Seasons Are Changing and Waves Are Crashing

It had been four days since that truck pulled up at the neighbour’s house. The woman sighed in front of the bathroom mirror – she was running out of both foundation and concealer. She always made sure she wasn’t running low because she didn’t know when – or how much – she would need. She put the foundation and concealer bottles back in the bathroom cabinet after covering the current purple spots and made her way to the master bedroom.

She took her purse from the room and went downstairs, out of the front door, locking it behind her. She was exasperated at the thought of leaving the house as she seldom left at all. Apart from getting the groceries, working and going with Him when he asked, she was housebound. It wasn’t that she disliked leaving the house, but the repercussions of doing so.

After purchasing the light foundation and concealer – as she was pale from lack of sunlight, so much so she required vitamin D tablets – she was only left with around $20. The reason for this was He decided how much money she had. She spent the rest on chocolate, cigarettes and a lighter. She only ate the chocolate to ‘eat her feelings’ and the cigarettes reduced stress – which she craved. She craved to be stress-free, not the smokes themselves.

The woman got back into the car and shut the door. She sat there and took a puff from the burning stick, breathing out the white smoke. Once she got her bout of stress relief, she put the stick out and drove home. As she was getting to the front door, a little voice came from behind her.

“Excuse me, miss?” She turned to the little girl behind her.

“Yes?” she said quietly.

“Can you please get,” she child turned to look at another child standing by the letterbox, this time a boy, “our bouncy ball from your backyard?” she asked politely. “It’s just... We accidentally got it in your backyard, sorry,” she added.

“That’s okay and sure; I’ll get it in a sec. Just wait here,” she smiled at the little girl and went inside.

“Where the hell were you?” Callum thundered as he approached her as the door closed behind her. She knew he was home because his car was in the garage.

“I went to the store for makeup,” she told him, walking warily to hallway cabinet, putting down her bags. He scoffed at her, folding his muscular arms across his chest. He didn’t get angry when she told him that because he relied on the beauty products to hide his shame.

“There are neighbour kids waiting outside. They lost their ball in our backyard. I’m going to get it,” she told him, lacking any forcefulness in her voice. He huffed in response. She could feel the tense atmosphere but nowadays, the atmosphere was always there.

“I know. They knocked earlier.”

“You didn’t get it for them?”

He laughed heartlessly – like he normally did. “Why would I? They should suffer the consequences of letting their things get onto our property.”

“They apologised so I’ll get it,” she went to walk past but this Callum didn’t allow.

He grabbed her arm and brought her close to him. She barely looked in his eyes anymore, she didn’t have the courage. He gave a sniff.

“You’ve been smoking again,” he growled, his hand tightening. She looked at the fingers around her skin, not saying a word.

“You thought I didn’t know, didn’t you?” he dragged her through the house to the laundry, shoving the door open. She didn’t complain about the pain caused by his hand. She swore in her head when he pushed them into the room.

“Guess what I found in here,” he rummaged under the towels inside the linen-press. She swore in her head over and over again. He’d discovered them. He took the nearly empty cigarette packet out from under the towels and threw it on the floor, stamping it and its contents into the wooden floor.

“Do you want to fucking die of cancer?! Is that it?!” he yelled in her face. Still unable to look at him, she stuttered a pathetic response she couldn’t even spit out.

“I can’t believe you disobeyed me,” he chanted repeatedly, pushing her back to the hallway as she tried not to trip over her own feet.

He rummaged through the bag she brought in from the car and grabbed the new packet of smokes. He ripped it open, lit one up and put it to his lips. He breathed in and coughed gruffly, snarling at her as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“How do you fucking like this crap?” he spat, flicking the smoke at her face. She threw herself back, her heart jolting quickly in her chest. He was close to breaking point, indicated by the vein visible in his forehead.

“It-It just makes me feel... better, when, when I have one,” she confessed quietly.

Her excuses wouldn’t matter to him – they never did. The slap rippled through the house and the skin of her cheek. One hand came up to her face as she backed away and he followed.

“What,” he prodded, “you don’t feel fine? Oh no. Are you sick, honey?” he cooed with mockery, malice rich in his tone.

The lady looked to the ground, noticing the cigarette still burning. As she pressed it out with a foot – scared it was going to start a fire – his foot stamped on her toes with force, causing a yelp. The back of his hand smashed the side of her jaw. She whimpered.

“Shut up! I never said you could talk!” he roared, throwing her against the doorframe. He pushed his nails against her throat. “I... don’t... want... to hear... another word... out of you. Got me?” he whispered. She was shaking as she nodded.

The girl clamped her lips together, knowing what he was going to do next. He grabbed the front of her shirt, tossed her off the ground and hard against the corner of the wall and doorframe, her falling stiff to the ground. Her voice box betrayed her and a raspy gasp fell out of her mouth as she landed. In response, her hands and knees on the carpet, he kicked the crushed smoke at her eyes and stamped her shoulder flat to the floor. Her whole front was pressed to the carpet. His face scrunched in fury, he ripped the rest of the smokes out the packet. He snatched the scissors from the hallway cabinet’s top draw, as she tried to get up, and lashed up the cigarette’s paper, chunks of tobacco crumbling down into her hair. She tried to push his hands away but he managed to rub in the flaky brown stuff further, into her scalp. He threw the scissors down at her, along with the ruined smokes, and stormed away.

