Generation Dead

I was walked down the boardwalk, trying to find this shop I used to visit as a kid… a diet frozen yogurt bar? I shoved my hands deeper into the pockets of my leather jacket and kept walking, motorcycle boots scraping the ground. I encountered everything from a comic book shop, to a bar, to a piercing booth. After getting my lip pierced on a whim, I gave up and went down to the beach. I ran my hand along the walls separating the beach from the boardwalk, remembering all the wonderful times I had spent here as a kid. I remembered splashing around in the water, getting fro-yo with Grandma, playing carnival games with Grandpa, and riding the roller coaster with my older sister… that was before her accident though. I shook my head, trying not to think about her, what had happened- really happened to her, but it was too late, memories of her death were barreling through my mind like a freight train.

Mom and I clung to each other as we cried, my tears saturating her sweet smelling shirt. Victoria had been missing since yesterday. The cop at the door was rotating his hat in his hands as he told up the news. Victoria was dead.

"We found her body on the cliffs. We think she was taking a walk down there and fell. I'm very sorry mam." The next morning, we dressed in all black. It was the day of her funeral. Grandpa drove us there while Mom, Grandma, and I held each other's hands in the back seat, silently crying. I couldn't even look at her, at all the broken bones and wounds the desecrated her body. The funeral service had tried to make her look like she had when she was alive, but there was no denying the smell of death on her, the blue tint of her lips, and the way her eyes, her beautiful green eyes, would never see again.

Eventually Mom and Grandma adjusted and moved on, but I couldn't betray my only sister the way they had. I swore I would never forget her. I was never the same.

I found myself toying with the ring on my right pinky finger. I slowly spun it around, watching the intricate curls wind themselves around the blood red stone that sat gracefully as the focal point of the ring. Victoria used to wear it all the time… I abruptly stopped and ran my fingers through my long, dark brown hair while playing with the piece of metal in my painfully sore bottom lip. I pulled a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket and lit up, needing to unwind after thinking about my past. The smoke filtered through my lungs and I could feel myself getting a little more relaxed. Turning on my heel, I left the beach.

Walking back along the boardwalk at this time of night was always a pleasant experience. The smell of buttery popcorn permeated the salt filled air surrounding the boardwalk. Lights flashed and people shouted, off on a stage there was a band playing. I had just made it to my bike when I heard engines revving and boys shouting. I turned around and felt my eyes widen. It just wasn't possible, yet there they were, sitting in front of me, looking exactly the same as they had fourteen years ago. There was no mistaking who they were, everybody knew who they were. The Lost Boys.