Chapter 3: Daniel

“We’re about to leave,” I tell Guinevere as she wraps herself in the red blanket that was currently on her lap. “Okay,” she had let out before grabbing her white ruffled purse from the dark grey ottoman in front of her. It was getting rather late, so I had insisted to Charlotte that it was best to leave, especially before Levi breaks the Microsoft Excel computer that I bought four years ago. Guinevere stood up from the brownish grey deep-seated sofa, and had put the white sparkly strap from her purse over her left shoulder. “Bye Anthony,” she tells him before we walk upstairs to Charlotte, who would be waiting at the front door for us - wearing her hairless black parka, burgundy toque, and her black ankle high winter boots.  “Are you okay?” Charlotte asks Guinevere as she places her right hand on Guinevere’s left shoulder. “Yeah I’m fine,” Guinevere had let out after a deep, long awaited sigh. “Well this was fun,” Davina had told us, walking around from the corner where the Christmas tree was. In their living room, they had two sofas facing each other, one brown, one beige, with a wood-covered table in the middle on top of the red rug they have. The brown sofa was against the wall that faced outside, where you could look out the window and see the frost silently hitting the sidewalk. They have an out of tune piano on the wall adjacent that had never been played. Guinevere used to play it every once in a while, but she stopped playing a while ago. To be correct, she does play the piano, but she doesn’t play it at Davina and Marshall’s place. The Christmas tree was in the corner nearest the wall adjacent to the entrance and the window, closest to the beige sofa. 

“Thank you for having us over,” I tell Marshall, going in to shake hands with him. “No problem. I do hope that we can see you guys more often,” he told me as he let go of my burnt hand. “Where’s Anthony?” Davina had asked Guinevere rather quietly. “He’s downstairs,” Guinevere had told her under her breath while pulling her hair behind her left ear. “Okay,” Davina had let out before walking off to the back stairs. “Thank you for coming,” Marshall tells us as he hugs Charlotte. Guinevere was now putting on her white knee-length boots, white parka, followed by her pink toque, letting out a long sigh before we exited the brown stain glass door. Leaving the house, the frost starts to touch my nose, making it rather itchy, yet I didn’t want to scratch it - I made the mistake of not grabbing my thick blue mitts before leaving. We get to our grey 1990 Buick Electra Sedan that I parked across the street, and after I start the car driving down the street, I hear Charlotte ask Guinevere, “What did you and Anthony do?” One part of me thought that wasn’t necessary to ask - I saw the white lace panties on the sofa, and I knew they wouldn’t be Anthony’s. If they had sex, I’d be fine with it, I just wouldn’t ask, she’s old enough to know the consequences of her decision. “So? What did you guys do?” Charlotte asked again, turning her head around to notice a rather spaced-out Guinevere, not wanting to answer the burning question that Charlotte now had, and wasn’t going to let go until she got an answer. “Well?” Charlotte asked, staring at Guinevere. “What?” Guinevere had snapped at Charlotte when she saw her staring at her. “You’re not going to tell me what you and Anthony did?” Charlotte asked her, trying to calm her down by speaking in a more gentle tone. “I don’t want to,” Guinevere had muttered from behind me. She was sitting in the passenger seat behind me, staring out the window as if she was watching life pass her by without a care in the world. 

I’m just as worried about Guinevere as Charlotte is, however, I try not to show it. Whenever Charlotte tries to talk about Guinevere and her new look, I just take a deep breath and hope for the best. I know it’s not the best option, but I barely talk about it. The only person that I do talk about it with is Carter. Carter is a friend from church that we’ve known for the past little while. There were times where he would be constantly coming back into our lives. The first time was when he was friends with Levi, the second time was when I got his phone number because we ran into him at the hospital, then it was that he was teaching music on the elementary side of the school that Guinevere goes to. And then he showed up at church. I swear, it’s like someone is trying to bring him back into our lives. I don’t know why, but apparently he’s either supposed to be with one of us or help one of us, and the only person who I could think of for that is Guinevere. 

