The Azuli by Cassidy Shay (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📕

was a walk in the park.
“Or something,” I said with a sad smile. “We don’t complain. How could we? In the past, it’s always made things ten times worse. And whoever does the complaining is pretty much exiled. Well, they’re exiled as much as they can be when we’re all stuck here together. The main time that I remember when someone complained was when I was seven years old. Someone complained about only being allowed to shower once a week. They shut down the showers for a month because of that. It was horrible. I did everything I could possibly do so that I didn’t sweat. I also didn’t go into the boys’ room once during that time. Even walking by it made me gag.” He laughed at that, but I knew he wasn’t laughing at the horrible situations that we were put through, but the fact that their room smelled so bad.
“Anyway, we’re avoiding the problem here.” I tried steering away from the sadness, because when I was with Collin, it was so much easier to be happy. “You’ve never drawn before? Ever?” He shook his head. “I’m ashamed to be your friend, Collin,” I said jokingly. I got up and walked over to the desk with the files on it. I found an extra sheet of paper and a pencil and brought them over to him. “Draw something. Anything.”
“What?” he asked, unsure if I was serious.
“You heard me. Draw something now,” I commanded. Then softer, I said, “Please.” He hesitated, and then started drawing a house. His lines were straight, but it still looked like it had been drawn by a four year-old.
“There,” he said after about a minute. I tried not to laugh at him, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Step aside and let a pro show you how it’s done,” I said. I flipped the paper over and started drawing a house with a yard, a picket fence, and a big tree. There were shutters on the window, and a black flag flying. Sitting under the tree were two teenagers looking at a book. “That’s you and I, after I’m out of here. I’ll be waiting for you in a house just like this. The shutters and door will be blue, while the rest is white. The flag will not be a white flag showing that I surrender, but a black one. It’s to show that I will never give up. Meet me here, okay?” Of course, I was joking. For several reasons, having him meet me at the house that I made up was unrealistic.
He didn’t say anything, but instead looked at the ground. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” he asked me, and I nodded. “Will you keep your promise?”
“Yes, even if you don’t keep yours. I’ll send letters as often as I can. It won’t be too often, since I have to be extra careful. And it might be difficult, since I won’t know where you live. But I’m sure that I’ll be able to find your address somehow. You’ll always be in my thoughts, Collin. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I’ll be thinking of you.”
He didn’t say anything else, but it took several minutes for him to look me in the eye again. I knew that, despite telling me he thought I could do it, he had his doubts. How could he not? No one had ever escaped. I knew that I had also hurt him by still trying to leave. My reasons for leaving had nothing to do with him, and he knew that. I knew that it hurt him when I chose freedom over staying with him.
We went back to talking about simple things, but there was heaviness in the air that wouldn’t leave. After a while, Collin realized that too much time had passes for lunch to still be going on. He peeked out the door and saw several Azuli walking around the corner, confirming that lunch was over.
I started to get up, and then remembered that I had taken off my shirt. Since it buttoned up the front, Collin stood behind me and held the shirt up while I slipped my arms through.
As I was buttoning it up, the door slowly eased open, revealing Carl on the other side. He wasn’t looking in the room, but at something in the hallway. When he did look in the room, he slammed the door the rest of the way open, and charged into the room.
Of course, he didn’t see Collin and I in a room with me putting my shirt on because I had shown him my scars. Of course not. Who would be stupid enough to believe that story? What Carl really saw was very different. He saw the girl he loved alone in a room with the boy she loved, putting her shirt back on. As you can imagine, things didn’t go well.
He didn’t say anything, just stood there glaring at Collin, and then at me for what seemed like hours. Finally, in a calm voice, he stepped up so that he was face to face with Collin. “I hope you know that she’s going to be married soon, Collin. If you think that you’ll be getting away with this kind of stuff after the wedding, you’re sadly mistaken.” He got an inch closer, so that their noses were almost touching. “If I ever see you touch her again, I’ll kill you where you stand.” Without saying another word, he stepped back and grabbed my wrist, then pulled me out of the room.
As we walked, I tried calming him down enough to explain. “Carl, you’ve got to believe me. I didn’t do anything. I was showing him my scars!” He didn’t say anything, but kept on walking to my room. When we got there, I was in the middle of another plea for mercy, which pulled every bit of attention onto me.
