Framework

An excerpt from a story I started writing years ago that never got finished. Might work on it over the break.


The day was crystal clear; the air crisp with the smell of glistening salt water, now this is what it was all about. Jake Akoni was a Native Hawaiian Born to a White father and native mother in Kaui. &nbsp;Slender yet fit, he stood right at 6 feet tall, tanned skin and straight black hair. He and James had become fast friends while James waited tables over the summer at a nearby restaurant, yes, work was James’s form of vacation. After he got off he would meet Jake at a nearby beach hoping for conditions to be right, which they usually were either for surfing or body surfing. This was the entire summer, occasional visits to the rainforest sides of the island, nightly bar-b-que’s and tons of feel good attitudes coupled with heavy drinking and hard beach parties; this is where they got the nickname the “Havok Brothers” . They had become quite close; Jake was the one that showed James he was in love with Ashlee, despite their splitting up freshman year. Jakes was the one who showed James how to live…”Hes fucking dead dude!” shattered everything James felt on that hot Friday afternoon back in his car at school. “What the fuck are you talking about man? Who’s dead?” was James ‘confused reply. “Goddamnit James they fucking killed Jake man! They fucking stabbed him!”…The painfull crying overtook Junior’s voice as he tried to slow down to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. “You have to be kidding this is some sick joke man ha-ha he’s not dead quit playing man”, was all James could say and even that was with a sick desperation that couldn’t hide the fact that James knew it was true, but hoped he was wrong. Junior was still sobbing on the other end of the phone,”I gotta go man..I…. fuck” then silence. And there he sat, inside his steaming hot car, shocked, but numb. He always knew Jake was pretty deep in some drugs but he was doing well these past few months, he found God, he found a girl and a good job; he had finally been on the right track and now it was all gone. James never cried so hard in his life, the tears seamed cold as ice against his searing skin, he had lost the friend who showed him how to live, taught him to love again, shit this was the guy who taught him how to surf, body surf and long board while he was on the island. The thirty minutes seemed to be an eternity as the tears flooded his sweaty shirt and he beat his steering wheel with everything he could muster between the sobs and gasps for air. Then, he gave up, James surrendered to the fact that Jake wasn’t going to magically return, Jake was gone, now he had the obligation to carry his memory with him. “The Havok&nbsp; Brothers” had been reduced to one, and James had no intention of letting the name die, granted it was his last name, but it meant much more now, it was a symbol of what he had left. His eyes were dry now, breathing controlled and it was hot as hell and James forced himself to start the car, park it in the back lot and get out into the world. It was fully understood that this may be the longest night of his life, and now, James looked to the sky and went into the locker room…</div>