Unexpected Beauty
One.
Marcella cursed loudly as her car gave a nasty grinding sound and she quickly began to lose speed.
"No, no, no!" she shouted, banging the steering wheel with her right hand, It was no use – no amount of her shouting was going to change anything, and so as the twilight around her began to get darker, she put on her hazard lights and began directing the car over to the side of the road. She only just got there – as soon as she steered the car into the relative safety of the emergency lane, it gave out completely, and she rolled to a very much disgruntled stop.
"This is just what I need," she muttered to herself. "As if today hasn’t been bad enough? What is this anyway? Does life not have anyone better to annoy?"
She continued to rant to herself as she grabbed her cell phone and flicked it on, waiting for all of the settings to load. As she waited, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy due to the stress of the day and she had just been looking forward to getting home to her bed. It wasn’t that late – only about ten in the evening on a bright summer night – but the day had been less than satisfactory and Marcella just wanted part of it, at least, to be drama free. Obviously, luck wasn’t in her favour tonight, and so she found herself flicking through her contacts to find someone who could help her out.
Once she had called the recovery company she was a member of, she looked through her phone to see if any of her friends hadn’t been at the party and could be available to pick her up. She didn’t really fancy bothering her father – he would just pester her about why she had been crying and why she was coming home so early. Marcella didn’t want to get into it – it was nothing serious anyway. She was just stressed out from school; she hadn’t really wanted to go in the first place. She had finals coming up and she was stuck in the middle of applying for different colleges. On top of all that, she had found out that the boy she had loved for years, who also happened to be her closest male friend, was going to college on the other side of the country. The idea of saying goodbye to everyone had become too real and Marcella, who hated being emotional in front of others, had quickly faked an illness and made her escape.
Eventually she gave a bad-tempered sigh and threw her phone into the passenger seat. Checking to see it was safe to do so, she got out of the car, jumped over the crash barrier, and stood on the grassy verge on the other side, watching the cars shooting by with their more fortunate occupants comfortable inside. Marcella didn’t understand it. Usually, she was an upbeat, optimistic person. She couldn’t understand where these blues had come from. She could always see the beauty in everything, whether it be a person, an animal or a landscape. She always gave the benefit of the doubt and she wished no harm to anyone.
However, today, Marcella couldn’t help but glare as the cars whipped past. Why, when she was such a good person, did this have to happen to her of all nights? Could she not be cut some slack? It wasn’t a lot to ask, after all.
"All I wanted was to just go home and sleep," Marcella muttered. "But no, instead I’m standing on the side of the road contemplating how much I might have to fork out for repairs to my car. Where is the fairness in this whole thing? Eh? Where is it? Because I certainly don’t see it!"
Unable to continue watching the people carry on calmly on their way, Marcella turned her back to the road and climbed up the grassy slope. There was a hill this side of the road and although it wasn’t too steep, it went quite high. Marcella, when driving past, had always wanted to climb up and see what the view was like, but of course at the moment she was in such a bad mood she didn’t really notice that she was finally able to do it.
She got to a decent height and turned and looked down at the road beneath her. Dusk was coming in fast and the lights of the cars were on now, streaks of white and red skimming through the summer night. Despite her bad mood, a gasp caught in Marcella’s throat. She had never seen anything like this before. It had previously just been a highway leading into a city, but seeing it from this angle changed everything. It wasn’t light at this time of the evening, yet it wasn’t dark, either. Marcella was reminded of the water in the ocean – the air had a rippling quality to it which made her almost believe she could just swim through it.
Marcella placed a hand on the back of her head and took in great gulps of fresh, crisp air. Far below, the streaks of red made their way towards the city as the streaks of white made their way back out. The city, at the moment, was dark, but as Marcella watched, it flickered into life. She watched as street by street, the lights flickered on, and suddenly the whole city was illuminated in front of her. Orange, yellow, white and red danced through the darkening sky and reflected off of Marcella’s eyes, and she found herself smiling.
She felt tears prickling at her eyes again. She didn’t want to leave the city that she had grown up in, the friends who she loved as family, but seeing something as beautiful as this at such an unexpected time made her wonder just how many other opportunities were out there.
Marcella sat down on the grass and sighed contently. It was going to be a pleasant wait.
