Goodbye Blues

Joy sat in front of her mirror, just like she did any other day, one June afternoon. She sat and looked at her aged, wrinkled face. The sad look in her tired, hazel eyes would always cause her to look down as thoughts of him came back to her in a rush. She'd hear herself mutter the calming words her husband would say to her before he passed away, but they never had the same effect as they did when he said them.
Slowly, she'd get up and begin pacing back and forth near her window, letting the feeling of doing something rather than just reminising about him fall over her; the feel of relief overwhelm her as she continued muttering in hopes she'd finally become fully calm again.

A knock came from her open door and Joy lifted her head to see her nurse standing there with the same sympathetic smile on her face.
"Pacing again, Joy?" The nurse asked. She knew she wouldn't be getting an answer, but it was a polite gesture that was supposed to reassure Joy that she hadn't given up on her, though Joy knew everyone in the senior center had.

Joy's gaze fall back on her feet as she sighed a little. The nurse came in and smoothed out the wrinkled sheets on her bed. Looking at the digital clock on the bedstand, she gasped.
"Oh, Joy, it's 12:30. You're going to be late for storytime," The nurse cooed, as if Joy were a baby rather than her elder. But she ignored it and began walking towards the playground behind the building, the nurse following.

Everday, Joy would tell stories about a past love to the little girls who played on the playground. As they sat with peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, they listened to the elderly woman drone on in a poetic tone about the boy that had once breaken her heart - but the same one she loved so much.

And of course, today was no different. Joy sat down in her usual, plastic white chair with a smile on her face as her eyes scanned the circle. Many familiar faces crowded her, except one new one.
It was a young girl - Joy guessed about six - with white blond hair and big blue eyes. She sat without a lunch, very closely next to a girl Joy recognized as Harper. The little blond girl stared at the elderly woman with a deep antisipation, but a little fear.

"What's your name?" Joy asked the girl kindly. The girl smiled shyly, showing her front teeth to be missing, and big dimples.
"Delilah Feilds," She said, her voice barely above a whisper. Joy merely smiled at her, deciding whether or not she should tell her story all over again for Delilah to hear. Harper confirmed this for her.

"Ms. Richards, you wouldn't mind restarting the whole story for Delilah, would you? I know for a fact the other girls wouldn't mind hearing it again," Harper said. She was a very polite, very talkative and outgoing eight year old with dark hair and exotic looks. No one objected her proposal, so Joy agreed to it and began.

__________

When Joy was just eighteen years of age, her best friend was beautiful blond girl, Greta, who had thick curls and an innocent face. Greta was known around their small suburb for having a big voice that could range all different sorts of peaks and pitches. It tended to captivate the people around her when she sang and put them under a calming spell. It was no surprise to anyone at all when Greta and the boys in her band, The Hush Sound, were quickly signed near the end of their senior year to a label called Decaydance. Joy, though, was surprised that they'd be off on tour only two weeks after graduation.

This was the topic Greta and Joy were in the midst of as they sat in Greta's living room just days after finally being freed from high school. Joy had only eleven days to enjoy the presence of her very best friend of seven years, and the thought of it was killing her.

"Why do you have to go and leave me here to rot?" Joy asked, her voice high pitched and whiney. Greta, who was staring at the plasma screen television set with a bowl of popcorn in her hands, looked over at her nagging best friend, giving her a nasty look.
"Because I don't love you anymore," She said jokingly, but Joy wasn't cooperating. She sat there with a pout, her arms crossed over a pillow. Greta sighed, "Come on, Joy. It won't be that bad. I'm coming back after three months. You can handle a whole summer away from me. You have before. Remember the summer of freshman year when I had to go Idaho?"

"Yes. You came back two inches taller, towering over me for the next year and a half," Joy said in a fake peeved tone. Greta rolled her eyes, but a little smile stood on her face. Both of the girls were now the same height, shorter than average. But for a long year and a half, Joy stayed five foot exactly as Greta had finally grown her last two inches and was proud to say that she was taller than her best friend.

