[This short story love is selected for Love’2012 Story Writing Competition]
Short Story Love: A boy named me – PART 1
Photo credit: anitapeppers from morguefile.com
“I am sorry jack, I really am sorry for everything. Please forgive me if you can because I know it’s impossible but…” Jane falls silent as jack places a finger on her lip. They both stood in front of his house, at two in the morning, she was with the luggage in her hand and, Jack responds quickly,
“Please don’t say that Jane, you know better than me that I am me, only because you were with me”
“Yes, you are sad and depressed and irritated all thanks to me, I have ruined your entire life and now I have to leave”
He dint have an answer and she dint have the courage to speak anymore. A flight passed above them and after that it was absolute silence except for the wind blowing and a song which was mildly audible from jack’s earphones, through his I-Pod. There was silence for a long time and it was getting deeper into the souls, and making the tension thicker. They both were sure that this was over, for good, but they did not want to let that settle in. It was hard but they knew they had to let go. At that instant they both felt something. Some urge that pushed them. There was a thud of bags. A second later they both were in each other’s arms, close and comfortable. Just like how they imagined their life with each other would have been with each other.
Then he kept looking down and tears were flowing from his eyes. She kept her frozen white hands on his cheeks and raised his face. Their eyes met for a second and they came so close that their noses were touching. She then patted his nose with hers and ran her hands through his hair and then joined her forehead with his, and closed her eyes and said “take care Jackie boy. I am going to miss you more than anything in this world.” Saying this she kissed him softly on his lips. He dint move and was still crying.
Then she turned to take her luggage which was around 2 steps from her. While going, she stopped still in the second step. His hand were stretched out and holding hers. He looked up at that instant and from his view she looked like a damsel, dressed in white, under moonlight, face glowing because of tears. He was not all bad himself. Not so fair, long hair which suited his face, tall, athletic, wearing a white t-shirt and black tracks, white earphones around his neck and iPod in his pocket.
He pulled her close to him and said, “You look absolutely angelic in this costume. Can I have one last dance with you?” saying this he went down to his knees and held out his hands. She let go of his hand and turned to pick her bag. Sad and disappointed, he again looked down. Without his knowledge he was still sitting in the same position but a million thoughts were running through his head and the worst part was he did not know which problem to focus on. Then suddenly a hand held his hand, obviously it was her. She said, “How can I say no to you. But how will we dance without music?” He took out his iPod and increased the volume to the maximum. Then he said, “Look into my eyes and don speak, you will love this song.” The song was audible and it was one in a million by Miley Cyrus. Tears filled her eyes as it was one of their most favorite songs. Yet she dint say a word. He held her hips and pulled her close to him. She kept her hands on his shoulder and they both were moving with the music, or rather moving with each other. The street lamp went off suddenly it was the entire moon light, an angel and a guy on the street.
The song ended yet they continued to dance. They knew they had to let go sometime, they just dint know it was going to be so soon. She then hugged him tight and he wrapped his arms around her. Then without a choice she let go of him. She asked him if he could give her one last ride. “Sure, just wait I will go and get my car, give me 15 minutes.” When he walked she held his hands and said, “No Jackie, I meant in my bike.” After a long silence he agreed.
Reluctantly he went into her house and turned on the lights. As he looked around, his mind was clouded with memories, memories of him and her. It was just for a few seconds but a million events flashed in front of him. He reached out for the key on the hanger. When he saw the keychain, it made his dry lips break into a weak but a happy smile. Slowly he touched the keychain and moved his hand through it. After a few seconds he took the key from the hanger and turned around.
As he started to walk away he tripped and fell down face first. He hurt his nose and was clenching his nose with one hand and helping himself up with the other. But his eyes caught something under the bed and he stopped still. Heaps of colorful paper stacked up. His heart skipped a beat as he was observing those papers. He stretched his arms to reach them. He was an inch away when he stopped. He waited for a second and dropped his hands, closed his eyes looking down, slowly shook his head and got up. With a million thoughts in his head he started walking towards the door.
His hands were shivering and he was sweating all over. He went into the garage to take the bike. It was brand new as he had gifted to her. Not even one scratch on the sparkling bike. On the side he saw just one small sticker. Again he went near it and touched it. He opened the seat, under it there was a piece of cloth. Smile was even brighter this time on his dark face. Then he closed the seat, put on the keys and started the bike.
As she saw him go in to get her bike out, she was looking at the moon. Thinking about all the promises she made. Tears were trickling down her cheek in which the moon was reflected. Still looking up she kept her finger below a leaf which was in a nearby tree. The dew drop on the leaf came on her hand. She carefully lifted it and kissed it as it went into her lips. She kept her hand on the tree as a few drops fell on her but then quickly removed her hand from it. She took a pen from her pocket, a silver colored pen which glittered from the moon light. She looked at it closely it was written JnJ.
Her face was like a damsel, tears rolling down her cheeks, a red nose and a smile spread on her face in the moon light. She reached out for her handbag and kept the pen inside it. She took out a white cloth with silver corners. It was written “Reve dna reve rof evol ym”. She remembered the day he gifted it to her. It was a few seconds on the outside but an eternity inside her mind. She kept it on her face and cried a little more and kissed the cloth and then kept it inside her bag again. She looked up at the moon again and reached her hand out as though she was holding the moon. A mild smile was there on her face. But then the tears started rolling down her fairy white cheeks again. She dint wipe it though. She closed her fists and looked up once again. She heard her scooter’s sound and then cleared her face and stood there with a fake yet a beautiful smile.
He came out and stopped in front of her. He then flashed the head lamps to high beam and then back to low. For that one moment, the glow on her face, the rose cheeks, the fairy white forehead the red lips and her short yet silky hair made her look like a “perfect” girl.Without a word she got on the bike, held his shoulders and they rode off from the place.
They went to all the places they had gone to before. The wonderful beach where they spent really long hours just sitting and staring into each other’s eyes, the ice cream shop which was open 24 x 7 where they would go really late night after a fight, the juice shop which was their favorites just because it was called j and j, the last street in their locality which would be so silent that they could hear their breaths when they walked through them and many more places having memories attached to them
When each place passed by them a special moment would be flashed in front of them. A keychain that she gave him as a valentine gift in the silent street, a waterman fountain pen which he gave her in the beach, their first kiss on New Year’s Eve in the j & j juice shop and many more memories flashed in front of them as they rode all the way in silence. As they feared the vehicle stopped, not because of any problem but because they were back where they started. She reluctantly removed her hand from his shoulder and got off the bike.
That was the final hour. She stood near him and kept her forehead on his head. Partly crying and partly smiling, she gently hit his nose with hers and let go of him. They both stood in absolute silence and then they both were about to start a conversation but neither could start. With one final hug, she started walking away from there. While going away she said.”I will love you forever Jackie, I promise” he could not even breathe, saying something was way ahead of time for him.
She vanished in the fog and he stood there in silence. After a long fifteen minutes of standing alone in the street, he started walking back. He looked up and saw the moon, scared yet beautiful, so bright in the dark sky. Only one thing struck him as he looked at the moon, her memories. It was as though his entire head was stuffed with her memories. And they were all rushing one memory at a time. [Continued…]
