Beneath

by Chanel Harry

  Tareeq could see that the Hamlin family weren’t getting a lot of sleep because all three of them had dark bags under their eyes the size of quarters. He greeted all of his friends and stood silently with them, as well as almost the whole student body that was there to support the Hamlins.

  Principal Winters came up beside the family. Her usual cheerful look was erased and replaced with a look of worry and sadness.

  “Thank you all for being here with us today while we walk in prayer for Josh Hamlin.” Principal Winters announced. “He is not only a loving son, a wonderful friend, but a bright member of our school community. We’ll be praying for his safe return home to his family so that he can continue being a bright and shining light to us all.”

  Everyone clapped then started to light their white candles that they held. King handed Tareeq a candle and lit it for him with a lighter. Tareeq noticed that some of the students were holding up posters that had Josh’s photos on them with messages of love and moving quotes.

  “We are doing everything in our power to find our son Josh.” Mrs. Hamlin sniffled. “He is such a good boy and my first son. I love him with everything in me…”

  “This is too sad.” Tareeq whispered to King.

  “I know, man. I wish this didn’t happen to him. I heard that the cops are looking for his body underneath the lake to see if he drowned.” King replied. “But still nothing from them.”

  “Damn. I feel so bad for Mason” Tareeq replied. He watched as the family made more speeches in regards to Josh. Mason kept his head down while his parents spoke. Other students shouted that they loved Josh while another batch of students shouted that they support the Hamlins.

  “As we close our candlelight vigil, I want to say thank you to the Hamlin family for letting us into their hearts. We as a community will come together for you to make sure that we are a shield for your pain. Josh was special to us and he is deeply missed, but we will aid you in finding him. You have our undying support.”

  Mrs. Hamlin hugged Principal Winters and started sobbing.

  “Thank you, so much.” Mr. Hamlin said as he hugged them both. Tareeq could hear some of the students crying and sniffling as they blew out their candles. He could feel the tears sting his own eyes, but he didn’t let them fall. The crowd started to disperse. Tareeq and the others all gave hugs to Mason; expressing their well wishes.

  “I’ll see you guys later.” Tareeq said. He waved goodbye to his friends and headed home. He didn’t want to stay behind because of the emotional vibe that was in the air, secondly, it was getting late. He made it home to see that his father was on the couch still, but awake and eating a bowl of oatmeal. He was watching the local news with a blanket around his shoulders like he was a child.

  “How was it?” He asked.

  “Emotional.” Tareeq replied, sighing. He plopped down on the sofa next to his father and stared at the television.

  “I’m sure it was.” Derek said. “I feel so bad for that family. I can’t imagine what I would do if you went missing or worse.”

  “I know, dad.” Tareeq looked down at his phone and saw that there was a text message from Mia:

  Mia: Can you meet me down by the lake? I want 2 C U. 

  Tareeq: A’ight. I gotta let my father know first.

  Mia: K. See you in a few.

  Tareeq exhaled; the thought of meeting Mia on a night like this excited him. He needed to see a comforting face.

  “Dad, I’m going for a walk.”

  “You just got here.”

  “Yeah—it’s kinda important though.”

  Derek furrowed his brow, glaring at his son.

  “Okay, just don’t go over to her house.”

  “You got it. We’re just going for a walk.”

  “Sure.”

  Tareeq didn’t like the way that his father sounded since he told him that he was going out to meet Mia. Ever since the incident at Elli’s with Mia’s mother, Derek hasn’t been too excited about Mia anymore. Sighing to himself, Tareeq left the house again, heading towards the lake.

  Walking through the woods, Tareeq wasn’t enchanted with the darkness of the woods. In fact it was too dark. Owls made their noises while they sat perched on some of the tall trees. He kicked himself for letting Mia call him out on a night like this.

