Broken to Pieces

by Avery Stark

  Buck didn't believe them, of course. In his mind-and the minds of most other white settlers-the Indians' myths and legends were the stuff that only an uncivilized culture would cling to.

  You can imagine his surprise when, one silent night as he and his family slept in their tiny cabin, he was awakened by the sound of five nails scraping through the exterior logs near his head."

  Tex paused and adjusted his belt.

  "So Buck quietly climbs out of his thin blankets, crawls over to the window and barely peers his eyes out. Standing next to his window, the Yo-na was raised up on two legs, blocking out the light of the moon."

  "Let me guess," Emily shoved her hands in her pockets. "He stormed out and fought with courage, saving the day."

  "What? No!"

  She looked surprised.

  "My uncle waited until morning," he continued, "then packed our family up and left for Texas."

  "I don't understand."

  He held a finger up to show that he wasn't finished.

  "Three days later, every man, woman and child within a quarter mile of their home was mauled to death. It was a vicious scene that, had Buck not fled, would have ensured that I never would have been born."

  "So what's the point of this story then, to run away from everything?"

  "The point," he hitched his thumbs through his belt loop, "is that you have to know when you are outmatched. You also have to accept that most answers won't be cut-and-dry and that, sometimes, we can't be afraid to reach out to those who have already offered their help."

  "Are you saying that I can't do this alone, then?"

  "No. I'm saying that you need to come to terms with what was, what is and what will be. It's okay to-"

  A little cloud of dust popped out from under Emily's heel as she stomped it into the dirt.

  "I have tried to be strong; to stand tall and trudge onward. If I need to prove anything, it's just that I can handle this on my own."

  "Why?" He waved his hands, "For what purpose?"

  She hesitated and thought back to the fable that she had picked over so many times. Never before had she even questioned the moral of it, let alone been blinded by the fact that its message might have been misguided the entire time.

  "I…"

  She looked down at a tuft of grass that had broken through the firmly-packed asphalt.

  "…I can't," she lamented as her shoulders sank.

  "You know," Tex leaned over and continued in a hushed tone, "real bravery isn't just about standing tall. Sometimes, the truly fearless are the ones who know when to bend to the inevitable things in life. Now listen, I know that you're going through a whole bunch of shit and, if my word means anything, you don't deserve one single inch of the miles of hurt being piled on you. I understand the pain that you have in your heart. I have been there before." He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. When she stared up, the look of desperation in her eyes was crystal clear. "But if you take anything away from all of this, let it be that you have to follow your heart and quit fighting these battles for the sake of some cock-eyed idea of honor. It's okay to take a knee every once in a while, Emily."

  The eloquence and gravity of his words left the young woman speechless. Deep inside, where her heart sat shattered, a faint spark of hope ignited.

  She watched in silence as Tex leaned down and unzipped one of his rifle bags. From inside, he slipped out the gun she had used in the woods with him.

  "I want you to have this," he said and held it out to her.

  Emily hadn't forgotten the rich history that the weapon held for him and his family.

  "No. I can't."

  "Really," he shoved it into her hands. "It would mean a lot to me."

  She closed her fingers around the cool metal.

  "Why, though?"

  The crackling sound of tires rolling across the parking lot drew both of their eyes up to the gaudy yellow cab that coasted to a stop behind them. Tex held his index finger up in the air, asking for just another minute.

  "Because," he grinned, "you still haven't hit my target yet."

  She scoffed, "I doubt that I ever will."

  Tex patted her shoulder and grabbed his bags.

  "You never know, Missy. You might just surprise yourself." He tipped his hat, "Until next time, Miss Harper."

  Walking over to the cab, he opened the door, threw his bags in and paused for one last smile.

  "Tex," she called out.

  "Yes?"

  A tight lump suddenly caught in her throat. She tried her best to swallow it down with the tears that threatened to erupt at any moment.

  "Thank you."

  After a slight nod, Tex dipped down into the back seat and slammed the door behind him. Seconds after that, Emily clung tightly to the weapon and watched as the car turned into a speck on the horizon.

  It was, in her mind, the beginning of the end for the summer, though whether or not that was a good thing was still so hard to tell.

  That evening, after she'd had a chance to shower and take a long, quiet nap, Emily stumbled out of her room with matted hair piled on her head and little bits of sleep still stuck to the corners of her eyes.

  "Hey."

  Adam's voice made her almost jump out of her socks.

  "What the hell, man?"

  "Sorry," he walked around from behind the corner and leaned up against the wall with his shoulder.

  "It's okay, I guess." She tried to not look too obvious as she pawed at her hair in a desperate, though unsuccessful, attempt at flattening it back out. "Did you know that Tex had to leave today?"

  "Oh yeah. It's too bad. I really liked that guy."

  "Me too."

  She looked up at his eyes briefly before shifting them down to the ground.

  "Look," Adam said, "I'm sorry about how I acted. I think that maybe things got out of hand." He paused and cleared his throat, "So I was wondering if you would let me make it up to you."

  He tapped the bottom of her chin with a curled finger. More than anything, he just wanted her to look at him with her stunningly beautiful eyes.