"No, no, no!" she shouted, banging the steering wheel with her right hand, It was no use – no amount of her shouting was going to change anything, and so as the twilight around her began to get darker, she put on her hazard lights and began directing the car over to the side of the road. She only just got there – as soon as she steered the car into the relative safety of the emergency lane, it gave out completely, and she rolled to a very much disgruntled stop.
"This is just what I need," she muttered to herself. "As if today hasn’t been bad enough? What is this anyway? Does life not have anyone better to annoy?"
She continued to rant to herself as she grabbed her cell phone and flicked it on, waiting for all of the settings to load. As she waited, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy due to the stress of the day and she had just been looking forward to getting home to her bed. It wasn’t that late – only about ten in the evening on a bright summer night – but the day had been less than satisfactory and Marcella just wanted part of it, at least, to be drama free. Obviously, luck wasn’t in her favour tonight, and so she found herself flicking through her contacts to find someone who could help her out.
Once she had called the recovery company she was a member of, she looked through her phone to see if any of her friends hadn’t been at the party and could be available to pick her up. She didn’t really fancy bothering her father – he would just pester her about why she had been crying and why she was coming home so early. Marcella didn’t want to get into it – it was nothing serious anyway. She was just stressed out from school; she hadn’t really wanted to go in the first place. She had finals coming up and she was stuck in the middle of applying for different colleges. On top of all that, she had found out that the boy she had loved for years, who also happened to be her closest male friend, was going to college on the other side of the country. The idea of saying goodbye to everyone had become too real and Marcella, who hated being emotional in front of others, had quickly faked an illness and made her escape.
Eventually she gave a bad-tempered sigh and threw her phone into the passenger seat. Checking to see it was safe to do so, she got out of the car, jumped over the crash barrier, and stood on the grassy verge on the other side, watching the cars shooting by with their more fortunate occupants comfortable inside. Marcella didn’t understand it. Usually, she was an upbeat, optimistic person. She couldn’t understand where these blues had come from. She could always see the beauty in everything, whether it be a person, an animal or a landscape. She always gave the benefit of the doubt and she wished no harm to anyone.
However, today, Marcella couldn’t help but glare as the cars whipped past. Why, when she was such a good person, did this have to happen to her of all nights? Could she not be cut some slack? It wasn’t a lot to ask, after all.
"All I wanted was to just go home and sleep," Marcella muttered. "But no, instead I’m standing on the side of the road contemplating how much I might have to fork out for repairs to my car. Where is the fairness in this whole thing? Eh? Where is it? Because I certainly don’t see it!"
Unable to continue watching the people carry on calmly on their way, Marcella turned her back to the road and climbed up the grassy slope. There was a hill this side of the road and although it wasn’t too steep, it went quite high. Marcella, when driving past, had always wanted to climb up and see what the view was like, but of course at the moment she was in such a bad mood she didn’t really notice that she was finally able to do it.
She got to a decent height and turned and looked down at the road beneath her. Dusk was coming in fast and the lights of the cars were on now, streaks of white and red skimming through the summer night. Despite her bad mood, a gasp caught in Marcella’s throat. She had never seen anything like this before. It had previously just been a highway leading into a city, but seeing it from this angle changed everything. It wasn’t light at this time of the evening, yet it wasn’t dark, either. Marcella was reminded of the water in the ocean – the air had a rippling quality to it which made her almost believe she could just swim through it.
Marcella placed a hand on the back of her head and took in great gulps of fresh, crisp air. Far below, the streaks of red made their way towards the city as the streaks of white made their way back out. The city, at the moment, was dark, but as Marcella watched, it flickered into life. She watched as street by street, the lights flickered on, and suddenly the whole city was illuminated in front of her. Orange, yellow, white and red danced through the darkening sky and reflected off of Marcella’s eyes, and she found herself smiling.
She felt tears prickling at her eyes again. She didn’t want to leave the city that she had grown up in, the friends who she loved as family, but seeing something as beautiful as this at such an unexpected time made her wonder just how many other opportunities were out there.
Marcella sat down on the grass and sighed contently. It was going to be a pleasant wait.
♠ ♠ ♠
Hope you enjoyed =]