After Rick had left, she had sat there on her kitchen counter for awhile longer dipping back into the bourbon bottle before she covered it up and headed up towards her bedroom. She was quiet as she searched for her purse, she tossed the bottle into her purse closing it and she made her way towards her closet stopping for a moment to gaze down at Thomas as he slept, a smile forming on her lips. Her hand moved down and she slid the blankets over him more before she disappeared into her closet to change into a pair of shorts and a white silk crop top, she threw on a gray cardigan before she moved to grasp her purse and her keys being quiet not wanting to wake Thomas up, he needed his rest,
but she, she was.....restless.
She found herself texting her driver, when she got into the car it was already two a.m, she told her driver where she wanted to go and she sat there in the car watching the lights of the city as they passed by.
In and out....she seemed to doze off in the backseat before her driver told her they had arrived, she thanked him and got out of the car grabbing her purse in the process, she was at the beach, the smell of the water hit her first but the air was fresh and she inhaled deeply as she removes her flip flops so she was able to walk along the sand and feel it between her toes. She walked until she was just a few feet from the water and she sat down on the sand.
The sound of the waves softly crashing onto the shore and the wind was echoing in her mind with the millions of racing thoughts. She pulled the bottle of bourbon from her purse and opened it taking a long drink before setting the bottle down in the sand in front of her. She remembered the many times she had been to the beach. With her friends here and she was laughing and jumping around in the water.
She also remembered the times her father would carry her on his shoulders among the water, how her mother would laugh when he splashed her, how they had picnics and watched the sunset. How she had snuck out of the house to go an hour away to one of her favorite beaches with her boyfriend, how they would whisper sweet nothings to each other.
Her hand rose when she felt it, her cheeks were wet, she was crying. The slave auction had made her realize just how much pain there was in the world.
She missed her mom, her dad, her boyfriend, they would know what to say at this moment, they would do anything to make sure not one tear fell from her eyes, sure she had saved her friend and her friends had saved the others and her mother would be proud of her but would it truly fix their pain at the end of the day. The pain wasn’t something that just vanished, pain sunk into your soul and creeped out and attacked at your weakest moment.
Another long sip from the bottle. deep breathes.
She shook her head trying to shake away the thought, god how pathetic was she? Sitting on a beach drinking alone and crying. She was strong, she had been strong through all the shit that happened in her life, she HAD to be strong or else she’d break down completely.
It was funny how you could be surrounded by people but still feel so pathetically and utterly alone. Annette took another long drink from her bottle before she stood up. She stripped out of her shirt and shorts leaving her in just her red bra and matching underwear and before she could think much about it, she walked into the water and dived in and she just started swimming, the water was slightly cold and there was a soft wind. She would catch her damn death out here but the cold water calmed her thoughts, her body, her pain ..... or maybe that was the booze.
Annette stopped taking deep breaths, she was far from the shore now, she laid on her back and gazed up at the stars before she began to slowly move back to shore but as she did, a harsh wave hit her and sent her spinning beneath the water.
Water filled her lungs as she inhaled and she quickly swam towards the shore, once moving out of the water, she fell onto her knees onto the sand laughing the remaining water from her lungs. She inhaled deeply. Hell, that could have ended badly, maybe that was a sign that she needed to head home.
The sting of pain hit her when she stood up, her eyes flickered down to her foot, it was bleeding, she must of hit it on something, it was too bad. Annette grabbed the bourbon bottle and she drank down the rest of the liquid before she closed it, she walked over and tossed it in the trash before moving back over to slide on her clothing. She sat there on the beach just watching the waves.
A yawn fell from her lips and she could feel her eyes closing her body slumping, she laid against the sand and before she knew it, she was fast asleep. She would be hung over tomorrow and probably have a cold to show for her small breakdown but for the first time since the auction when she closed her eyes, she didn’t have sad thoughts, she had no thoughts, nothing at all..