  She gazed up, finally, and smiled with one corner of her mouth.

  "Okay. What did you have in mind?"

  "It's a secret," he said in a sing-song voice that made Emily laugh.

  In reality, however, it took all that he had to keep the nervousness in his gut from making him run away screaming.

  "Well," she thought about it for a moment, "let's see it, then."

  The grin that spread over his face was intoxicating. He took her hand and pulled her away from her room, "Come on!"

  "Hold on," she couldn't help but giggle. "Don't I need to change?"

  Her wrinkled yellow dress, though pretty, wasn't anywhere near acceptable for going out.

  Adam reached out and pinched a little bit of fabric near the end between his fingers, rubbing it slowly between them.

  "It's beautiful."

  "But it's all-"

  He pulled on her arm again.

  "It's perfect. Now let's go!"

  —

  "You know that I don't even have any shoes on, right?"

  Adam looked over from the driver's seat of the late Carl Harper's ancient, lumbering truck. The rusting bucket whined over every hill on the narrow road leading up the mountain's burgeoning shoulders.

  "You can have mine," he smiled and turned back to the road.

  "That's a little gross."

  "Oh come on," he leaned over the steering wheel and furrowed his brow. "You can't tell me it wasn't sweet."

  With a genuine fit of laughter, Emily felt an unexpected lightness wash over her. In a way, it made her feel like she was tipsy, just like the first time that they explored each other by the lake's crystal waters.

  The similarity of the situation was not lost on her.

  "Okay," she said, letting her arm flop down onto the door frame, "it was a little sweet. Still gross, but sweet."

  He smiled, letting his white teeth show
through briefly.

  "Thanks."

  "No problem."

  There was an odd mix of both good and bad tension as the truck squealed over the last hill and dipped down into the valley. Even though the sky was still a rich blaze of oranges, the tall peak that loomed over the still lake cast a long shadow over all but the very tallest of the trees ,leaving everything under a thin blanket of gray.

  Adam turned the truck to the left and started around the lake.

  "Why are we going to the dock?"

  "Because," he slowed the vehicle to a stop so that its headlights illuminated a little row-boat bobbing in the water, "we are going to take a little boat ride."

  Before she was through considering whether or not she wanted to walk around barefoot, Adam jumped out, ran around and flung her door open, making the light hem of her dress flutter.

  "Adam!"

  "It's fine," he said as he scooped her up and started toward the water's edge.

  She reached up and rubbed the growing layer of hair on his head. By then it stood up in little bunches between her fingers.

  "What's gotten into you?"

  "Here we go," he said and lowered her feet down to the warped wood beneath them. With one hand, he helped her into the tiny vessel and jumped in after, almost capsizing them before they even had a chance to cast off.

  Emily reached behind her and removed the boat's rope from the dock's silver post, allowing her excited partner to push away and start rowing.

  "You never answered my question."

  "What's that?"

  He seemed a lot calmer once they were on the water.

  "Is there something in the air or what? You're acting funny."

  The oars barely disturbed the glass-like surface as they dipped in and out. Clearly, he had rowed a boat or two before.

  "I just realized some stuff that made me feel better."

  Emily leaned forward and rested her chin in her palms.

  "Like what?"

  "Like the fact that I love you."

  Her hands shot out and grabbed his, stopping the oars dead mid-stroke.

  "What did you just say to me?"

  The beat of her heart went from steady to erratic in an instant. From the gentle splashing sound as the boat rocked back and forth to the song of the birds and insects in the trees that made a circle around the lake's edge, nothing was spared.

  By the time that some sights and sounds began to come back to her, Adam had been rambling on nervously for a few minutes straight. Emily reached over and covered his mouth with her hand, finally silencing him.

  "Adam."

  "Hm?"

  "Listen," she pressed down a little harder to get her point across. "I know that this summer has been weird, but running around saying stuff like that isn't going to instantly make things better."

  Adam pulled her hand away from his face and held her wrist.

  "I know that I can't guarantee your happiness, Emily, but I do everything that I can."

  He leaned over before she could speak and pressed their lips together.

  "Just tell me that you will consider it."

  The pleading in his eyes made Emily want to cry for him, for herself, for everything. She didn't understand why she couldn't just let go and follow her heart.

  "I will consider it," she said in a whisper, their lips grazing by one another as her supple mouth shifted with the sound of each letter.

  They moved in for another, more passionate kiss. This time, their arms tangled around one another, forcing their throbbing bodies together. Even in the midst of the pressure both of them faced, their burning hunger for each other was unstoppable.

  Something about the situation made them lose control.

  Clothing was yanked and ripped away from their groping limbs. One of Adam's pant legs was cast aside and landed with about half of it hanging over the side of the rocking vessel. It dipped in and out of the water with their every nuanced movement.

  Left only in their underwear, Adam tackled Emily down to the very bottom of the rickety boat where he took up a daring position pressed between her smooth thighs. The thick bulge of his erection pressed out against her thin panties, making her groan softly under her breath.

