Borderline



  Borderline

  by Amy Luppino

  Copyright 2014 Amy Luppino

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  Borderline

  I have never seen a dead body before. Even at my Grandad's funeral I wasn't allowed to see past the stone cold pews where the open casket lay. But that was ten years ago and this is now. I have a front row seat to Drake’s body sinking into the sand. The waves come in but not as far as his matted hair that look like cobwebs above his eyes. Not even the rising sun can penetrate through his glass orbs…

  Yesterday I woke to my brother Dale’s normal Saturday morning workout. I usually groan at the repetitive thud thud thud of his Nikes on the treadmill and roll over, trying to get back to sleep, but I kicked off my sheets and greeted the cloudless morning with my bicycle crunches and abdominal planks on my balcony. I always use this time to appreciate the view of the evolving skyline; the fingerprint of this city. The ocean, the palm trees and busy highways. It’s the whole world to me.

  I showered quickly and threw on my one hundred and fifty dollar jeans, new top and flat shoes. I almost tiptoed down the stairs, desperate not to rouse Dale from the gym. I couldn’t hear the thud of his Nikes anymore. That wasn’t a good sign. The gym door is glass with a wooden frame, which didn’t help either, but he was already on the other side of it.

  ‘Morning, Skylar,’ he said rather jauntily, taking some milk out of the fridge. ‘What are you up to today?’

  His cheerfulness caught me so off guard I hadn’t thought of a lie yet. ‘Um, well, I was going outside to meet Dalton. He’s picking me up,’ I said.

  Dale nodded through the noise of the blender and added as he turned it off, ‘Going shopping?’

  ‘Yeah, downtown. See you later, Dale.’ At least I didn’t have to lie.

  He waved a goodbye while he drank his smoothie. My best friend Dalton was already waiting. I hopped in his convertible and we drove down my street and out of the estate.

  ‘Well, that went well,’ I told him smiling, as the turbulence picked up with his speed. I flicked my dark hair behind my shoulders so it didn’t blow into my face. I have a convertible myself. I’m used to it.

  Dalton glanced at me through his aviators. ‘What? With Dale? Yeah, I wasn’t waiting long this time.’

  ‘Maybe his paranoia is slowly disappearing,’ I said with a shrug. ‘About time.’

  We stopped at a red light. ‘Yeah, maybe.’

  I moved in with Dale and his wife, Kate three years ago once I had enough of our father’s workaholism and secrets. So he became my guardian and took on all the responsibilities that our father would often neglect, including keeping tabs on my Saturday night.

  ‘Hey, if Drake’s there tonight…’ he added while we are still stopped, but the light turned green and we took off. He continued as we joined the queue of cars turning left at the next intersection. ‘… don’t worry about it. Like I said, he knows after all these years I see him as the douche bag everyone else always has. I didn’t stay after you guys broke up so his beef is with me now.’

  ‘Hate is love to him,’ I said. ‘He loves us both still and he can’t stand it.’

  Dalton frowned. I didn’t know whether he agreed or not, but he should. He and Drake had been best friends since the beginning of high school and then in our final year I came along when I finally agreed to go on a date with Drake. We become a tight little group – just the three of us – until he started winning skateboarding competitions and signed a sponsorship deal the summer after we graduated. We joined him on his rollercoaster of debauchery, but he never knew when to get off and stay grounded. The tension grew as fast as his ego and soon enough I left him and so did Dalton.

  We parked and walked through the fashion district, dodging all the tourists and people who want to copy high-end fashion without paying the bigger bucks. I pointed to the masquerade store once it came into view and we went inside.

  ‘There it is!’ I said, after the scanning the store for the mask I saw on the website. It was a shiny silver half mask, simple and elegant, but it more importantly it went with my new Prada dress. I tried it on and faced the mirror. I didn’t need a second opinion from Dalton. This was it.

  ‘Okay, now one for you,’ I told him with a satisfied grin.

  He picked up the first one he saw. ‘This’ll do.’

  ‘Well, try it on, then.’