Keeping the volume down, she sobbed as she wobbled onto her feet. Slowly, she got to the downstairs bathroom and wiped her eyes after checking whether she needed to fix her makeup. It didn’t look too bad and at that thought, the front door slammed shut. The girl froze in front of the mirror and waited for the ignition sound she had come to treasure. She heard the car roar to life and felt a tsunami of relief come over her, accompanied by more relief as the car roared away, although the relief was temporary. With that comfort, she went into the backyard, collected the ball and went to give it to the children. They were gone.

Andy

Juliet’s brows were furrowed as she stared over at the neighbouring property. Oddly, she’d been standing there, unmoving, for five minutes.

“What’s wrong, babe?” I asked, placing my arm around her. We were about to go and meet up with our friends at Sammi and Jinxx’s.

“I think...” she trailed off.

“You thought what?” I encouraged. I wanted to know what she was going to say – she looked worried.

“I think I just saw the guy from next door hit somebody inside the house,” she told me. “I don’t think it was a friend and they had a fight or something. It looked like a girl,” she added.

“His girlfriend?” I asked.

“Does he have one? I haven’t seen anyone but him living there,” she said.

“No, he’s got a female partner and she lives there too. I saw her this afternoon,” I told her. We looked at each other.

“I’ll go over there tomorrow and suss it out,” she said

“I don’t think that’s a good ide-” I was cut off by my phone ringing. “Hello?” It was CC.

“Where the fuck are you guys, dude?” he semi-slurred. It was obvious he’d already had a couple of drinks.

Every member of the band was worried about CC. Lately he’s been drinking more than is good for him ever since he broke up with his last semi-serious girlfriend. Since they broke up, he’s been having a lot of one night stands which was something he didn’t do very often, particularly when we met him. They were now becoming a regular thing.

I said goodbye and hung up once he urged us to hurry up and told us what they were up to. Ashley, Jake and Ella were already there.

“As I was saying, Jules, it’s none of our business,” I told her, “as mean as that sounds,” I added.

“Yeah, I know, but what if she’s hurt?” she stressed as the car door shut behind her. I sighed in front of the steering wheel, shutting my own car door after me.

“I know but what if you get involved and then you’re the one who gets hurt?” I warned as we pulled out of the drive and started off down the street.

“Fine, I won’t get involved if that’s what you want,” she stated. I didn’t say anything because I knew she wasn’t just going to drop the subject. “But, I’m going to make sure she’s okay,” she declared. I nodded, knowing she was determined to ensure the girl’s safety.

We sat around the lounge room after having dinner – and Juliet and I having showers because we couldn’t at home – just relaxing. None of us had really had any alcohol apart from CC and Ashley who were now in the kitchen getting another couple of beers. Jake and Ella were cuddled up on the opposite couch chatting to us about our new house while Jinxx was next to his wife, rubbing Sammi’s very round belly.

“I’m going to go have a lie down,” she said, standing up, her belly protruding even further out.

“I miss the days you would come clubbing with us,” Ashley said, staring at himself in the mirror, hanging on the lounge room wall before sitting down with us. Sammi grinned. CC started giggling at Ashley – he was on the verge of being drunk already and we hadn’t even left for the club yet.

“You want me to stay?” Jinxx asked her, sitting up.

“No, it’s okay and sorry guys but you’re going to have to get used to it. I won’t be doing much clubbing any time soon,” Sammi told everyone goodnight, telling Jinxx to enjoy himself, before heading to bed. The poor girl was so tired all the time now.

“All right, let’s go!” Ashley declared. He and CC were the first ones out the door with Jake and Ella following. Jake, Ella, Ashley and CC went in one car while Jinxx tagged along with Juliet and I.

“How are you doing with a pregnant wife, Jinxx?” Juliet asked on the way there. He sighed with some content and defeat simultaneously.

“Great but God, does it wear you out!” I chuckled.

“I can imagine,” I spoke, sliding my hands down the steering wheel as we sat at some traffic lights, thousands of city lights surrounding us.

“And the baby isn’t even here yet!” he exclaimed. Juliet and I laughed. “We’ve bought so much we don’t even really need because we’ve been given so much stuff by people. We’ve done up the nursery and everything. But, mainly, it’s just nerves that wears me out. I’m really, really nervous,” he admitted.

“It’s good you’re prepared though. It’s better to be safe than sorry. And plus, don’t worry too much. I reckon you’ll be a great dad,” Juliet said.

“Exactly and so do I,” I agreed.

“You really think so?” he asked with uncertainty written on his face.

“Yeah, there’s no doubt!” I saw him smile happily in the review mirror as we turned into a parking space.

A few hours later, after drinking, dancing and CC and Ashley trying to pick up women, CC could barely stand up as all of us left. Unlike Ashley, CC hadn’t managed to get lucky this night. He was falling all over the place as Jake and I helped him walk straight.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I let out as CC stumbled before he doubled and puked on the concrete as we walked back to the cars.

“Oh gross. He’s going to regret this in the morning,” Jake murmured as we got him into the car, where he fell asleep, and took him home.

“Babe, what’s wrong? You’re restless,” I whispered, having just woken up from dozing in the middle of the night. Juliet caressed me as she snuggled her naked body against mine.

“I just... The incident next door is playing repeatedly in my head,” she whispered, laying her head against my chest. I stroked her hair as she laced our fingers together.

“Just try not to think about it,” I muttered sleepily, kissing her.

“You know, you sound so damn sexy when you’re sleepy,” she giggled. I smiled facetiously when she started dragging her fingernails along my skin lightly. I shivered before grabbing her around waist and gripping her body closer.

“I’ll give you something to think about...” I joked and she sniggered loudly before I held the back of her neck and connected our lips once more.

Notes