STORY: Drought

RATING: R (For now)

SUMMARY: What happens when the person you're still in love with now hates you.

Prologue

(Michelle)

Screams filled the air, all around I could see people running frantically in no particular direction, trying to escape.

I stood there, searching the chaos for a familiar face.

Someone shouted to me in a language I didn’t speak but somehow I knew exactly what he was saying.

I moved, but only about a foot. At that very moment I could hear an explosion going off in the distance.

My heart began to race I searched the crowd anxiously. It was impossible to tell which direction I came from. I felt lost in all the madness, something akin to cane fever, with people rushing all around me.

Someone tugged on my wrist pulling me along with them. I looked at the hysterical looking man who was again shouting to me in a language I didn’t understand, urging me to come with him. I shook my head.

“No, No,” I said. “I have to wait here,” was my response.

He looked at me in confusion and another explosion went off in the back ground. He pulled with more force this time and I pulled back with all my might. The stranger had just released my hand when I felt a stronger hand grab my other wrist. I turned to look at the person. It was Terry.

“You’re bleeding,” he shouted over the noise.

My hand reached up to touch the spot he was looking at. I looked at my hand. It was stained red.

“Am I dying?” I asked.

-o-

(Terry)

There was a poem I read when I was younger called Parades Parades. When I read it at first I couldn’t decipher what it was about and I spent a great deal of time reading it over before I finally asked Michelle the meaning. She looked at me and sighed.

“Well the entire thing is a farce…” I looked at her questioningly. She always over-estimated my intelligence. “What sort of parade is it?”

“An Independence Day parade,” I answered.

“So what’s the farce?” she then asked.

I didn’t know. I looked at her hoping she would give me the answer. She laughed and took the book from me. “The parades exist to hide the truth from the unknowing public.”

“And what truth is that?” I asked.

“That we are not truly independent.”

I let the thought sink in that night. I didn’t understand what she meant by that. As far as I was concerned we were independent, we had a flag, an anthem and a coat of arms to prove it. There was a queen somewhere on a throne but our country was no longer one of her colonies.

I myself felt like a single man nation who had joined the international community of independent nations, free from some tyrannical queen who ruled them for far too long.

I had a nice little independence parade going and no one and no thing was going to rain on it.

CHAPTER ONE: Distance

...what looks dark in the distance may brighten as I draw near. - Mary Gardiner Brainard in Not knowing

(Terry)

I looked at the man coming into my office and I smiled inwardly. This could only mean one of two things. It was either a huge coincidence and James Richardson had some business with me that had nothing to do with our mutual friend or James Richardson had something to tell me that had to do with our mutual friend. I had decided either way I was glad to see him… the last impression I left was not the kind a proud person would want another to have of him.

He reached across the table and offered me his hand and I reached out and shook it with more vigor than was necessary.

“Have a seat,” I said.

I had an appointment with a minister’s son and I never once thought it could be James. That was a true sign that I had progressed. I didn’t connect everything to her as I used to. It was like I had erased Michelle Joseph from my consciousness.

He took a seat and smiled at me. His eyes that were the same bright turquoise color held some regret that betrayed the calm, cheerful demeanor her was trying to put forward. “I’ve had an easier time getting a meeting with the queen.”

I shrugged. “Well you two roam in similar circles.” He gave a half nod. “Your father was a minister… am I right?”

He nodded.

“How’s the opposition bench treating him?” I asked him, referring to the fact that his father, who was now the leader of his party, had lost the most recent election by a considerable amount.

“He’ll live. He just wishes people would realize that joining the federation is inevitable… England can’t isolate herself for much longer.”

I smiled wishing that he would get on with what he actually came to talk about. I seriously doubted it was politics. “So what can I do for you?” I asked.

He sighed and passed his hand through his hand. “I was Trinidad for the cricket and I ran into a mutual friend of ours.”

“The only one,” I said.

He laughed and cracked his fingers nervously. “I see you’ll be in Trinidad from tomorrow?” he asked.

I nodded. I hadn’t been in Trinidad for about four years. I couldn’t bring myself to go back there. I didn’t think I could take it but I was at a place now where I felt comfortable enough to return there. I didn’t feel the need to run from the life I had planned, the life that never came true for me. I felt happy with what I had now. It had been a long hard journey getting there but I felt secure enough to accept things for what they were and cut my losses. “I’ll be there for a week.”

“A week… that’s good, then you have time.”

“Time for what,” I asked reaching in my desk for a packet of cigarette.

He looked at the cigarette, totally distracted. “You really should quit that, you know. Second hand smoke kills.”

