The Ballerina

Acelynn continued to walk the random streets – even though she was shivering ferociously. She didn’t know how long it had been – she had no phone or wrist watch. She thought of going into a gas station or grocery store, but they were all on the other side of the highway, and the ballerina wasn’t up to crossing the busy road.

At that moment, Acelynn was walking down the side of the highway – barely paying any attention to the cars whizzing by. What brought her to the highway? She didn’t even know. Acelynn blacked out for awhile as she wondered around, and then she just “woke up” as she walked along the cement path.

A few people had offered the girl a ride to wherever, but she politely declined. She told them she knew where she was going and it was close.

One of the people who stopped was Cheyenne, the girl who Acelynn thought was named Carson. She had been driving to a party that was going on that night – she was a “popular” girl – and offered to take the ballerina there. Even though Acelynn was angry beyond belief, she couldn’t make herself take it out on the browned-eyed-blonde-haired girl who had shown not one person on this earth anything other than kindness. So the brunette smiled softly and declined.

Acelynn, without really thinking about it, turned right and followed a less busy street. There weren’t any street lights on this path, and there weren’t any stored. The ballerina remembered that it led to an old bicycle path. There were some houses near too, but that didn’t matter. The bike path made a loop around a patch of woods and went a mile or so around. Then it ended at a random parking lot next to a creek. The perfect place for a walk.

The ballerina began to hum to a tune probably written by Mozart or Beethoven, but she wasn’t sure. She lifted one arm in the air and a toe to her right knee. She spun around and leaped forward. It was her routine for the recital she was supposed to do on Sunday, two days from then. Of course, she was done with the classic ballerina life. Now, she would only perform to the night sky, the trees, and the snow.

It was harder than she thought it would be to do the routine across a long distance, rather than on a small stage. But it wasn’t like she was getting rated on it – she could create new moves as she whisked along the road, and hummed random notes that sounded classic as she squeezed her eyes shut.

She didn’t feel like a performer, pretending that the world was her stage, she felt like she was Acelynn Adams, dancing in the woods.
“Acelynn?”

Suddenly the girl stopped and opened her eyes. There were five boys surrounding a small bonfire on the side of the road, partially covered by trees. Acelynn could barely make out faces, but knew the one who called her name was the one completely facing her. All of the boys were looking at her, but the one who called her had his whole body pivoted towards her. He was tallish, from what Acelynn could tell. His skin looked like a sunset against the glow of the fire. His hair was dark and his eyes weren’t brown or black, she could tell. His facial structure looked familiar as well.

Luke! It was Luke! Of course he would be around when her world was falling apart. “Luke?” Acelynn called back.

Luke came closer to Acelynn, the other boys watched him move. Like they were a pack of wolves watching a member go for the kill, alone. The ballerina was surprised that Luke was actually hanging out with people – in the three years she had known him, she had never seen him even interact with others. Maybe Acelynn should have been happy for him, but she felt a little hurt that Luke was spending time with people other than her. Of course it was unreasonable and selfish, but it was what she felt.

“Acelynn, what are you doing out here?” Luke had stepped right in front of her, looking her over. Acelynn felt like he had grown several inches since the last time they met – but it had only been two days.

“Luke, why are you here?” She replied softly.

“I-I’m not Luke, it’s Tuck. How long have you been out here?” He countered and rubbed her arms with his bare hands.

Acelynn looked up at Tuck, and noticed his dark jade eyes. It made sense, she supposed. Luke didn’t call her “Acelynn” and he was much shorter than his brother. “Oh.” The ballerina replied. She was disappointed that it wasn’t Luke, and now a little uncomfortable around the older boy.

“How long have you been out here? It’s freezing.” Tuck asked again. Acelynn just shrugged and stared at the ground. In her mind, she was begging for Luke, who could fix anything. Tuck looked frustrated, and wrapped one arm around the shivering ballerina, leading her to the bonfire.

The four other boys varied in age. Two looked like they were around Acelynn’s age, and some looked like they were college kids. However, the one thing they did have in common were firecrackers in their hands, and their eyes glued to the girl’s face. “I’m going to go.” The green eyed boy announced.

“What – why?” One of the younger looking boys asked.

“This is Acelynn; she’s my brother’s girlfriend.” Tuck introduced. Acelynn was too tired to correct him. “I have to get her home. I think something’s wrong. We can do this some other time.”