  After waiting for so long to commit that particular act, neither one of them knew what move to make next. Instead, Emily looked up and locked eyes with her lover. She watched him closely and took note of the hitches and stops in his breathing as he slowly rocked the bottom of his thickness up and down over her tender area. Every time he moved back down and his swollen head rubbed against her mound, he sucked the air through his teeth. Even then, though he did not speak, she could hear the shivering that was taking him over.

  Emily reached up and let her fingers slide over every tiny bump and ripple of his exposed chest.

  "Adam," she said.

  Before answering, he grabbed her hips and pinned her to him.

  "Yeah?"

  "Did you really mean what you said?"

  He reached down and pulled out his member, then hooked one finger through her panties and jerked them to the side. Emily could feel him poised at her entrance. The very tip of his hot, stiff head slipped between her moist folds.

  "Now and always," he said quietly into her ear.

  With both hands, he reached up and pushed Emily's bra up, allowing her full breasts and perky nipples to fall right where his lips were waiting. In the same moment, the second half of his round tip penetrated her.

  "Oh god," she gasped as his lips surrounded one of her small points and he started to suckle.

  Emily grabbed onto the sides of the boat and, with one last gasp, threw her legs open wide. The rest of Adam's shaft sank into her, making both of them cry out with pleasure.

  They paused to kiss again.

  "Please," she begged, pressing her breasts against his naked chest, "take me."

  Adam reared back and thrust his hips against hers, making a loud, wet pop where their skin met. By then, Emily was panting with desire.

  "You said," she arched her back and rocked her sweet spot against his firm muscles, "that you would do anything."

  Still buried deep inside of her, Adam sat up and looked down to where his stiffness disappeared into her folds. He reached down and, with one thumb, pressed down gently onto the tender circle of flesh that surrounded her bud. That was, in his own way, the truest response to her statement.

  Adam started to sweep his thumb in wide circles, massaging Emily's throbbing area with a steady rhythm that matched the increasingly rapid pumping of his hips. Over time, he worked up to a pace that was quick and hard. Emily's breasts bounced up and down under the force of him, allowing his tongue to flick and tickle them over and over.

  Emily tightened her grip on the boat's sides and threw both legs up along with them so that her bare feet dangled into the water right alongside Adam's pants. Using both, she forced her slit onto him harder, essentially riding him from underneath.

  She couldn't control herself. Everything that he did-every move that he made-incited a maelstrom of need inside of her.

  "Wait," she gasped and kissed his lips.

  "What?"

  "Can you lay down here?"

  "Anything," he answered again.

  The pair switched places seamlessly. Emily hovered above his glistening member. Without hesitating, she forced her way down him, pushing her knees apart further as she descended onto his stiff member.

  Adam reached around and grabbed her rear with both hands.

  "Ride me," he demanded in a rough voice.

  The orders were all that Emily needed to hear. Right away, she began to bounce and rock over his pole. She raised both hands over her head, gathered her wild locks up into a bunch, and pinned them to the top of her skull. Her breasts' soft flesh jiggled and bounced with their synchronized movements.

  "Oh fuck," she groaned under her breath and arched her back.

  Again Adam used a single finger to caress her swollen nub, making a quick jerk
ing motion over it. The tight, hot sensation of orgasm tickled the back of Emily's throat, making her moans louder with each passing second. Deep in the pit of her stomach, just above where his wandering finger coaxed her closer, she could feel her muscles wrenching themselves until taught.

  With a couple last rocks of her quivering hips, Emily brought her and Adam over the edge together. His warmth was welcome and, in a way, almost magical. It sent violent shivers down the length of her spine and made her wailing cries of pleasure become lodged in the very back of her throat.

  Emily ran her hands over her throbbing breasts one last time before slumping down to the bottom of the boat and lying with her head on the upper half of Adam's left arm. Both of them desperately gulped down the air in a feeble attempt at slowing down their breathing. Neither of them, however, spoke for a long time. When someone finally did almost an hour later, it was Adam.

  "What are you thinking about?"

  She looked over to him and spoke in a reserved tone, "Back near my school, there is an airport. Most of the time, we don't really hear anything. But on those nights when the winds would pick up just as the sun went down, every flight would pass over my apartment. When they did, every once in a while the roaring jets would sound like a bomb falling."

  He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

  "It's hard to explain. The engines howling would hit the wind just the right way and it would sound like we had front row tickets to The Blitz. And every time that I would hear it, I would get a sinking feeling in my gut. It felt, just for a second, like the skies were going to open up and change everything." She paused, "Like nothing in the world could save me. I know it sounds really dumb, but-"

  He leaned over and stroked her check with his thumb. Beneath them, the bobbing boat swayed gently.

  "Why are you telling me this?"

  "Because," she said, "I feel the same way right now."

  Adam didn't know how to take her comment.

  "Is that a bad thing?"

  She let her head fall into the crook of his shoulder and wondered what the answer was. The only thing that was certain was the fact that, no matter what she chose, life would never be the same. The rose-colored glasses of youth had been ripped away, leaving behind a blindingly stark reality that was becoming harder and harder for the unsure young woman to cope with.