Page 3 of Perfect Tragedy
“I told you that I tried to wake you up.”
“That doesn’t mean you can just take things when you want.” He holds out his hand, “Give them to me.”
“Fine,” I sigh reluctantly knowing arguing is futile and not wanting him to stay angry. Jack may only be a year older than I am, but he uses every one of those twelve months to his complete advantage. Plus, the boy can ignore me like it’s an olympic sport; and if they awarded metals, he’d have earned a gold several times. I hate it with a passion.
Even though I aggravated him, he smiles at me once the binoculars are in his hands. The excitement in his eyes matches my own. I smile in return, and watch avidly as he puts them to his eyes and looks over at the house thinking our weeks of curiosity is about to be answered.
Watching his face closely, eager for any sign of news, I look toward the house on my own and squint. Immediately I see that other cars have arrived and I gasp in excitement. “What do you see?”
“Shh,” is his only response.
Frowning, I look back toward the house just in time to see some people walk out of the house and toward the car. I can’t make out any specific details, but they head to the car’s trunk and lean inside.
“Give them to me now, it’s my turn.”
“No. In a minute. I’m not done yet.”
“Come on, Jack. I want to see too.”
“There’s really nothing for you to see. There’s a girl, but she looks like she’s older than me.”
Something in his voice makes me instantly more curious. He’s got a slight smile on his face and I swear the binoculars are going to make his eyeballs pop out the other end because he has them pressed to them incredibly hard.
Even more curious now, I grab hold of the strap and pull. He’s not expecting it and they come flying away from his face and into my hands, “Yes!”
He protests, but I’m too busy devouring the sight before me and it too has captured my interest. A pretty girl with bright pink hair holds a box tight in her hands as she moves from the car’s trunk toward the house. Her ample breasts sit on top of the box she’s holding, practically falling out of her shirt. I may only be ten, but I know exactly what my eleven year-old brother was looking at. He’s in love at first sight. Stupid. I snicker under my breath.
A woman steps out of the house and says something to the girl I had just been watching. She must be her mother. She’s talking and pointing at something inside. Before I can look around to see if there’s anyone else, Jack yanks on the strap trying to take the binoculars from my hands. I should have expected he’d get impatient and want them back, but he manages to surprise me.
“Stop! I’m not finished yet!”
“Give them back.”
“No! Your turn was longer than mine. I’m not done yet.”
“They’re my binoculars,” he pulls them again.
“Don’t be stupid, I’ve had them for less than five minutes!” I yank them hard again, not willing to be bossed around.
“What are you looking at?” An unfamiliar voice asks loudly from below and it completely takes me off guard. It clearly takes Jack by surprise too because he lets go of the strap.
I fall, and I fall just right. Or wrong. Take your pick. I fall perfectly through the open hatch.
Branches scrape against my skin and snag my clothes as I pass by them on my way to the ground.
Sooner than I expect, I land. Hard.
I’m so startled, I simply lay there.
“Shit!” I hear Jack curse and I immediately think how mad my dad would be if he knew. We aren’t allowed to curse, but that leaves my mind instantly as I become aware of three things simultaneously.
One, there’s a trickle of blood running down the side of my face from above my eye.
Two, my head hurts where it bounced off the ground and there’s a sharp pain in my wrist. I think I should be happy I didn’t split my head open, but I’m positive I’m going to have one heck of a headache.
Three, there’s a boy, that’s not Jack, standing over me.
At least, I’m pretty sure he is. Maybe I hit my head harder than I realize. The sun is right at his back and it’s difficult to make out any of his features. Maybe I’m wrong and it isn’t a boy, it’s an angel and I just died falling from this tree.