I’ve tried to tell myself to not think that, but he keeps coming back into our lives and I don’t know why. I remember having that conversation with him awhile back, or a conversation that was about her at the least. The last time we had seen him before he entered our lives again was when I got his number and shared it with Charlotte. He had sung a piece of an opera with some friends outside of the hospital, and when he saw us, Charlotte and him would not stop talking. It was that day I remember asking for his phone number so we could keep in touch, even if Guinevere was quite young back then, but one part of me really feels like there’s something going on now between the two of them. Whenever we’re at church, he comes across as if he has this constant need to make her laugh. In fact, I remember it being that same day when he made her laugh that I talked to him. After Charlotte called Guinevere over to her after putting on her black parka, I remember walking up to Carter after putting my mid-cut grey winter coat on. “Carter? Can I ask you a delicate question?” I remember asking him, seeing those brown eyes of his starting to look around the room rather mindlessly. “What is it?” I remember him asking me, lowering his voice so Erica couldn’t hear him. “Do you have any intentions with my daughter?” I remember asking him, presenting myself in a father-like manner. “What makes you think that I’m into her?” I remember him stuttering quite a bit while pulling his hand through his short yet thick brown hair. “Just thought I’d ask,” I remember stating before patting his shoulder as if it didn’t matter and he could shake it off. It was after that, that I tried to be more careful with my words around him. He’s never admitted to taking a liking in Guinevere, but he’s never rejected the idea, which just bugs me. It’s either he likes her or he doesn’t. He’s not just sending her mixed signals, but he’s also sending me mixed signals. 

When we get home, I pull up onto the gravel pathway of a car entrance, only to turn off the exhaust and get out of the car. Charlotte and Guinevere exit and head straight for the entrance that was off to the car’s right. We live in an L-shaped house, where the entrance is on the short end with the garage adjacent to the left (where we enter in) on the long end.  The porch light was still on, reminding me that I should have turned it off before we left. We walk up to the glass blue-stained door, and I hear Charlotte let out a rather exasperated sigh before stating rather angrily, “I thought the snow wouldn’t hit the welcome mat!” Guinevere and I walked right in as she quickly swept the snow off the welcome mat, entering right behind us. When we enter the house, a coat rack is seen on a light beige wall in front of us with a bench underneath that has cubbies for our boots. On the right side of the entrance, there is a light beige wall that extends to where the stairs start with the dining room on the other side. Behind the wall of coat hooks is where our living room is - grey marble electric fireplace on the left wall, with our grey leather sectional that was finally upholstered a week prior, with a glass table in front, yet it had wooden legs holding it up, with a tiffany blue rug that extended to the backend of the sofa, with it all being underneath a black finish four-candlestick chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There’s a window across from the sectional, and on the right side of the room is the kitchen - white granite countertops with white cabinets that had a grey and black subway style backsplash. On the further side, nearest the window, there’s a glass faded door that holds a closet for storage. It barely holds anything, except for the belgian blue apron that Charlotte wears when baking. The other side that mirrors the faded door is our dining room, which can be seen from the outside before entering the house. “I need to talk to Levi,” I tell Charlotte and Guinevere before taking a deep long breath. “Good luck,” Charlotte tells me, patting my shoulder as I take a long stare into her dark brown eyes before heading up the stairs with Guinevere, silent as waves rumbling across the surface of an ocean. 

To paint a picture of the house, behind the wall that has the fireplace is where we have our pool. I absolutely love to swim, and Guinevere loves to swim as well, yet Charlotte and Levi don’t go in it as much. There would be some days where you’d find Guinevere in there for most of the day, wearing her dark blue body suit that had straps crossing. I swear, she must’ve been a mermaid in a previous life. She hasn’t been swimming a lot previously, which I do find a little concerning, but I’ve been trying not to worry too much about that. The pool is secluded away from the hall that curves towards the garage, that has a bathroom in the left corner away from the car with an entrance near the back that leads to the backyard. Near the back entrance, there is a set of stairs that goes to the basement. Walking down the steps, you can start to hear Levi swear at the computer - “Holy fuck,” I hear him yell out in frustration. Trust me, I never like swearing. There is a time and place for it, and the computer with a video game on is not the right time or place. Beside the stairs our wine cellar is found, with a small gym/dance studio beside it, where Charlotte does yoga and Guinevere dances, or used to dance. She’s recently stopped doing most of the things that she loves. 

