I Miss Her

“James, stop,” she squealed, running away from him. James ignored her and kept running after the girl with a bucket of water. She ran away from him and to a pile of boulders, trying to hide from him. James found her and splashed some of the water on her. She gasped and ran away quickly.

The setting suddenly changed and James saw himself in a mirror, wearing a nice tuxedo. His hair was slicked back nicely, and behind him in the mirror, he saw a white grand staircase that wrapped around from the floor to the second floor and you could see it continue to the third.

James tried turning around, but it seemed like he was blocked in all directions. He kept watching the mirror, trying to figure out what to do. He was about to move when he saw her, walking down the stairs in a pearl white sun dress. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a pony tail and dropped down on her left shoulder. She continued down the stairs, not paying attention to the boy in the mirror.

James ran forward into the mirror, but collided with the wall. He banged on the glass, calling out her name. The girl ignored him and walked to the piano that was in the middle of the room and she started to play a sweet melody.

The next thing James saw was a man in all black, coming out of the coat closet. He had a knife in his hand. James started pounding again but it didn’t do any good. “Ellison!” he yelled.

“James. James?”

“James!” he heard. He sat up quickly and saw darkness. Next to him was his best friend, Kendall. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he growled, falling back onto his bed and turned over.

“Are you sure? You were talking in your sleep and you said… you said her name,” Kendall pressed.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” James snarled. He felt weight on his bed, and he assumed that his friend sat down.

“James, the only way that you’re going to feel better is talking about it,” Kendall told him. James sighed, he knew Kendall was right, but he was tired from all the nightmares, waking him up at all times at night, and he just wanted sleep.

“I just want her back. I don’t want anyone else, just her. Just Ellison,” he whispered. Kendall placed a firm hand on James’ shoulder and gave him a light squeeze.

“Maybe we can ask Gustavo if we can go back home, to Minnesota, for a while,” Kendall suggested. James nodded his head, but he didn’t know if he really wanted to go back to see her. It would hurt to much. James fell back into a dreamless sleep until his alarm woke him up.

The sun was shining through his curtains and landed on his face. He rolled over and saw Kendall’s bed made and his side of the room was clean. James got up and went into his bathroom to take a shower.

When he got out, he dried off and wrapped his towel around his waist. James grabbed his once lucky comb and started to comb through his wet hair, then got his blow dryer out and started to dry it.

After he finished that, he walked back into his room and got dressed in dark wash jeans and a graphic t-shirt. He went down the hall and came out to the kitchen/living room area. Mrs. Knight, Kendall’s mom, had breakfast ready, but James wasn’t hungry. He joined his friend, Carlos on the coach and watched TV with him.

“Come on, we need to go to the studio,” his other friend, Logan said. Kendall groaned and got off of the stool he was sitting at and started to the door. Carlos sprung up and went with them, pulling James with him.

When they got to the studio, Gustavo, their boss, was extra grumpy and yelling at them a lot. James just wasn’t into it at all. He didn’t want to sing today. He wanted to be back in Minnesota. Back with Ellison. He had to remind himself though, that it was his idea to try out for a shot at Hollywood. It was his idea to become famous, but she would never know that he did it for her. He did it so that he could take care of her.

Ellison was a foster kid, moving from house to house, never having a secure family. He met her in 6th grade when she moved to Minnesota from Ohio. He befriended her almost immediately. She was the sweetest girl James had ever met. She was so good at keeping her home life as a secret, until she switched schools in 10th grade. The new family lived one district over, so she had to go to the high school there.

That’s when James wanted her. He asked her to be his girlfriend and she said yes. A year later when he decided he wanted to become a famous singer, he told her they would have to take a break. She seemed to take it well, but James was heartbroken about his decision, but he knew that they couldn’t do the long distance thing. It would be too hard for the both of them.

One day, Kendall called Ellison and she said that she had moved on from James, and she had a new boyfriend. James still loved her, she wanted to give her everything. She wanted to give her the world if she asked for it.

“James!” Gustavo yelled, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Why aren’t you singing?” he yelled. James looked at him then glanced at his friends next to him, and they were all giving him sad looks.

“I want to go home,” he whispered into the microphone in front of him.

“What?” Gustavo yelled.

“I want to go home. To Minnesota. I need Ellison back in my life. I need her to know that I love her, and I’m sorry for leaving her. I need her to know that I’d do anything for her,” James said.

Gustavo sighed and glanced at his assistant, Kelly. She immediately pulled out her phone and got a hold of the airlines. James and his friends were transported to their apartment to pack for Minnesota.

James was nervous. She hadn’t spoken to him in almost a year. She could still be with her boyfriend. She could be happy with him. There’s two sides of love. If James loved her, then he reckoned she had to love him back.

Their flight left the next morning, and by 10 am, they were back in Minnesota. James went to Kendall’s house and sat in the living room. He was so scared to go to her house. He didn’t even know if she was still living there.

“My mom called her last foster parents, and she still lives there,” Kendall announced to James as he walked through the living room. Kendall sat next to his best friend and watched him.

“I cant do it,” James whispered.

“Yes you can. I’m sure she feels the same way,” Kendall said. James looked down at his lap and thought about it.

“Will you go with me?” he asked.

“Of course. Let’s go,” Kendall stood up and helped James up. They threw on their coats and went out to the bus stop. When they go on, they rode it to the other side of town where they got off and had to walk 5 blocks.

“It’s crazy. We’re famous singers in Hollywood and we have to take the bus,” James complained.

“We’re famous singers that never finished high school, or got our drivers licenses,” Kendall laughed. James smiled for the first time and weeks.

When they arrived at Ellison’s house, Kendall was the one that knocked on the door. The front door opened and Ellison stood in front of them. Her auburn hair was down and wavy. She was wearing sweatpants and a brown sweater.

“Hi Kendall. What do you want James?” she asked, coldly.

“Now Ellison, James-”

“I’m sorry,” James burst out. “I’m sorry I left you for Hollywood. But I did it for you. I want to be able to give you everything you’ve ever wanted. I know that you’ve had it bad, switching homes, and schools, probably never thought anyone loved you, but I do. I do love you Ellison. I want you to know that I left for you. I didn’t think we could survive being far away, but once we got big, I was going to come back to you,” he stopped to see how Ellison was reacting.

She had tears in her eyes and her hand was covering her mouth. She glanced from James to Kendall, to back to James.

“James… I never.. I never forgot about you. I never stopped feeling the way I felt,” she whispered.

“How do you feel?” James asked, taking a step closer.

“I feel like I love you,” she told him. James smiled and took another step closer. Ellison closed the space and pulled James into a hug. James wrapped one of his arms around her waist and his other hand found its way to the back of her head and he just held her.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” James whispered. Ellison pulled away and pulled him down and their lips met for a sweet kiss. James was the one that pulled away only moments later and they rested their foreheads together. “I hope you forgive me, and want to be with me again,” he said.

“I want to be with you James. Now and forever.”