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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 21:40:20 GMT -5
Skinner smiled, thinking of her mother. "My mom's a neonatal doctor," Skinner said softly. "Mindy Jones."
Skinner smiled, remembering the children in the neonatal wing at the hospital. She loved going and just watching them, but it was terribly sad, extremely when one of them died. It always tore Mindy apart, her having taken it personally.
"How come you were in Sydney?" Skinner asked after a moment, conversationally curious.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 9, 2008 21:45:39 GMT -5
"My mom was from Australia and moved to the States after high school," Emily answered. "I had never met her family, so I took a trip to go meet them. Great people..." She had had an enjoyable trip. Her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins had been very accepting and, unlike her immediate family, agreed that she should keep trying to wake Edward up. That had made her feel so much better...like she was doing the right thing.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 21:53:10 GMT -5
Skinner nodded and smiled. "You like it?" she asked. "I loved Sydney. The wind and the waves. I'm a hardcore surfer. And the people. It was the greatest feeling I've had." At least it was, until a few years ago.
She kept trying to keep the thoughts and memories from invading, but kept failing miserably. She shifted, feeling a bruise on her ribs poke at her side. She fought the urge to call out about it, the pain rather searing. Her bruises from earlier and the last fight were just now percolating, going into full form.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 9, 2008 22:04:45 GMT -5
"I loved it," Emily smiled. "I didn't get a chance to learn how to surf. But my family was great...real accepting and kind. Made me sort of wish that I had gone sooner."
Emily was already beginning to miss Pop and Gram. That's what she'd ended up calling her grandparents. They were so wonderful and excited to meet one of their grandchildren for the first time. They were your typical grandparents, pretty much, except they did a lot of catching up on what happened in the first twenty-four years of their granddaughter's life.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 22:07:05 GMT -5
Skinner chuckled softly. "i've surfed since I was 7. I love it."
She sighed softly, swallowing but having to shift again to avoid touching the bruise on her ribs. She sighed, knowing it proabbly seemed as restlessness to Emily and wondered if she had noticed it yet. She winced almost unnoticeably and turned back to Emily.
"It's like it's just you and the waves out there. Nothing else," she mused in a soft voice.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 9, 2008 22:12:47 GMT -5
"It must be nice," Emily murmured at the thought. Complete seclusion from the world...allowing you to really think. She'd have to take up surfing when they got back to LA. She needed that kind of thing. Maybe then she wouldn't blow up at her family as often when they would set her up on dates and tell her to let go. It sounded like a wonderful, alternate universe. A beautiful, beautiful idea...
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 9, 2008 22:16:10 GMT -5
"It is," she siad, sighing and looking back at the push and pull of the waves.
Skinner swallowed, thinking about surfing in Aussie. "i always used to use it to get away from...well people in my life. It's a good distraction and gives you a chance to really enjoy life. Always a great outlet."
Skinner smiled, thinking about the times she'd ran off to the beach after Erik had gotten mad. The times she'd spent the night under the stars just to go back to the anger and frustration the next day. She sighed, feeling a renegade tear slide down. The breaking of the dam.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 10, 2008 10:47:59 GMT -5
"I always used to use it to get away from...well people in my life. It's a good distraction and gives you a chance to really enjoy life. Always a great outlet."
"I'm going to have to learn when we get back to LA," Emily mused, glancing at the waves and then back at Skinner. A tear was slipping down the young woman's cheek. "Hey," she said soothingly. "What's wrong? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
It made Emily sad when people cried. She was so used to babies crying and soothing them, that it came first nature to soothe anyone who was crying. After all, a lot of her time after the accident had been spent crying. It had helped her in the long run to be able to attempt and soothe people when they were upset.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 10, 2008 10:50:33 GMT -5
Skinner sighed softly, but didn't attempt to wipe her cheek. She was scared that would bring even more tears.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about it," she said finally, biting her lip. "I just, don't know if you'd want to hear it. And I don't like talking about it because I don't like pity. Plus it's a rather long story." But she needed to talk about it, not that she'd admit to that.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 10, 2008 10:56:16 GMT -5
"We're on a deserted island and there aren't any ships on the horizon," Emily stated calmly, smiling a little. "We've got everything in the world. Plus - you listened to my sob story from seven years ago. It's the least I can do to return the favor." She leaned forward a little to show she was engaged in what Skinner was saying. Strangely enough, Emily liked to hear about other people's lives, even if it was something horrible they just needed to get out of their system.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 10, 2008 11:18:04 GMT -5
Skinner sighed and nodded, pulling her legs tighter to her.
"Well, when I moved to Australia, I met this handsome Aussie native. Erik Troken. We hit it off right away and dated for 3 years of my college experience. He was wonderful and kind to me, and I always felt safe around him. Then, after my graduation, we got engaged. I moved in with him and everything seemed fine. But then, he seemed to get angry more often and eventually he hit me. I convinced myself I was doing something wrong and I tried to please him and became less social and eventually i stopped hanging out with anyone but him. The bruises and cuts got worse but I hid them well."
She bit her lip, another tear flowing down her cheek. "For the last year I began working out and building myself, just so I could one day stand up to him. Yesterday actually. He'g gotten mad because I forgot to put up the milk and it soured. I broke his jaw and hours later I was on this plan." She looked over, sighing a bit. With the sigh came a wince from the bruises on her ribs and she pulled up the tail of her a-shirt, showing a large purpled bruise on her ribs and she pulled up her sleeves, showing handprint bruises from where he had held her arms so tight they bruised.
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Post by Emily James on Jun 10, 2008 11:29:11 GMT -5
"Oh god," Emily breathed out. She'd heard stories of that sort of thing happening, but never actually seen anything like it or the after effects. She was a little stunned at first. "But you stood up to him. That takes real courage and bravery...more bravery than I have. I don't think I ever could've done something like that." Emily said what was right on her mind. She never could have done anything. In fact, she probably would've taken it until something major happened. It wasn't her nature to stand up to people...most of the time.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 10, 2008 16:09:23 GMT -5
Skinner smiled a bit and nodded. She felt tons better, believe it or not. She rolled her sleeves back down and tugged her shirt over the bruises.
"Yeah. I'm...I'm glad I did. But that doesn't change anything. Tehre are still scars, scars that aren't gonna go away." She sighed softly, biting her lip and tugging her knees closer. She laughed once and shook her head, more at herself than anyone. "So now you know my sob story. I guess we're even."
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Post by Emily James on Jun 10, 2008 18:04:09 GMT -5
"So now you know my sob story. I guess we're even."
Emily laughed a little. "Yeah, maybe we should start a club," she remarked, a hint of sarcasm coating her voice. "But what would we call it?" Emily tacked on at the end with mock curiosity. She couldn't fathom what it would be like to have the memories of someone being abusive haunting you for all eternity, and she wasn't going to try. It would only make it a bit more awkward.
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Post by Skinner Jones on Jun 10, 2008 18:12:51 GMT -5
Skinner laughed a bit, but winced and cursed laughingly when her bruises hit her rib cage.
"D****t," she said, shaking her head. "Part of me wishes I would have given him more than a d**n broken jaw." She sighed and thought for a moment fleetingly about the club.
"Herm. Losers R Us?" she said, grinning. She meant for it to be a joke, a distractions. That's all Skinner was anymore. A fake laugh and a lovely distraction.
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