Underneath the pool from the main level, I enter into our small living area where a black leather l-shaped sectional is found, facing the right adjacent wall as you enter with a TV on it. Behind the sectional are two rooms, one an office, and the other a guest room, with the guest room being the smaller one of the two. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hear Levi scream at the computer, grabbing the hinges of it, about to break it from the desk. I couldn’t let him rip the computer from the desk, so I had to rush in there. “What’s going on?” I asked Levi before he looked over at me, confused yet trying to calm himself down at the same time. “What the fuck are you guys doing home early?” Levi asked me, staring at me with those piercing blue eyes that he had got from me. Levi had got my eyes, yet he got his mother’s hair color. Guinevere had got her mother’s eyes yet got my hair color. Or she at least used to. “What’s going on?” I ask him, trying to calm him down from his anger. Instead of answering, he looked away from me, placed his left elbow on the desk, rested his head on his hand, and silently giggled before muttering while looking off in the distance, “stupid idiot”. “Levi, that is not the way you talk to your father,” I tell him, making it rather clear that I had heard him. I could not take his language anymore. It has gotten too far. “Let me guess, do I need to ask about homework?” I asked after taking a momentary pause, placing my hands in my jean pockets. “Dad!” Levi yelled out, standing up from the computer, furious at me. Levi is currently wearing a burgundy shirt with dark blue jeans that were ripped at the knee, and when he stood up, you could see the hole on his right knee side as clear as a cloudless day. One movement, and the cloud revealed the sun. Without saying anything, I walked off - I knew not to poke the bear. Closing the office door behind me, I hear the squeakiness from the black leather office chair as he scoots himself back and forth, right before he starts swearing at the computer again. Levi is a lost cause. 

I exit the living area room, and I walk up to a different set of stairs that are across from the bar. In the main living area that is underneath the living room, kitchen, and entrance, we have an entertainment area. It has a stage that mirrors the bar, and numerous tables with chairs. We love to host a good party on a Saturday night when members from church come over. We don’t do it that often, but when we do, we go full out: only adults, no kids - but when kids are over, they’re with Levi. As I head up the stairs, I come across the main level stairs that lead to the second level from there. We have three sets of stairs in our house: one from the entrance that leads only to the second level, one in the garage that leads only to the basement, and one that leads to all three levels - I walk up the one that has all three. When I get to the second level, you can see the faded glass that overlooks the pool as I walk down a hallway towards the bedrooms. The bedrooms are on top of the garage, not the main level. Near the beginning of the pathway, we have a windowless storage room on top of the kitchen and dining room, and a laundry room on top of the entrance that has a window looking outside, so you could see if someone was coming over. Down the path, past the faded glass wall, there are three rooms. Levi’s on the left, Guinevere’s on the right, and Charlotte and I’s room in the middle at the end. I thought I’d check on Guinevere for a second to see how she’s doing, and when I open the door, I see her rushing to put a book away. “Is everything okay?” I ask Guinevere as I sit on the bed in front of her, seeing her light blue nightgown that has yellow ducks with orange beaks. When you enter her room, the bed is against a wall that has two entrances, one that leads to the bathroom, which is the closest to the outside wall, and the other one leads to her closet. “Everything’s fine,” Guinevere mutters out as she pulls a strand of her aquamarine hair behind her left ear, revealing her ocean wave earrings that she once got from a former friend. “You know you can talk to me if something’s bothering you,” I tell her before standing up from the bed and leaving her room, only to turn right to Charlotte and I’s bedroom as Guinevere had turned off her seashell lamp.

I entered to find Charlotte in bed, reading a book that Guinevere had picked up from the library awhile ago, Open Secrets by Alice Munro. I don’t understand why, but they both enjoy mystery books. She lies on the left side of the bed with the lamp on, wearing her purple nightgown that had ruffled rose pink lace on the top. 

“Everything all right?” Charlotte asks me as I walk straight into the bathroom that was on my left. I didn’t want to frustrate her with Levi. Like I said, he’s a lost cause. “It’s Levi,” I tell her as I grab my toothbrush and toothpaste, getting ready for bed. “At some point he’ll come to realize that we’re both right,” Charlotte tells me before stepping out of bed and walking towards me as I spit toothpaste in the sink and watch it drown into the pipe. “You okay?” Charlotte asks, turning my face towards her, so the only thing I could see were her dark brown eyes, guiding me towards her. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I need to mention it,” I start with her. “Don’t start with me,” Charlotte scoffed at me as she walked back to bed. “I’m sorry, but someone’s got to,” I tell her as I walk towards my pillow to grab my light blue pyjama top and dark blue patterned pyjama pants. “Why him?” She asks me, giving me a pleading look from those eyes of hers. She looked like she was going to cry, seeing those dark brown eyes calling out my name to see her perspective. I take my shirt off and put the blue pyjama top on before sitting in front of her. “She’s not going to be with Maverick,” I stated. 

