Above the waves

4

Dinner time arrives.

"Alright. That's enough playing for today." Mom says. "We'd better hurry and eat so we can watch the sunset together."

Excited, we all go to the dining room where mom and dad prepare the table.

Skylar adjusts my wheelchair to be in between him and Sierra while mom and dad sit across from us.

Our dining table is round and has one of those spinny things on top that you can spin to pass the food.

We pray and dig into mom's delicious food.

At seven, the sun starts setting and we rush outside to sit around the bonfire. Well, everyone except me. Skylar slowly pushes me down the ramp and towards the special place on the beach.

Dad lights the bonfire and we sit on our log. Well, they do.

Anyway, we watch the sun set and wait for our neighbors to come and join us.

Nate's family, the Reese's, come first, as usual. Without Nate, as usual. I find myself relaxing when I see he's not here.

The Carlsons and James arrive and sit around on their logs, watching the sunset with us. This has been our 'tradition' ever since. Every Saturday, to watch the sunset, we'd all gather around. Then once it's dark, we'd make smores and tell stories of what happened the past week or any story really.

The sun goes down and we praise and worship first, singing songs to God and thanking Him for today.

Mom leads the prayer, and when she closes, everyone smiles and shouts, "Amen!"

We laugh and as the laughter dies, Mrs. Carlson passes out the graham crackers and marshmallows.

"Alright, children, you know what to do." Her soft voice says.

We get our sticks and roast the marshmallows over the fire. Once that's done, we put them in between two grahams and eat.

"So good." Skylar says with his mouth full.

Sierra and I laugh.

"I thought mom raised us better. No talking with your mouth full, Skylar." Sierra playfully scolds.

His eyes widen and he swallows, looking at mom who's smiling at us.

We finish the five bags of marshmallows and grahams, with Skylar and Sierra helping me put the marshmallows and grahams together, then sit back, stuffed.

Lindsay and Lin Carlson sit on the other side of Sierra, chatting about work. The twins are Sierra's age and they're actually roommates. Funny how they talk now as if they hadn't seen each other in a long time.

Faley, Gail, and Harold James are seated on the log on our right with Natasha Reese while all the adults now sit across from us. 

"How're things up in the city?" Harold asks Skylar. They start their boy talk while Faley and Gail talk to me.

"We just saw each other yesterday, but how are you Sav?" Faley asks.

I shrug. "Same as usual."

Gail laughs. "Oh, Sav. That's what you always say. There must be something you can do to spice up things."

I shrug again. "Spending time with you guys on Saturdays is good enough for me. I'm glad that you two are stuck with me here on the beach. Makes days more fun."

It's Gail's turn to shrug. "That's what you get when you're with us. Fun. And lots of it."

Faley laughs and agrees. Faley's a year older than Gail and I, and is a professional surfer. She doesn't go to college but instead travels around the world when there's a competition.

We continue to talk and laugh and share childhood memories. It's days like this that I'd wish would last forever.

"Speaking of, are you okay with my brother now?" Natasha asks, causing Faley and Gail's attention to turn back to me.

Their expressions are serious.

"Uh, I-I don't know." I stutter. I really don't know. We haven't talked in years and I haven't even seen him since our childish fight.

She nods slowly and looks down. "He misses you, you know. He's still angry at himself for what happened to you. The surf thing. And the school thing." She takes a breath and their eyes are locked on mine. "We all still hold something. Even when you hide from us most of the week, we know. We see you on Saturdays, we see you in pictures. We pray for you."

Faley's arm is around my shoulder. "You and Nate were the bestest of friends." She says with a light laugh. "Next to your siblings that is. You even hung out with him over us sometimes."

A sad smile crossed my face. Yeah, I did.

"You should talk to him." She adds. She looks over at Natasha and they share a look. "He's going through things and I think one of the best things he could have right now would be you."

My heart beats faster. "Is he okay?"

Natasha's smile matches my own. "He's okay. Kinda worried about the surf meet. He's got some real good competition."

"Oh. Do you think he'd want to see me? Like if I cheered for him?" I ask his younger sister.

She smiles. "Of course. The longer he can't see you, the more he beats himself up. He only gets glances of you at church, you know."

"Oh." I look away and at the waves. "I'm such a bad friend."

"No! No, of course not." Tasha says, now squatting in front of me. Faley and Gail have their arms around me. I didn't realize how close these girls are to me and how much I love them.

"What you did was understandable. Painful, but understandable." She says. "He had it coming too. He can't just leave his best friend like that."

A sad look crosses my face.

Then I gasp. The girls look at me strangely. My vision blurs as the familiar pain courses through my back.

I feel Oak pushing me playfully from behind till Faley tells him to come in front of me. His pushing caused my back to erupt into my too familiar pain and now he looks sorry.

"It's fine, boy." I whisper through gritted teeth before blacking out.