  He saw the lake ahead of him and a dark figure that he immediately knew was Mia. She was in jeans and a sweat shirt with new sneakers that Tareeq hadn’t seen her in before. Once he made it to the lake’s shore, he tapped Mia on the shoulder and she greeted him back with a grin.

  “Good evening, Tareeq!” She joked in a funny accent. “So good of you to join me. Now I must suck your blood.” Mia buried her head into his neck pretending to bite him like a vampire would. Tareeq started to laugh and playfully shoved her off.

  “You’ll never kill me, Dracula.” He joked as well, making her laugh. “What’s up, girl?”

  “Nothing—I just wanted to see you.”

  “You see me now, but what do you really want with me?” Tareeq looked into her eyes and caressed her cheek with his right hand and held her in his other.

  “To do this…” She breathed. She kissed Tareeq on the lips for almost thirty seconds. Now breaking the kiss, she looked at him in the eyes. He smiled and kissed her again.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that forever.” He said.

  “Yeah?” She smiled.

  “DUH!” He laughed.

  “I’m glad that you did. What does this make us then?” She wondered. Tareeq looked at her with bright eyes. His face lit up when she asked him that.

  “What do you want us to be?” He asked with a grin.

  “Don’t answer a question with a question, silly. I want you to tell me what we are.” She quipped.

  “Alright then, I want us to be together.” He grinned, holding her hand.

  “I’d like that, too.” She said. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, reveling in their new teenage romance. “Can this be our meeting spot on days when we just need to talk?” She asked again.

  “Well, it is pretty romantic especially with the lake being magic and all.” Tareeq said.

  “Great! I know you got to get back home. Plus, my mom is expecting me back for dinner soon.” Mia replied. Her eyes looked sad to be leaving.

  “Don’t look so sad; I’ll text you tonight, okay?” He gave her a reassuring smile. He gave her another hug and kiss on the cheek. Before they parted ways, they kissed each other one last time.

  On the way home, Mia felt a rise of euphoria in her body. She was elated to be in a relationship with Tareeq after crushing on him since he arrived in Springbrook. He was the type of guy that she was in to; someone quiet, reserved, friendly and intelligent. He mirrored her in some ways too.

  She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Taking a look at the caller text notifications, it was the Blue Crew. It was a group text thread that they always used. This time though, they all asked Mia one question:

  BC: What did he say?

  Mia: He said that we are 2gether.

  Crystal: Did y’all kiss?

  Brittany: Please tell me y’all did!

  Tammy: STFU, Brit and let her tell it. Lol

  Mia: Yep we did kiss!

  Brittany: I hope he tastes better than Josh. Lol

  Crystal: Congrats, Mia! You sealed the deal with this one.

  Tammy: Like always. Lol.

  Mia: Thanks, but this one is different.

  Brittany: Don’t say you actually like this guy?

  Crystal: You think he could be your sovereign instead of just another meal?

  Mia: Perhaps, but we will see.

  She ended the text, smiled and placed her phone in her pocket. For the rest of the walk home and finally to her front door, she thought of all of the things that her and Tareeq could be together.

  He’s special, this one. She thought to herself as she ate dinner with her family under the watchful yet approving eye of her mother.

/>   Chapter 13.

  One Month Later…

  Tareeq was cleaning his room on a Thursday night. He didn’t want to wait until the weekend to clean it either. He had made plans with Mia to hang out on Saturday and a messy room wasn’t going to ruin it. Throughout the whole month that they have been dating, he noticed that he was treated differently in school. Almost everyone stared and snickered whenever they would walk hand in hand in the hallways. In fact, one day while he and Mia were sitting in study hall together, Lisa Fuller came up to them, laughing and pointing; making a scene for the students.

  “I didn’t know that Tareeq likes the smell of fish because Mia smells like she bathes in fish oil!” The girl chuckled. Everyone laughed, except for Tareeq whom got up from his seat, giving the girl a glare.