Maverick is a former friend of Guinevere’s. Charlotte always saw him as someone that Guinevere would end up with. At first I agreed with her, he was helping her with her depression, but one day she came home, rushed to her room while crying, and I just watched her destroy the vase of red roses that she got from him in a fit of rage, all before Charlotte got home. I helped her clean up the mess, but we swore that we would never repeat it to anyone. I still remember that day as if it happened yesterday. Like I said, she bursted through the front door. I was in the living room, sitting on the sectional, wearing my blue buttoned shirt with light grey jeans on, as she entered crying. She was wearing her short white dress that had lace on the top and a white ribbon that was tied in the front, and this was the first day I had seen Guinevere with her aquamarine hair. At this time, it had a more purplish hue at the top. “Everything okay?” I remember asking Guinevere as I stood up. Instead, she ran off to her bedroom, distraught. I knew I had to run after her, cause she was not okay. “Guinevere?” I remember asking her as I watched her enter her bedroom and knocked over the crystal vase of red roses that were on top of her dresser that she received from Maverick three weeks prior. I caught her as she reached over in grief, watching the tears fall as she tried to grab the glass with her wet, pale hands. “Don’t worry,” I remember telling her as I gently ran my hand through her aquamarine hair, as if I were trying to pick out the strands that were more purple than blue. The roses were lying on the floor, all separated from one another as if someone, or something had forced them apart and were now dying. But the one that was dying the most, was the one that landed in her bowl of water that was beside her dresser on the floor. I still remember watching the petals slowly falling off, as if it were losing its grip from life. 

“Daniel?” Charlotte asks, bringing me back to the scene. I almost got lost in the memory. “Sorry, my mind wandered,” I tell Charlotte as an excuse, as I’ve been doing for the past little while now. “Why do you see Guinevere with Carter and not Maverick?” Charlotte asks me, on the verge of crying with her voice silently breaking. “I don’t know why, but one part of me just thinks that,” I tell her as I stand up from the bed. “But she’s so young,” Charlotte had started, only to trail off at the end. “I know she’s young, yet I don’t know why I think that. But she’s 17 and turning 18 in almost 3 months. She should be old enough to see the signs or choose who she wants to be with,” I tell her before I pull back the navy blue comforter and get into bed. “I just don’t understand…” Charlotte tried to state, but she trailed off at the end, probably deep in thought from the conversation. “Try to get some sleep,” I told Charlotte before she laid back with her head against the white pillow, had put the book on her bedside table and turned off the lamp from her side of the bed. One flick of the lightswitch on the lamp, and the entire room went dark, listening to the silence creep in and take over. 

I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn’t. Something was keeping me up. When I tried closing my eyes, the only thing that I kept on seeing were waves. Deep, ocean blue waves, carrying something off in the distance. But I didn’t know what it was. But the waves were carrying something towards a pearly white with a grey shadow of a full moon, with a pink dress beside the shore. 

Getting up from bed, I sit up, deep in thought from what that could mean. What were the waves carrying? Standing up from the bed, I walk down the hallway of bedrooms, past the faded glass that overlooked the pool - hold on, Levi is swimming in the pool. 

Walking down the stairs towards the main level, I entered the pool room, finding Levi swimming towards the edge towards me. The pool is covered with a glass wall, so you could see the stars twinkling in the night sky. “What is it dad?” He asked me. I sat down in front of him, seeing his red swimsuit that had white ribbons for elastics. “I’ve been thinking about your sister,” I tell him after a deep sigh comes out of me. What were those waves carrying? “What’s going on with Guinevere?” Levi asked rather curiously. “I know she changed her look, but she’s been acting differently lately. Is she seeing a therapist?” Levi asked before running his left hand through his wet, dark brown hair. “She isn’t,” I tell him, which gets me thinking. Should she see a therapist? She hasn’t been diagnosed with depression or anything serious. The only thing she did was change her look. But then again, she has her moments where she acts out. The first time she acted out was with the roses, but then again she could’ve had a moment in front of Charlotte that she never told me about. “I’m sorry dad,” Levi states, apologizing for earlier that night. “It’s okay,” I let out rather quietly as I stared into the pool, watching the water collect around Levi as the lights from underneath shine through, making the dark ocean blue water seem to come across more as a light pearl blue color. It’s the same color as the waves. 

But what were the waves carrying?

Was it something, or someone?