unexpectedly moves like lightning to catch me and pull me down next to her. "Don't leave me!" she begs. "I'm not going to leave you," I promise her. "You will. You will leave me. Just as soon as we get home your going to go back to the bright lights, back to Hollywood. Your going to find some rich starlet to marry. All I'll ever see of you will be in the Enquirer." Laughing, I tumble in next to her, then prop myself up to look down at her face. She is silently crying. Gently I lean in and kiss away her tears from her eyes. She opens them after my lips touch and looks up at me. Then she smiles. My sister lifts herself up catching at the back of my head pulling me to her mouth. Our lips touch with the same passion we felt last night. Only it's grown in intensity. There is a now a hungry need in her a need, to be held, to be touched, to be loved and made... made love to. I realize that even as I feel her fingers pulling at my shirt. Her mouth nearly frantic against my lips my sister strips away my shirt and left her hand roam across my back. Her finger nails ding in pulling me down till I'm resting my weight against her. Her lips slip to my ear. "Make love to me. I need you in my life. Let me be your beautiful starlet, your leading lady." her hands caress my neck. "Show me how well you can act like you're in love with a woman... you don't want to make love to." I pull myself back from her and look down into her face. "What do you mean by that?" I demand. She brushes my face. With her fingers she caresses my eyebrows as she start to smile. I feel her tracing where they have been configured to perfection by a makeup artist on my last gig. "My handsome brother, my soon to be rich and famous, Corbin. You are so beautiful to look at and I need you so badly to be with me forever. But I'm just your sister. No one famous or special. Just your sister." she sighs. "Your mentally screwed up, kid sister." "Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?" I ask catching her hand and pulling it to my lips, I kiss the fingertips. "You, yes you my smart sexy sister. I'm never leaving you. Not for any of them. I'll come home. I'll take up writing full time. I'm not much of an actor anyway." "The hell your not! To nearly convince me that you believe I'm beautiful that takes acting..." My lips silence hers. Silence her teasing, silence her self hatred, silence the loss from this morning. With a kiss I also silence the questions she might have about whether I think she is beautiful. I feel the desire awaken in her like last night. Unlike then I feel no need to restrain it. In fact I want to unleash it with my own. Even as her hands are pulling at the clasp to my pants I'm tugging at the bottom of her shirt. I see then the dark pink nipples that her bikinis and swim suits have always kept hidden form me. That I have always longed to see them come to me then. There was a hidden desire for her that I could never let my conscious mind ponder over. It's free now, free to look upon her as I help her remove her shorts down those long tan legs. I slip out of my shorts and settle myself between my sisters legs. She opens them wide accepting without any more thought than I have that this is going to happen. That here of all places, in this island that damaged us both so badly we would come together like this. The feeling along the length of me as I slide into her warm wet lips, pushing deeply into her body. Reveling in the close tight feeling of her as she catches my hips in her hands and pulls me in tighter. "Oh my god, Corbin." She pulls my face to hers and out lips press together. Our tongues entwine, to wrestle as one even as our bodies join as one. There is no softness to her demanding mouth now. Not now that I am inside her. They're are fires within her that have awake fully and they have needs. Needs they want taken care of and at this moment the most demanding is for her to be made love to as hard as I can. She pulls at me tugging me in, then using her toned body to nearly push me out of her. The feeling is fantastic and the more I feel it the more I want of it. I know within minutes of this that I will never in this world find a woman to match her in bed. She knows me with so many years of familiar love that her body moves in just the ways I like. Without even trying I find myself responding to her silent promptings. Then they become less than silent. "Just there... oh yes just like that. I knew.. I always knew that you would be the one man for me." she pants "Hold me tight." she moans "Don't let me go." she begs. "Harder please." she demands. "Oh fuck me Corbin!" she screams. With long even strokes I give into to her every wish. Her body clutched tight to me, her breast a warm pressure against my chest, I flex my hips pushing in the whole length of me, then trying to push in more. I love the look on her face as I slide into my sister. Her feet hook behind my ass to help drive in those last few inches. "Oh, my sweet brother. That right. That just... perfect. Right there . Right there. Oh god Corbin. Oh My God! I'm going to cum." "Cum for me." I tell her in a voice starved for breath. She looks into my eyes as her body tenses.. All the years of our life is carried in those gorgeous eyes. The years growing up, teasing and fighting with each other. The years, happy ones, when we traveled with our parent to distant lands exploring the world. Even the year of loss and pain are there. Then her eyes shut and her head tilts back. She catches my hair in strong fingers and pulls me down to her. A deep guttural moan of desires sated reverberates out her mouth into the wet hair by my neck. Her fingernails claw at my back and shoulders as she screams out her prayers to the island's god of lust. I feel myself reaching for my own ending at that very moment. I pant for every breath and clench my teeth together as I try to get to the top of that hill. I hear her begging me to cum. Her words a soft but demanding whisper next to my ear. Who am I to tell my sister no. I arch up a bit and she clings to me even as I feel her starting to cum again. I do not care how far our passion cries are carrying across the water. I do not care what others may think at this moment. At this moment only my sweet sister and I exist. The rest of the world is all meaningless shadows filled with ghosts that stare. They stare in wonder at a brother as he feels his love and lust flowing from him like a river into his sister. Her tight body giving pleasure to her own brother. Her heat and gripping pressure massage every inch of me till I'm feeling