  “I don’t know, Lisa. I think you might be smelling yourself because I heard you don’t shower for a full week.” He mused. Everyone in study hall oogled and giggled at the quick quip that Tareeq gave to Mia’s tormentor. Lisa walked away from their table in tears from defeat. Mia was grateful for him in that moment. So grateful that she treated him to a home cooked meal for lunch the next day.

  Being with Mia had its downs though. His friends didn’t want to hang out with him as much. They would either make an excuse or give him an ultimatum: Mia wasn’t allowed to attend their outings. Tareeq didn’t want to choose between his friends or his girlfriend. He decided that he would make time for them both and not burn any bridges.

  After he was finished cleaning his room, he crawled into bed with his cell phone in hand. He put in his headphones and decided to listen to some music that he just downloaded onto it. While he did that, he made sure to text Mia. He was curious to know what she was up to:

  T: Bae, what are you doin?

  M: Nothing just here with Tammy.

  T: K. Tell her I said hey.

  M: I will but are you mad at me?

  T: What are you talkin about?

  M: You just wrote ‘K’. That means you’re mad

  T: Lol. I’m not mad at all. I just wanted to text you to tell you goodnight.

  M: Lol. Making sure.

  T: Did you hear about the winter dance?

  M: The Winter Ball? Wittington has that ever year. Why??

  T: Nothin. I just wanted to know if you wanted to go with me?

  M:  OF COURSE!!!!!

  T: We out then! We can talk more about it tomorrow at school. Sweet dreams, bae.

  M: Sounds good to me. Good night, sugar.

  Tareeq sent her kissing emojis and turned off the lamp that was on his nightstand. While he listened to the music that blared through his headphones, he dreamt about him and Mia slow dancing at the Winter Ball.

  Derek was up early in the morning listening to a podcast that played through his laptop. He sipped on coffee as he skimmed through a movie script that he started working on. Before the new month started, Howie told him that some production companies were looking into buying the rights for his first book, Loving, Mrs. Jones. When he heard the news, he was excited beyond measure. He was even happier when Howie negotiated that Derek was to write the script. Ever since then, Derek had been working extra hard; burying himself in his work. He wanted his movie to go right. The success of the book was tremendous, but sometimes, with the wrong writing, movies that accompanied the books, tanked at the box office. Howie of course told him that he was going to do well, but Derek needed that extra reassurance from his own abilities to write a noteworthy script.

  He took the last sip of his coffee and refilled his mug with another cup. His ears perked when he heard his son’s heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. That’s when he realized that he didn’t make any breakfast.

  This both parent role is getting pretty tiring. He thought to himself. He had to admit that being a father and filling in the role of another parent wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He thought he could handle taking care of Tareeq without his wife, but he was going to fold under pressure without her.

  “What you make?” Tareeq asked, cheerfully as he entered the kitchen.

  “Um…son. I haven’t made anything this morning but I can whip up some—’’

  “It’s alright, Dad.” Tareeq chuckled. He pulled out a bowl from the cabinet, a spoon from the utensil drawer and the box of his favorite cereal from the pantry. Derek watched his son in utter shame as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

  “You do know that you’re not mom right?” Tareeq pointed out. It was as if he was reading Derek’s mind. He could feel the hot coffee singe his throat from the gulp that he took because of the surprising comment his son made.

  “I know that, but I feel like I should be doing more.” Derek finally said.

  “Just be my dad. Mom is mom and you’re you.”

  “Thanks, son. I hope that by me working on this script isn’t taking away from the time that we spend together.”

  “Nah. Besides, I got Mia to keep me company.” Tareeq grinned, staring into space.

  “You and Mia have been spending a lot of time together.” Derek observed. “You two must really like each other.”

  “You can say that.” Tareeq professed. “I like her a whole lot. I’m going to take her to the Winter Ball next week.”

  “That sounds nice but son—“Derek started.

  “Ugh, there is always a ‘but’. What’s the deal, pops?”

