When I woke up it was 6 o'clock. The sun had risen and soon would the caretakers of the park arrive.
Aimé on the other hand was still fast asleep and had sneaked on my side somewhere in the night. Well, at least we remained warm because of that.
Avril: whispers wake up princess. It's time to rise and shine.
Aimé: hmm, you look so beautiful in the morning sunshine:)
Avril: and you look prettier my stunning princess. Now wake up before we get caught for trespassing.
Aimé: will you give me a morning kiss? I'll wake up instantly then!
Avril: I have trained in boxing for 2 years and I think I can land a good punch on that smirking face of yours if you don't get up now
Aimé: OK ok I'm such a pacifist, why are you so violent?
Avril: because it won't hurt much even if I hit guys like you. I'll be the one to get hurt instead. Let's get down now.
Aimé: let me go first, follow me slowly downwards
Avril: yeah yeah Mr. chivalrous.
︎ ︎ ︎
By the way; the h*ll you left Kye at? I completely forgot about Lawrence too. Pretty sure I'm busted.
Aimé: Well, I told Lawrence I knew where you were and that if we weren't back by 9 tomorrow he could call whoever he wanted to. I also told him to hold off telling anything to your parents till then. Kye went back to her house along with him.
Avril: I hope my parents buy whatever lie they tell though. They're quite skeptical. But didn't Lawrence say anything to you?
Aimé: oh yeah he did talk to me with his fists first when he found out you were missing, and then when he got to know it was because of me. All of you Duhamels are so rough for some reason.
Avril: where were you hurt? show me. Why didn't you tell me all this while?
Are you really fine?
Aimé: oh my! undressing me so soon are we?
Avril: stop joking around and show me where he hit you. Lean against that tree for a sec.
[He wasn't hurt too bad when I felt his muscles but he still had some bruises left.]
Aimé: whispers I wanna do you right now so bad
Avril: stop talking like an animal. It ain't romantic and apply this till the bruises go away.
Aimé: you're not gonna apply it for me? It was your cousin who hit me.... how can no one in this family take responsibility for what they have done? I feel so violated
Avril: stop the drama. Which tramp or bus do we need to catch now to head back home?
Aimé: points that one will do. Make haste my love or thy brethere shall challenge me for a duel next.
Avril: hahaha
we ran as fast as we could once we were dropped off somewhere near Kye's house. Aimé waited until he saw me inside. However, Lawrence was furious and somehow more at Aimé than at me who had ran off on her own while not picking up anyone's call.
I ran back outside to see what was happening and there he was, holding Aimé by his collar.
Lawrence: Será mejor que no le hayas puesto la mano encima[=you better not have laid a hand on her.] And why didn't you return with her the moment you found her? What the hell happened the whole bl**dy night? I need to know ASAP!
Avril: GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM THIS INSTANCE LAWRENCE!
I never disrespected Lawrence intentionally nor did I ever call him by his name. He was like my actual elder brother after all. But the way he was behaving wasn't fair.
Lawrence: are you taking his side now? And this is how you talk to your elder cousin!?
Avril: I'm not taking anyone's side. He's innocent, he was more than helpful to show us around the whole d*mn day yesterday without asking for anything in return. You can ask Kye if you don't trust me and believe it or not nothing ever happened between us last night, so relax.
Lawrence: I don't want to see him around you ever again Avril Duhamel. I have to answer to your parents if something happens to you on this trip so act more responsibly.
Avril: Be mature, Be responsible, adjust with this and that. You're a girl you need to keep quiet. You only need to talk when spoken to. Don't be so over the top; don't be too dramatic; don't be such a crybaby, don't be so gloomy. I'm f*cking tired of hearing this sh*t each & every day from everyone in this family who doesn't even know ME properly. And I never asked you to babysit me. You should've said no to my mom when she asked you to take care of me. And stay away from him? Not a chance! I'm gonna be with him, I'm gonna kiss him if I want to and I'm gonna marry him if I d*mn want to; regardless of what you- Lawrence or my parents or anyone else thinks about it!!!
"Slap"
He slapped me. And that was the final straw for me. He wasn't my father.
I punched his face in return. He pulled my hair and then strangled me. I hit him in the guts with my elbow and freed myself and then slammed him on the ground. He was strong so he pushed me aside and then started punching me in the face. I kicked him in return several times until he fell off me. We both stood up again and just when I was going to roundhouse kick him to a different plane of existence, Aimé pulled me back and Kye took Lawrence into the house. We both had bloodied ourselves a bit much but that wasn't the first time. I was obviously more hurt than he was because of his muscles but it was still worth it. He needed a taste of his own medicine. Kye gave us some bandages and then went back in to help Lawrence. I just stood up and left. I needed to feel the wounds before I closed them up. They healed better that way or at least that's what I felt.
Aimé: Avril! Avril wait. We need to bandage you first. Come back here!
I ran further into the countryside. I had seen a lake somewhere near there. I needed to drown myself right this instant!
Avril: you should go back home too. Your parents would be worried about you too. It's too early for you to take this sh*t. I'll return home when I'm done.
I jumped into the lake and went deep beneath. It was ironic how I could breathe again when I was finally drowning. It was a saltwater lake unfortunately and my wounds stung badly. I think I could hear Aimé scream.
I swam back up to see if he was okay. But he had jumped in for some reason and was struggling. Did he not know how to swim!?
I ran towards him and pulled him out of the water quickly. He was awake but he had inhaled a bit of the water.
Avril: Hey! Throw it up! come on! Who told you to jump in if you couldn't even swim?
I don't know if this was intentional or not but he was coughing up badly and hyperventilating unsuccessfully. I had to give him a EAV(expired air ventilation)
Aimé: cough cough tha– cough thanks
Avril: why did you jump in?
Aimé: What do you mean why? You were gone for a whole 4 minutes without any sign of swimming nor did you respond to any of my calls.
Avril: well I can hold my breath for a good five minutes underwater. Also, you can only hear faint muffled voices deep inside.
Aimé: Then don't go that deep. You scared me so much. Please don't do that again. Also, your wounds must be stinging even more. Let's get you home first then I can leave.
We walked in silence back home. I knew he didn't simply panic and jump. He had just now also shown signs of PTSD. But it didn't seem like he wanted to share anything so I kept quiet.
I called a cab that would drive him straight back home.
I went back in, Lawrence was probably in his room. I heard Kye and him laughing. At least someone was happy again.
I took a quick bath and then lay on the bed. I still needed to bandage some of the wounds for the excess bleeding but who cared? I switched on my phone finally and to my surprise, Mom hadn't contacted me once after yesterday afternoon. Which would be normal to others but quite unusual for me. There were no texts or calls from either of them. So I texted them instead.