Status: Short story(: Finite!
Fate Fell Short.
Name
“Shh” She hushed, tugging Nick by his hand onto a path hidden by the dense trees. “You can’t let them know your name.”
Nick stared at her in confusion. “Everybody already knows my name, who can’t hear it?”
She giggled and put a finger to her lips in a ‘shh’ gesture as she continued to tug him forward. There was a spark in her eyes, something Nick found so intriguing that he couldn’t look away. His cell phone beeped, loud and high pitched, but he didn’t bother pulling it from his pocket. He ran his hand through his hair and looked behind him at the low slope they had just walked up.
For once, Nick wasn’t sure he wanted anyone knowing where he was. He felt free without the constant threat of Paparazzi or his brothers telling him he needed to get back for a concert. This freedom wasn’t something he was willingly going to give away anytime soon.
Her fingers slid in between his and she looked back at him with clear brown eyes and a big smile before looking ahead of her again. She dragged him up a hill, then another; he wondered briefly where she could possibly be bringing him. But when he went to ask she silenced him with the ‘shh’ he had grown almost fond of.
Nick couldn’t remember a time when he had walked through so many trees, but she had obviously traveled along this path often, because she knew just which turns to take. The wind whipped around them and her long brown curls flew everywhere, along with the thin maroon sundress she wore. Chills rose along her arms but she said nothing about the cold. He wanted to offer her his jacket, but something about the way she held herself told him not to.
Her hand was warm, clutching his as if it was a life force, the thing holding her to this very planet, and Nick didn’t mind. His hand nearly swallowed hers, with his long callused fingers and large palm; it was small but not at all frail. For such a small girl, she had surprising strength.
She soon stopped at what looked to be a bridge, though there was no manmade material. Under it ran a small stream and on either side large rocks lined the edge – making up a wall starting at the edge and going down to the stream –, the path in the middle was lush with long blades of green grass, a colored leaf here and there. She sat in the middle of the ‘bridge’ and gestured for him to sit beside her.
There, as the sun set around them, Nick watched fireflies come from every direction, flying in unknown patterns.
“The nameless souls of the orphaned,” She whispered. “Can never know your name.”
“Nick!” Joe exclaimed.
“Huh?” Nick asked, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again to relieve him of the memory.
Joe sighed. “Forget it,” He muttered in exasperation. “What’s got you so out of it lately?”
“Oh… uh… nothing, I guess I’m just not getting enough sleep,” Nick answered lamely.
Actually, he was sleeping like the dead because every dream he had was haunted by her. Her whispered words and infectious giggles and of course the way she hushed him; a subtle exhale of breath from between her teeth and the giggle that followed. It was intoxicating.
She was somehow in his every thought, the girl he didn’t even know the name of. The girl that had led him off into the trees, to show him… fireflies, of all things. He breathed out a sigh and ran the tip of his finger around the top of his glass. Maybe he should sit down in front of his piano, that always seemed to help him think.
He got up from where he sat at the island in the kitchen, Joe asking him where he was going with Nick just waving him off. He sat at his piano and ran his fingers along the keys. The familiar sound of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata filled his ears, focusing his mind on the easy flow of the music.
The notes weaved through the air, making Nick’s all-too-relaxed mind jump to the way her fingers had felt weaved between his. He flinched as he hit the wrong key, the sharp sound bringing him back to reality. His fingers trailed along the keys again, floating in their own way, creating the music he had become familiar with. But even though the notes came easily to his fingers a flash of memory would come and he’d mess up again.
“Mm, I love the feeling of grass between my toes.” She said. “Don’t you?”
Her arms were above her head as she laid in the grass; her knees drawn up and her toes curling and uncurling in the long strands of green. Nick wasn’t sure how to answer her question, he hadn’t just sat like this for a while. He was always so busy with tours, records, and the TV show, that to sit and relax like this, well it was almost unheard of.
Nick exhaled before answering. “I guess so.”
In fact, he was still wearing his shoes. She had shed herself of her shoes long ago and looked as relaxed as anyone could ever be. Fireflies still surrounded the two of them, flickering their small lights on and off.
“What did you mean earlier, about the nameless orphans?” He asked.
“Once I heard that when an orphan dies the fireflies take their souls as their light. Or something like that. But nobody knows their names. They don’t even know them.”
He couldn’t help it, he chuckled. It was just a ridiculous thought; that what gives fireflies their light is dead orphans souls. When really it was much more complicated than that.
“I don’t know where you heard that, but I don’t think it’s factual.” Nick said, lifting his hand to link it with hers once more. He didn’t know why, but he liked the feel of their hands together.
She turned towards him, her head resting on the arm he was holding the hand of. “I never said it was true, just that it was what I heard. A dream, a wish, a theory. And I liked it.” She grinned as she stared at him.