  “Don’t huff like that.” Derek warned. “I just want you to be careful, is all. More importantly, I want you to not do anything that can put you in a compromising situation with her.”

  “If you’re talking the birds and the bees talk, mom already told me everything. You won’t have to worry about that because I’m not going to force her to do something she doesn’t want to. Secondly, I’m not talking about that stuff with you, dad. That’s kind of personal.” Tareeq chuckled.

  “Alright. Just keep what I said in the back of your mind.”

  “Okay. I got to get going now. Don’t wait up because Mia and I are going out tonight.”

  “Curfew is at twelve tonight, boy. Oh and son?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Try to stay clear of her mom.”

  Tareeq scratched his head for a moment trying to figure out what his father just told him.

  “Why?”

  “Until you’re serious with this girl, don’t be all up in her mother’s place.”

  “Got you. I’ll see you later.”

  “Text me to let me know you’re safe!”

  Tareeq waved goodbye to his father again and disappeared down the rainy street. Derek sighed and closed the back door. He needed to take a break from looking at the computer screen. So, he decided to read a book.

  Choosing his favorite one from the walled bookshelf, Derek plopped into his recliner and started reading. An hour into the intricate plot of the suspense novel, his mind began to wander. He thought about his son going on dates and being a normal teenager. That’s when he realized that he too was lonely. He barely left the house and when he did, he would think about his wife and all of the things that they would do when she was alive.

  Derek decided that today would be the day where he would venture out and make new friends. However, he wanted to start with the first friend that he made since moving to Springbrook. He dialed Elise’s phone number hoping that she would answer him after a couple of weeks of him failing miserably to call her.

  The day for Tareeq went on as he had hoped it would go: fast. He wanted more than anything to get out of school as quick as he can to meet Mia for their date. He was lucky that most of his classes, except for History, had homework for the weekend. Because of that, he used most of his study hall period to finish that assignment.

  It only took him twenty minutes to finish the essay assignment that he had to do. Now, he was on his way to his locker with a pep in his step and a song in his heart.

  For Mia, she came to school every day now. Instead of skipping, she finally had the gall to go to all of her classes. She had
never had this change of heart before, but was glad that Tareeq could bring it out of her. She applied herself to all of her homework; even making up the assignments that she herself missed. The Blue Crew didn’t like this change. They themselves felt that their leader was starting to become less and less the person that she was before Tareeq moved there.

  Although they felt that way, none of them dared to call her out on it. Mia was their best friend; whatever she did, they agreed to it. They decided that this would pass though. When it was their time, they would become like Mia; enthralled with their own love life. It was a part of growing up. More so, it was a part of whom they are. The part that even Mia couldn’t keep hidden for long.

  The last bell rang, signifying that the school week was finally over and the weekend was now in their grasp. Tareeq waited by his locker for Mia. Like clockwork, she was there smiling and holding her blue canvas bag. Her long kinky hair was defined with some of the curls in her face like a bang. Her deep brown face glowed a radiant mocha hue as she walked towards Tareeq. Each stride she took looked light to him.

  “Hi, Mia.” Tareeq greeted, kissing her cheek.

  “Hey, Brooklyn Boy.” She said back.

  “I’d wish you’d stop calling me that.” Tareeq chuckled. He took her blue bag and held it for her while his own backpack was on his right shoulder.

  “You ready?” She asked with an even wider grin.

  “I think I am. I just hope you’re not trying to kill me.” He joked. Mia frowned and walked ahead of him towards Aberdeen Lane. “I was joking. Don’t look so mad.”

  “I’m not mad; I’m happy actually.” She said flatly. Mia started down towards the street where the lake was. Tareeq looked up at the sky and noticed that there was gray clouds forming around the sun. It was only November, but he wasn’t expecting it to rain during this time of the month. A couple of days back, Mia told Tareeq that they were going to the lake to take a swim. Much to his hesitation of swimming in a lake when winter was drawing near, he agreed.