"Yes, but you managed the whole summer without me. You can do it again," Greta said, popping in a piece of popcorn in her mouth. Joy thought about that summer. She had spent her days alone or with her faternal twin brother Chris and his best friend Bob, who ended up being with Greta in a band, going to laser tag or playing DDR at the bowling alley.
Just as Joy mumbled, "That was a shitty summer," to herself, the doorbell rang. Greta didn't move, which told Joy that she was somehow designated to get it.

She got up and opened the big, white door to reveal her brother and Bob standing there, both talking to each other, a phone between them. They stepped in, completely ignoring her, and ran over to Greta. Joy closed the door, silently cursing that her brother was musically talented. She was sometimes jealous of him, because he almost hung out more with Greta than she did.

"What do you guys want?" Joy heard Greta ask from the other room in an annoyed tone. Although Joy and her and only been watching a re-run of That 70's Show, Greta was in love with Hyde.
"Ryan's on the phone. He wants to talk to you about tour terms," Bob said, handing his cell phone over to her. Greta put the popcorn down, which Chris instantly picked up as Greta put the phone to her ear. Joy decided to enter the room, though she knew that she'd be ignored. Who cared about a regular teenage girl when Ryan Ross from Panic at the Disco was on the phone, waiting to tell them about their fun summer? No one.

"Hey, Ryan," Greta said nonchalantly, although Joy knew she was screaming on the inside. Greta found Ryan to be insanely handsome and awfully talented. She was a fangirl but always tried to hide it around the boys. "Yeah, cool. Mhm. Yeah. Alright, sounds amazing. One person. Okay. Cool. See you then. Bye."

Everyone was silently staring at Greta with the exception of Chris's loud chewing and Jackie yelling at Kelso from the television set. Greta hung up and handed the phone back to Bob, before explaining the phone call. "Ryan said that we'll take a flight to Chicago where we'll meet Panic and the rest of the bands in a venue and start tour from there with our own bus and stuff."

Chris and Bob exchanged big, eager smiles as Greta plopped back down on the couch after grabbing the popcorn bowl from Chris. Without much thought to it, she said mellowly, "Oh, and we're allowed to bring one friend if we'd like."

"One friend?" They said in unison, their smiles dropping. Greta nodded, not caring much for their surprised faces. They looked at each other and started guessing people they wanted to take but Greta looked at them, disgusted. Slowly they looked back at her. "What?"

"You do realize that that one person is going to be Joy, right?" She said, sneering at them. They furrowed their brows, not agreeing with her term. She rolled her eyes. "Excuse me, but she's my best friend. Bob, she's been one of your good friends since Kindergarten. Same with Darren. And for God sake's Chris, she's your twin sister! She's the best canidate."

"She's not my twin sister. We don't have the same last name," Chris said in defense. Joy scoffed at her brother who just smiled at her. Greta glared at him, though.
"Your twins even if you took your dad's last name, Chris," Greta snapped. Chris sighed, defeated and snatched the popcorn bowl from her to make up for the loss battle. Bob looked okay with it anyways, but still grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Wait, does this mean what I think it means?" Joy asked, a big smile breaking out onto her face. She stared at her best friend who looked at her, a little smile on her face.
"Yes, Joy. You're coming on tour with The Hush Sound!" Greta cried. Joy ran over with an ear-peircing scream and squished Greta in a bone-crushing hug, so glad her other half wouldn't be leaving her anytime soon.

"Not to ruin your moment, Joy, but uh, Mom's never going to let you go," Chris said, picking at his teeth for some popcorn curnels that had gotten stuck. Joy looked at him for a moment then gasped in shock.

He was right.

__________

Joy was about to go on, when the nurse rudely interrupted. She tapped Joy on the shoulder, whispering, "Joy, it's about time for your nap."

Although Joy never slept during these naps, they were always assigned and constantly got in the way of storytime. Several young girls groaned, wanting to hear more, but the nurse just sympathetically smiled at them - something she was too good at.

As little girls got up and rushed over to the monkey bars and swings, Joy slowly got up only to be greeted by Delilah. She smiled up at Joy's tired face and announced, "I'm definitly coming tomorrow again. I'd like to know what happens."

Joy smiled and said, "You're always welcome," before being whisked off to her bed.