Nick stared back, thoughts alight with this information. The soft sound of the stream around them and their even breaths was all that was heard. He could have kissed her right then, the perfect scenario surrounded them, but instead he stared into her brown eyes, trying to figure out what went on in her mind. Without success.
The pad of his thumb slid across the inside of her wrist, felt the rise and fall of a scar, then another, and another, before it came back to rest on the top of her hand.
“Scars are souvenirs you never lose.” She sighed. “Even if you didn’t create them yourself.”
That set Nick’s mind running again. He had to figure her out.
Nick’s pen hit his notebook with a crackly-thud and he blinked, hard. She just kept creeping up into his thoughts. The girl with no name- that he knew of, anyway. He breathed out heavily and fell back against the headboard of his bed. He couldn’t even write a song about this nameless girl! What was wrong with him? Nick could always write a song about his feelings, but right now they were so mixed and confusing.
He needed to stop this. He would never see her again, she was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing leaving only the memory of itself. Nick ran his pick down the strings of his guitar, still trying to write something. She was the girl of his dreams and he had let her slip through his fingers. His brain felt numb, like nothing was running through it but her. Nick knew his eyes were blank and that his sagging posture would obviously give away his despair if anyone were to walk in.
But he couldn’t find it in him to move even a millimeter. He wanted to find her, though he had absolutely no way to do so. The doorbell rang and Nick regretfully stood from his position on his bed and made his way slowly down the stairs. Joe and Kevin had both gone to the batting cages and his parents and Frankie had gone… somewhere.
Pushing aside the thin, transparent, curtain and looking out the window next to the door he saw a short girl with her back turned to him. Shrugging he pulled open the door and cleared his throat.
“Hello,” He said.
The girl spun around on her heel, her long curls whipping across her face and grinned at him, though he could barely see her face through all the hair. Brushing her hair from her face she leaned foreward on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Maybe I’ll see you again next tour,” She whispered in his ear, giggling, before turning back around and rushing down the street.
There she was again, a ghost. Nick watched her go, cowboy boots hitting the concrete and as she ran. Fate had always been good to him. He and his brothers were able to live their dream because of it.
But for once, Fate fell short.
He watched it crumble as the girl he couldn’t get out of his mind ran and grew smaller on the horizon; Barely an image of billowing hair and skirt anymore. Gone just as quickly as she had come; without as much as a name.
Nick stared at her in confusion. “Everybody already knows my name, who can’t hear it?”
She giggled and put a finger to her lips in a ‘shh’ gesture as she continued to tug him forward. There was a spark in her eyes, something Nick found so intriguing that he couldn’t look away. His cell phone beeped, loud and high pitched, but he didn’t bother pulling it from his pocket. He ran his hand through his hair and looked behind him at the low slope they had just walked up.
For once, Nick wasn’t sure he wanted anyone knowing where he was. He felt free without the constant threat of Paparazzi or his brothers telling him he needed to get back for a concert. This freedom wasn’t something he was willingly going to give away anytime soon.
Her fingers slid in between his and she looked back at him with clear brown eyes and a big smile before looking ahead of her again. She dragged him up a hill, then another; he wondered briefly where she could possibly be bringing him. But when he went to ask she silenced him with the ‘shh’ he had grown almost fond of.
Nick couldn’t remember a time when he had walked through so many trees, but she had obviously traveled along this path often, because she knew just which turns to take. The wind whipped around them and her long brown curls flew everywhere, along with the thin maroon sundress she wore. Chills rose along her arms but she said nothing about the cold. He wanted to offer her his jacket, but something about the way she held herself told him not to.
Her hand was warm, clutching his as if it was a life force, the thing holding her to this very planet, and Nick didn’t mind. His hand nearly swallowed hers, with his long callused fingers and large palm; it was small but not at all frail. For such a small girl, she had surprising strength.
She soon stopped at what looked to be a bridge, though there was no manmade material. Under it ran a small stream and on either side large rocks lined the edge – making up a wall starting at the edge and going down to the stream –, the path in the middle was lush with long blades of green grass, a colored leaf here and there. She sat in the middle of the ‘bridge’ and gestured for him to sit beside her.
There, as the sun set around them, Nick watched fireflies come from every direction, flying in unknown patterns.
“The nameless souls of the orphaned,” She whispered. “Can never know your name.”
“Nick!” Joe exclaimed.
“Huh?” Nick asked, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again to relieve him of the memory.
Joe sighed. “Forget it,” He muttered in exasperation. “What’s got you so out of it lately?”
“Oh… uh… nothing, I guess I’m just not getting enough sleep,” Nick answered lamely.