a bit raw. I slowly slip from her, my body spent if not my desire. If anything my desire for her has grown even stronger. Moving to lay next to her she turns her sweaty body in against mine and tugs a sheet over the top of us both. "Just hold me," she says softly next to my chin. Still unable to speak for lack of breath I just nod and wrap her in my arms. * * * * * * I open my eyes slowly. I can tell I have been asleep for maybe less than a hour. Glancing over at the clock confirms this. When I look back at her Patrica is looking at me. She has tugged the sheet up under her chin. "Regrets?" I ask softly unable to read her face. She shakes her head. "No." "Then what is it?" I ask turning to face her more. The sheet falls away from my chest as I move and she looks down at me. Her hand moves to my chest and follows the light trail of hairs down a bit to my stomach. "I love you," she says softly. "I love you, my beautiful sister." She smiles, then looks down at her hand resting on my stomach. She moves it lower down across my belly button. Then she stops. Her eyes are lush and wanton when she looks back up at me. "I want you again,"she licks her lips. "Can I have you?" "Always," I whisper back to her softly. My sister smiles, then leans in and kisses me. Softly. First my mouth then my chin. Then down my throat. Her mouth moves across my chest. Unable to believe what I'm seeing I watch as Patrica lift the sheet off of me and looks at my cock. She tilts her head, licks her lips and leans forward. I nearly jump out of my skin at how sensitivity I am and how wonderful my sister's mouth feels. And that is just the start. Her hand gently cupping my balls she moves her head in a slow easy way, a soft massage of the whole length of me. Her lips purse over the head, then they open taking me in deeper and deeper till I am very quickly clawing at the sheet both trying to get away from her mouth and hopping this never ends. "Oh Patrica. That feels.. Oh my god!" I can even feel it when she smiles around me. Her tongue licks the underside of me from top to bottom then back into the warm wet mouth I go. Deeper this time than last. I don't know if she can take the whole length of me, but I feel her trying to do that very thing. My head thrown back I think back to all the other women that have done this. It's not a very long list. I remember the times when they had me in their mouths. Their skills may have been better honed, but nothing they did compares to the pleasure I'm feeling now. As my sister, my dear sweet sister, my mental emotionally damaged sister, to use her own words, takes me into her mouth. I feel her nearly gag as looking down I see her nose touch. "Oh for fuck sake that feels good." I moan. She looks up at me and smiles then licks the side of me. Taking her time she has me moaning and panting for the next several minutes then I feel myself twitch. "I'm going to cum, you might want to stop." I tell her brushing her hair out her face. She looks up at me and smiles. Before I can move she sits up, swings herself over my hips, and settles down onto me. I slip easily into her. Laying back looking up at my sister I watch her as she rides my body. Her hips grinding forward against me, then sliding silkily back, pull the whole of me nearly out of her. I let my hands come to rest on those hips. Urging her faster. "Can I do this to you forever?" she asks me her lips parted in a near pant. I moan as she clamps down on on my cock and pulls it out to the head. "I want to feel you in me forever. I want to be yours forever." She leans down till her face is right over my lips. I lift myself deeper into her even as our lips touch. She clutches my head to her mouth as I begin to cum. I can tell she is cumming with me by the tension in her as I also hold her to me. The low moan that vibrates my lips through our kiss. Then the sudden clutching of my shoulders and arm. She all but melts down onto me. My passion also spent I slip from her. She settle her naked body onto me like a warm soft blanket. "I wish we could do this all day," she says softly after a few moment to catch her breath. "Is there a reason we can't?" I ask tracing fingers across the incredibly soft skin of her ass. Sitting up a bit my sister looks down into my face. "Yeah. We are meeting Sori and Eazier for lunch. Remember? They invited us to go to her brother's house today." she quirks an eyebrow. I smile. "I'm sorry. Something about today has me a bit off my normal game. Hum, what could that be I wonder?" I say with a grin. "Maybe getting to make love to an incredibly beautiful woman?" "Who just happens to be your sister?" she wiggles down and almost purrs against me. "Sori said he's a big time movie producer in Mumbai India." "I don't remember that! When did she say that?" I ask sitting up taking her with me. Patrica bites her bottom lip. "While we were in the other room. After I got finished crying we talked for a bit." "Mumbai... that's what they call Bollywood! There are a lot of good moves made out of there." I pause looking at her face. "Why were you talking about that?" "Oh, we weren't at first. We were talking about... you," my sister moves her hand to my face and brushes back the hair. "What abut me? About my career?" "No," she shakes her head. "About what I've been starting to feel for you... since we got here." Patrica wraps her hands around my neck and leans in till her forehead touches mine. "About how much I love you." "What did she say?" My sister smiles. "Sori said to seduce you," she leans in and kisses me softly. "To make you come to see me like I saw you," she pulls me in for a harder kiss. "To steal you before any of those Hollywood starlets can get their manicured claws into you." She goes to kiss me again but I stop her. Moving back a bit I look at her face. "Sori, said all that?" I ask astonished. "She did. Then she told me the most important thing I needed to do," Patrica smiles. "To love you more every day than the last." Patrica kisses me softly then pulls back looking at my face. "I think I can do that." Pulling my sister to me I lean back into the bed and just holding her as we kiss away the few minutes till we have till it's time to get ready to go. * * * * * * That evening sitting on the back patio of Sori and Eazier's house, surrounded by the laughter of children bathed in the love of family once more, I look out at the setting sun. As it sinks into the waves I too see the green flash of light. Even as I notice it I feel Patrica's hands come to rest on my shoulders. "Did you see it?" she asks softly. "Yes, I did."