Everyone stopped talking, and Mom, Dad, Jack, Macy, Mary, and Carl’s parents all turned to look at us.
“I want someone keeping track of her at all times from now on. Someone better be with her every second of every day, or I’ll be pissed.” He turned to me, and I knew that once again, I’d hurt someone I cared about. “How could you do it?” he asked. “How could you do that to me, especially knowing everything else that you’ve done to hurt me, and knowing how much I care about you? I never thought that you could be so heartless and cold.” He turned back to the rest of the room and said, “She’s not allowed to see Collin anymore. If I find out that one of you allowed her to see him, I swear on my life that I won’t say another word to you ever again.”
He stormed out of the room, leaving me to face the stares of my family. “Looks like you’ve screwed up big time,” said Mary. The gazes of everyone shifted to her, and then back to me.
“Jack, you need to take her out of here. I’m done with her comments, and I’m done with her. You need to get her out of here now, before I strangle her.”
He guided her out, but came back a few minutes later. “Alright, she’s gone. Now I think you owe all of us an explanation about what happened between the three of you,” he said. I didn’t have to ask who he meant. No one did. Everyone knew who was involved, and they all wanted an explanation. I had no choice but to tell them.
So I sat down on the bed and told them the truth. I didn’t tell them how I got my scars. I just told them that Collin had wanted to see them. I explained when what had happened Carl had barged in, and how he had reacted.
“I promise that’s the truth,” I said. “Please, will someone talk to Carl? Collin’s my best friend. If I’m not able to talk to him anymore, I won’t be able to stand it.” My dad didn’t answer, but instead he left the room mumbling something about me. It was obvious that he didn’t believe me, and it hurt to know that. I knew that I had disappointed him, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he never talked to me again.
“I can try to talk to him, but you’ve hurt him, Penny. Maybe, for these last days before the wedding, you should just lay low,” said Jack. He spoke softly, trying not to sound bossy. “I think Carl’s about ready to strangle the two of you, so don’t push your luck.” He left, and I was with my mom, Macy, and Carl’s parents. Carl’s parents politely excused themselves, and I got the feeling that they didn’t believe me any more than my dad did. Ever since I had met them, I’d had the feeling that they didn’t think I was good enough for their son.
I didn’t say anything else to my mom or Macy, but instead I got under the covers and pretended to go to sleep. Of course, because it was so early in the afternoon, I didn’t actually sleep. I thought about my future- how it would really be and how I wanted it to be. I wanted to be free, really free. I knew that after I escaped, I would just be a fugitive for the rest of my life, not really free at all.
When I finally did fall asleep, I dreamed of a beautiful, white house with a big tree in the yard and a picket fence. There were kids running around, and under the tree was a young couple pouring over a book together.
The next morning, I slept in past breakfast and almost to lunch. What woke me up was Carl arguing with Macy and Jack about lunch time.
“…not staying here while we all go to lunch. I don’t trust her, and I certainly don’t trust him,” I heard Carl say.
“Okay, then, what if someone stays behind with her? She needs the support that Collin gives her, because she’s certainly not getting any support from you,” said Jack. “You’re too busy worrying about yourself and how hurt you are because of this. You aren’t caring at all about what she’s going through. And I’ve seen how much she strains so that she hurts you as little as possible!”
“Well she’s obviously not trying too hard, because I hurt every day. She could at least act like this whole thing isn’t killing her. I hurt more and more every day, just because I know she doesn’t want to marry me!” Carl shouted back.
“Then you shouldn’t have chosen to marry her,” said Jack calmly and slowly. I still had my eyes closed, but I guessed that he was playing with his hands and looking at the ground.
Carl huffed out, and that’s when I chose to open my eyes. “I’m surprised that you guys took the risk of some nosy parents hearing that,” I said with a hint of accusation in my voice.
“We don’t need to worry about that anymore,” said Macy. “All of the parents are touring the sixth floor today. Tomorrow, in between lunch and dinner, they’ll be touring the back of the kitchen. Then they’ll be going to the wedding. After that, they will be touring the upper floors, the lower floors, and finally, they’ll be leaving. We’re done with worrying every minute that we might say the wrong thing.”
I nodded, and then stood up. I reached into my drawer to get my clothes, and then I looked at Jack. He stood there for a second, not understanding what I was hinting at. Finally, he realized what I was trying to