Actually, he was sleeping like the dead because every dream he had was haunted by her. Her whispered words and infectious giggles and of course the way she hushed him; a subtle exhale of breath from between her teeth and the giggle that followed. It was intoxicating.
She was somehow in his every thought, the girl he didn’t even know the name of. The girl that had led him off into the trees, to show him… fireflies, of all things. He breathed out a sigh and ran the tip of his finger around the top of his glass. Maybe he should sit down in front of his piano, that always seemed to help him think.
He got up from where he sat at the island in the kitchen, Joe asking him where he was going with Nick just waving him off. He sat at his piano and ran his fingers along the keys. The familiar sound of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata filled his ears, focusing his mind on the easy flow of the music.
The notes weaved through the air, making Nick’s all-too-relaxed mind jump to the way her fingers had felt weaved between his. He flinched as he hit the wrong key, the sharp sound bringing him back to reality. His fingers trailed along the keys again, floating in their own way, creating the music he had become familiar with. But even though the notes came easily to his fingers a flash of memory would come and he’d mess up again.
“Mm, I love the feeling of grass between my toes.” She said. “Don’t you?”
Her arms were above her head as she laid in the grass; her knees drawn up and her toes curling and uncurling in the long strands of green. Nick wasn’t sure how to answer her question, he hadn’t just sat like this for a while. He was always so busy with tours, records, and the TV show, that to sit and relax like this, well it was almost unheard of.
Nick exhaled before answering. “I guess so.”
In fact, he was still wearing his shoes. She had shed herself of her shoes long ago and looked as relaxed as anyone could ever be. Fireflies still surrounded the two of them, flickering their small lights on and off.
“What did you mean earlier, about the nameless orphans?” He asked.
“Once I heard that when an orphan dies the fireflies take their souls as their light. Or something like that. But nobody knows their names. They don’t even know them.”
He couldn’t help it, he chuckled. It was just a ridiculous thought; that what gives fireflies their light is dead orphans souls. When really it was much more complicated than that.
“I don’t know where you heard that, but I don’t think it’s factual.” Nick said, lifting his hand to link it with hers once more. He didn’t know why, but he liked the feel of their hands together.
She turned towards him, her head resting on the arm he was holding the hand of. “I never said it was true, just that it was what I heard. A dream, a wish, a theory. And I liked it.” She grinned as she stared at him.
Nick stared back, thoughts alight with this information. The soft sound of the stream around them and their even breaths was all that was heard. He could have kissed her right then, the perfect scenario surrounded them, but instead he stared into her brown eyes, trying to figure out what went on in her mind. Without success.
The pad of his thumb slid across the inside of her wrist, felt the rise and fall of a scar, then another, and another, before it came back to rest on the top of her hand.
“Scars are souvenirs you never lose.” She sighed. “Even if you didn’t create them yourself.”
That set Nick’s mind running again. He had to figure her out.
Nick’s pen hit his notebook with a crackly-thud and he blinked, hard. She just kept creeping up into his thoughts. The girl with no name- that he knew of, anyway. He breathed out heavily and fell back against the headboard of his bed. He couldn’t even write a song about this nameless girl! What was wrong with him? Nick could always write a song about his feelings, but right now they were so mixed and confusing.
He needed to stop this. He would never see her again, she was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing leaving only the memory of itself. Nick ran his pick down the strings of his guitar, still trying to write something. She was the girl of his dreams and he had let her slip through his fingers. His brain felt numb, like nothing was running through it but her. Nick knew his eyes were blank and that his sagging posture would obviously give away his despair if anyone were to walk in.
But he couldn’t find it in him to move even a millimeter. He wanted to find her, though he had absolutely no way to do so. The doorbell rang and Nick regretfully stood from his position on his bed and made his way slowly down the stairs. Joe and Kevin had both gone to the batting cages and his parents and Frankie had gone… somewhere.
Pushing aside the thin, transparent, curtain and looking out the window next to the door he saw a short girl with her back turned to him. Shrugging he pulled open the door and cleared his throat.
“Hello,” He said.
The girl spun around on her heel, her long curls whipping across her face and grinned at him, though he could barely see her face through all the hair. Brushing her hair from her face she leaned foreward on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Maybe I’ll see you again next tour,” She whispered in his ear, giggling, before turning back around and rushing down the street.
There she was again, a ghost. Nick watched her go, cowboy boots hitting the concrete and as she ran. Fate had always been good to him. He and his brothers were able to live their dream because of it.
But for once, Fate fell short.
He watched it crumble as the girl he couldn’t get out of his mind ran and grew smaller on the horizon; Barely an image of billowing hair and skirt anymore. Gone just as quickly as she had come; without as much as a name.