Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Marble and stone statues stood like silent warriors among the sculpted edges. Their faces were still prominently showing, despite all the rain and snow they endured through the years. I didn’t recognize any of their faces. None of them looked familiar to me. They were strangers as much as everyone else had been.
Everything I saw was immaculate, pristine to the point of being obnoxious. Almost like someone had torn open a magazine and designed this estate from that alone. It didn’t feel lived in, though. Nothing was out of place, not even a towel or a cushion or a pillow. It was preservation more than a home, a museum of sorts.
Unlike his estate, the woods weren’t polished. They were wild, calling out to me. The scent of pine drifted through the yard. Birds chirped somewhere high in the trees while the breeze carried the earthy smell of moss and damp leaves.
For the first time all day…
I could breathe.
While I was growing up, whenever life became too loud, nature always reminded me the world was bigger than whatever was hurting me.
I stepped off the stone patio and into the grass. The cool blades tickled my feet. Without thinking, I just kept walking past the garden and the old fountain, toward the tree line. The woods welcomed me like an old friend.
I found an outhouse that stored anything you’d need for the outdoors. I grabbed a flashlight, a few logs, and some matches, deciding it’d be a nice night to start a fire under the stars and moon.
It was one of my favorite things to do: be one with the earth. I didn’t notice how far I’d gone, stopping when it felt right to. After I built a small fire, I turned on my playlist and listened to “Le Dije a Papa” by Eva Ayllón. A traditional Afro-Peruvian song titled “I Told Dad.”
It seemed fitting for what I was going through. It was a daughter singing to her father, searching for pieces of herself through the music.
I knew how to dance to all sorts of music, but this one was my top choice. Something about the beat made me feel like my ancestors were calling. Dancing wasn’t just a hobby for me. It was woven into my upbringing.
Music was a huge part of my culture, and I performed for people from all over the world. I was one of the dancers at our resort, and I loved every second of it. Out of all the tasks I helped with, this one was by far my favorite. My body was made to move. It was who I was. It was how I was born. It spoke to me in so many different ways, saving my sanity more times than I could count.
* * *
When words failed me, my body never did.
Chapter
Eleven
Hennessy: Someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right.
The first beat of Eva’s voice flowed through the trees, and I slid off my hoodie, instinct swiftly taking over me. My knees softened, lowering my center of gravity as my hips found the exact rhythm of the cajón, an instrument. My bare feet skimmed the earth, gliding me through the grass and dirt.
My shoulders rolled with the procession, while my rib cage followed the movement naturally. The music wasn’t something I ever counted. It was just something that lived inside me. It was all feeling, all heart and soul.
I turned beneath the moonlight, and everything else disappeared.
The fire crackled with the music, its amber light chasing the shadows over my skin as I surrendered to the rhythm and the night.
My hips drew slow circles before snapping sharply to the beat of every instrument, playing loudly in the air. My weight shifted effortlessly from one foot to the other. Every step melted together in a slow, sensual way.
I dipped low, my fingertips grazing the tops of the wild grass before I rose again with my arms over my head. My back arched with the music as though the melody itself had wrapped around my spine and pulled me upright again.
As I flipped my head back and forth, my hair slipped free. The flame of the fire immediately made it wild and curly. I smiled, finally feeling alive. Laughing into the night sky, I loved the feel of my body being one with the earth.
Every sway, every turn, every drop, my hips stripped away another emotion that involved the Graves Academy. It was buried beneath the rules. Out there, there was nothing but Mother Nature and me, and that made me feel right at home.
There were no expectations.
No university.
No rules.
No brotherhood.
With the fire to my back, the earth beneath my feet reminded me of who I was. I closed my eyes, letting the rhythm carry me faster with the cool night air kissing my heated skin.