  The mask was black and covered two thirds of his face. I guess it would go well with his black suit and bow tie. I nodded at him approvingly. We paid for them and had lunch at Arto’s Café down the street. As we waited for our grilled chicken paninis and soy lattes, I put my mask deep inside my Guess handbag, covering it with my wallet and old receipts.

  When Dalton dropped me home later in the afternoon, I told him I’d meet him at the ball in case I had to sneak out this time. I breathed in and held my handbag closer to my body as I walked into the house. I could hear the theatre room TV on. Good. He and Kate were in there, probably napping by now. He was usually easy on me whenever Kate was around too. Even better.

  I managed to get to my room untouched. I tried not to let the excitement build up inside me too much; I still had to sneak out, but I was more prepared than ever. The night before I put my dress on a coat hanger and hung it from tree branch on the side of the house, where Dale and Kate only go to take the bins out on Thursdays. There was no rain or wind forecast either, just a dry and starry night. I tried to pass the time by catching up on my readings for college, but the text kept turning into a swirl of black ink. I couldn’t concentrate knowing that Dale could knock on my door and ask what I was doing tonight. By 8pm, it was time to get ready while luck was still on my side. I put on eyeliner and mascara – not too much, no point, but a generous layer of lip gloss. I smacked my glossy pink lips, grabbed my clutch with my mask inside and made the fateful trip downstairs.

  One step down. Nothing. Two steps. Nothing. Three… four… it was looking good. They weren’t in the kitchen or anywhere in plain sight. I leaned against the wall adjacent to the theatre room and peeked inside the glass doors. They were still asleep, heads on shoulders, in front of the TV that was playing the DVD menu screen over and over again. I exhaled and walked out through the garage. I changed quickly into my dress and pumps. It wasn’t cold nor did I care about passers-by. I just wanted to text Dalton to say I was on my way. I put my mask on and I didn’t look back. The ball was walking distance at a club near the beach. I arrived just as a masked Dalton got out of a cab and had a look around, probably for me.

  ‘Dalton!’ I called. His eye that wasn’t shadowed by the mask found me. He waited for me to catch up. I couldn’t tell if he was happy or worried to see me.

  ‘I just looked at your text,’ he said. His uncovered eye was darting around behind me. ‘How – how did you manage?’

  ‘Dale and Kate were asleep on the couch,’ I shrugged. ‘Piece of cake.’

  He stopped looking around and nodded with a tight but impressed smile. We showed the bouncer our invitations and walked into the fireworks of lights, heavy bass and disguises. I went straight to the first bar I saw. I needed a cosmopolitan to complement the immense feeling of relief. Dalton asked for a Mojito. We turned around and leaned against the bar, sipping and observing. It was a sea of black suits and cocktail dresses worn by people I couldn’t recognise, but over by the lounges I knew who the guy was behind a platinum coloured mask, discreetly adding some more liquor from a flask to his drink.

  ‘There�€
™s Drake,’ I hissed.

  Dalton nodded and took a long sip until only ice remained. We both knew there was no point in hiding like a pair of wild hares. Drake was the wolf who would find us before the night ended. We stood there until his eyes met mine. He grabbed his drink, adjusted his half mask and meet us at arm’s length.

  ‘Evening,’ he said flatly, but as confident as ever.

  We nodded but said nothing. Silence always subdued him, but this time he fought it. I guess it was the alcohol.

  ‘So, how are we all?’

  And when that didn’t work–

  ‘Skylar. Looking pleasing as always…’

  I slapped his hand away from mine before Dalton did. ‘Stop it, Drake,’ I growled.

  ‘What?’ he drawled before taking a clumsy swig. ‘Can’t a guy complement his ex-girlfriend and talk with his ex-best friend?’

  ‘Not when you’ve had a whole bottle of that and God knows what else,’ I said, my eyes narrowing.

  He laughed coldly. ‘And yet you still care. Let’s see how much…’

  He tried to pull me toward him with his free hand, but Dalton pushed him away. I gasped as some of his drink spilled at my feet. I looked up as he shoved Dalton back with another cold laugh. Security was quickly on the scene.