There were a few groans, but no one protested, Acelynn noticed. “Geez, Tuck. When the hell did you get so fucking motherly?”

Tuck didn’t answer right away. First, he shook off his own jacket and held it for Acelynn to put it on, as if she were a young child. But the girl was too tired and cold to care – she slipped her arms in the jacket. It smelled like a thick layer of expensive cologne and cigarettes. And the jacket itself was nothing fancy – just a plain, black leather jacket.

Tuck was left in a black and grey baseball shirt, but he didn’t look cold at all. “Since I did your mom last week in the back of my car.”

The boy’s face got red and he marched off after the others, who had already left. The fire was still glowing red after the boys had taken turns stomping on it. Acelynn hoped that it wouldn’t ignite again, but was too tired to care. “Come on.” Tuck wrapped his arm around the tiny girl again, as if he was some varsity jock and she was a cheerleader, and they were commanding the halls of high school. He led her down the road again, but in the opposite direction as she had come.

Acelynn figured she must have been going pretty slow, because Tuck eventually picked her up, as if she were a baby being cradled, and carried her at a brisk pace. The action caused confusion in the ballerina’s mind – she was relieved that she didn’t have to walk anymore, and Tuck’s body heat was warming her. But she also didn’t feel comfortable that close to him. He made the girl quite uneasy.

After awhile, Tuck finally put Acelynn down without any warning, and the shock stung her feet. Tuck didn’t seem to notice her wince, and pulled out a set of keys. The ballerina looked around and saw a sleek, black, expensive looking car. It looked like it went fast. “Get in.” He ordered and went around to the other side to sit in the driver’s seat. Acelynn obliged by slowly opening the shiny door, stepping in and closing the door again. By the time she had done that, Tuck had got in, started the car’s engine, and was working on the heater.

“So what were you doing out that far away from the city?” Tuck asked, putting the car in gear and drove off.

Acelynn shrugged again. She looked at the clock in the car. It read 12:04 A.M. She was eighteen now.

“Did you and Luke have a fight?” He asked timidly. She wasn’t sure why he was interrogating her, but she shook her head anyway. “Of course not.” He said under his breath.

“Why were you that far away from the city?” The ballerina asked. She didn’t really care, but she didn’t want him asking anymore questions.

“Does it matter?” He replied, and gave Acelynn a glance, but continued anyway. “I was just hanging out with some friends.”

The brunette nodded and stayed silent. “It’s my birthday, today.” She said softly after awhile. She wasn’t sure exactly why she blurted it, she supposed it was just that she figured someone should know, and Tuck was there.

The green-eyed boy looked slightly surprised by the statement. “Oh, well, happy birthday.” He replied awkwardly. Acelynn was too tired to be embarrassed. “What does that make you, eighteen?”

She nodded and leaned against the car door with her eyes closed. Acelynn wasn’t sure where Tuck was taking her – but she really didn’t care. Hopefully, he was taking her to Luke, if he figured that his brother could fix the puzzle in his passenger seat.

Acelynn fell to sleep for a time period, she didn’t know how long, and woke up to the smell of familiar cigarette smoke. Her eyes were stiff and her nose thick. She looked at Tuck, who was staring out the windshield off into the distance. He was smoking a thin, white stick rapidly. He looked exactly like Luke would look like in a few years, but with green eyes.

“So why did you run away from your house?” Tuck asked, not even taking his eyes away from whatever he was staring at.

“What?” Acelynn’s voice sounded coarse and ridged. She stretched and sat upright, even though it pained her back to do so.

Tuck faced her and wiggled his cell phone in her face. “Luke called me. He said that your parents called him, asking if you were at our house, because you weren’t at your house. Why did you run away?”

The ballerina slowly processed his words. “I didn’t run away.”

Tuck slammed his fist down on the dashboard, sending a quick rush of fear through Acelynn. “Like hell you did!” The girl cowered against the door, wide eyes staring at the older boy. “I’m not stupid, Acelynn. I know what running away is. You left in the middle of the night, wondering around. You ran away from your house. Your parents are freaking out, Luke’s a total mess, and you could have died. It’s snowing, if you hadn’t noticed, and you were turning blue!”

Acelynn was speechless. She was being lectured by Tuck Spencer – number one miscreant she had ever met. The boy who lit his toes on fire because of a dare. She was shocked by his outburst, so she did the only thing a sleep-deprived, blood-lost, freezing, depressed, in-shock girl could do; she fainted.