I laughed.

“Or were you counting on it?” he added. He was of course referring to the fact that I had every reason to hate his guts.

“Water under the bridge now,” I said with a shrug. I was actually quite certain that I still hated him… not because he was with Michelle but because… well… because I hated pretty much everybody. “So why is it good that I’ll be in Trinidad for a week?”

He reached across the desk and picked up a pen and a piece of paper and began to scribble down something. He passed it to me. “That’s her address and her mobile.”

I looked down at it and my eyes scanned the location. I knew exactly where it was. Two years ago I would have given an arm and a leg for it but I felt like I was unaffected by it. I took a drag and let it out slowly. “I’m not really interested in…”

“You are…” he said with a tone authority. “I don’t know what happened between you two…just about forget it… she needs you.”

I laughed at this and handed him back the piece of paper. “It was great seeing you James…. but I have a ten o’clock.” I got up hoping that he would take it as an indication to leave but he sat still. I looked at him. “I wasn’t just saying that… I’m meeting the head of the England and Whales cricket board in ten minutes. I have to go across town.”

He stood up and began to walk to the door. “Do yourself a favor and call her.”

He left the piece of paper on the desk and I slopped back down, looking at it one more time before I crumbled it.

He really didn’t get it.

I was not interested.

I really didn’t give a fuck about her and it felt so damn good.

Independence was a hell of a thing.

-o-o-

(Michelle)

Whenever it was late at night my mind would always begin to wander. I would think about anything and everything but most of all I would think the distance.

I thought about the distance between what I had planned for myself and what actually was.

In many ways my life was going as planned. There was just this one little thing that made everything different. The one little difference of course was that Terry Winchester wasn’t in my life anymore. The fact that Terry was a huge part of my life meant that my life was affected in a huge way.

I didn’t complain about it. I knew it was a choice I had made.

I left him.

I ultimately decided not to tell him.

I couldn’t take back those decisions even though then I knew that they were huge mistakes. In one simple act I had simultaneously hurt three people. I hurt myself, I hurt Terry and I hurt the child I didn’t know we had at time.

At three years old he was old enough to know that he didn’t have a father around and young enough not to really care but I knew it wouldn’t last for long. As much as he stuck under me now there would be a time when he would have to look up to man to get an idea about where place was in the world and exactly who he was.

I looked at him as he looked down at the book with his face frowning in concentration. He looked up at me and I smiled at him. He took everything so seriously. He reminded me of my father sometimes. His little pale finger pointed at a shade of green and he looked at me for approval. “I want this one,” he said.

I smiled. “Excellent choice young man,” I said.

He seemed to agree and congratulated himself by offering a round of applause to himself. I laughed and he looked at me and laughed too. He had a habit of imitating whatever he saw. He could literally look at someone doing something then do the same thing or at least what he thought was similar. He would look at me washing the dishes and he would want to wash the dishes. He would look at me reading magazine and he would pick up a magazine and read what he could out loud to prove he could read as well. He would look at his piano teacher play out some simple notes and he would follow easily. He loved it when he was doing things right. He loved being told he was doing well. His zeal reminded me of myself. He had that same enthusiasm about knowledge that made him very curious about everything. When he was younger everything and anything would end up in his mouth and he seemed to be attracted to the most dangerous things. Now he was going through a phase when his favorite words were who, what, where, when, why and how.

I knew his personality was like mine in a lot of ways but when it came to his appearance he was a miniature form of Terry. He had skin that was actually paler than his father's, hair that was straight and the same shade of brown as Terry’s and the same green eyes his father and his grandfather had. It was remarkable that he looked so much like him. The only bit of myself that I saw in him was when he smiled, dimples would sink in his cheeks the same way the would appear when I smiled… other than that, he was father.

I felt God had played a grand ole joke on me… one that forced me to remember everyday the pain I had caused.

A/N: I never really write long first chapters but here it is. I know it’s short but hopefully the others will be longer. As you can see there is a lot of drama to come.

Let’s see.

They have a child that Terry doesn’t know about.

Terry hates everybody, Michelle included (yes… he’s angry at the world now).

How do you guys think he will react once he finds out?

So why did I have the child look exactly like Terry… well it’s all part of the story. It will play an important role.

And if Michelle's part of the prologue confused you don't worry, we will know what's going on there eventually.

And I know I'm making some strange political statements but that's part of the story as well and it's not super important but I need it for the plot. It works since this is set about 10 years from when they first met (which was 2008). I hate working with dates... grrr.

Okay I'll stop confusing you guys now.