  ‘Okay, break it up you two,’ said one of the bouncers who pushed them off each other. ‘No tolerance for this kind of shit here. Put down your glass. Let’s go.’

  ‘Come on, big guy,’ said the other bouncer, grabbing Drake’s arms behind his back. I followed as fast as I could through the crowd. I thought I could hear Dalton yelling for me so I yelled back, but the music drowned my tiny voice. I lost sight of them but made it to the exit and then saw one of the bouncers in the distance put one foot on Drake’s back until he stopped writhing. Dalton, still lying face down in the sand, coughed and got up slowly as I took off my pumps and ran to him. The bouncer left Drake groaning and spluttering, but he still managed to get up. Sand fell out of his mouth as it twisted into a sly grin.

  ‘Sorry babe, I guess I ruined another night for you,’ he said breathlessly. ‘But why don’t we have a nice little swim like the old days?’

  ‘I hate you!’ I screamed at him. ‘You know what my brother’s like! How long do you think it’s been since I’ve been out? How long?’

  I lunged forward to grab his suit, but Dalton pulled me back. He let go once I assured him I was okay, but I lied. The anger was fierce inside me. I had never felt this kind of intense wrath before. It was almost inhuman. It was uncontrollable.

  ‘You never understood how I felt!’ I went on. ‘You can just pick up your skateboard and go wherever you want! And look what it got you! A Goddamn sponsorship deal!’

  ‘Maybe it’s your brother’s way of saying you need to do something other than shopping!’ Drake sneered, raising his open palms in my face. ‘That’s all you do. This mall, that mall, designer this, designer that! Drake, buy me this three thousand dollar dress!’

  ‘Fuck you!’ Dalton tried to force me away again, but my wrath overpowered him. ‘Where’s your college education? You stupid drop out!’ I laughed as coldly as he had and added, ‘Oh, and it’s okay. Another guy bought me this dress!’

  ‘You stupid slut!’ he roared and suddenly took a swing at me.

  I screamed and covered my face, but Dalton quickly blocked his fist and threw himself on Drake. They were rolling around in the sand, punching and kicking each other. I tried to scream over the waves crashing in the dark. I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything without harm. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Silence. I couldn’t hear anything. Not even the ocean. I opened my eyes and saw Drake lying face up without his mask on the shore, bleeding from his gut. My breathing became heavy and my body stiff. The knife fell from my grasp, deep into the sand.

  ‘Skylar!’ I heard in the distance. I saw Dalton run through the sand dunes, screaming my name. ‘Skylar! Oh shit! What have you done?’

  He leapt over the fence and tried to resuscitate Drake, but he bled too much into the ocean from the wound in his side. Dalton started to sob and fumbled to take out his phone out of his pocket. ‘I’m so sorry, I need to call your brother.’

  That didn’t make me move. My eyes were still fixed on Drake.

  Dalton fell to his knees. ‘Dale? Dale! Skylar’s here with me! She met me at the–’

  The ocean was still quiet enough for me to hear Dale’s panicked voice through the phone. ‘Where is she? You were only meant to take her out to get a mask so she wouldn’t feel left out! What’s happened, Dalton?’

  ‘I know, Dale!’ Dalton cried. ‘But she wanted a break from confinement so bad! All those doctors… There was a fight… I went to get help but then she just turned! Please, just hurry! We’re at the beach! She stabbed… She doesn’t know what she’s done!’

  Dalton dropped his phone into the sand. He grabbed hold of me and wept on my shoulder as the wail of sirens pierced through the stillness of the sea.

  # # #

  About the author:

  Amy Luppino is an Edith Cowan University graduate, with a degree in Health Science, majoring in Addiction, Mental Health and Women’s Studies. In 2012, she was the recipient of the ‘Hypatia’ Women’s Studies Writing Prize. She is currently completing her post-graduate Professional Writing Diploma at Edith Cowan.

  Thank you for reading my book! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving me a review.