A Dustland Fairytale

Everything Tempe reminded John of Sera.

As he drove out, for what he assumed was the final time without her, he hoped those bad memories would no longer be tainted when he drove back in.

John had not past Brookside Drive since she had left. It was perhaps one of the best memories; but he had no idea in the moment, and now it left a sour taste in his mouth. There were a lot of times a simple thought past John's mind, one he couldn't choke down but couldn't push out either:

What if he had never met Sera at all?

September 3, 2006

"Fuck, I gotta bounce man."

John stood up, setting down his empty beer bottle on the coffee table in front of him.

"You sure? You can stay over if you need to." Eric tried, looking at his less than stable friend. But he already knew the answer.

"I'm not drunk!" John laughed, his eyesight a bit blurry. But John had a high tolerance, and he knew it and wasn't afraid to flaunt about it. "I'll be fine."

Eric nodded, taking a sip of his own beer. "Are you coming out for me and Jared's gig tomorrow?"

John thought for a moment, but nodded slowly. All of his friends were in bands, and he still felt left out about it. He could play guitar moderately but in no way compared to Jared; it sucked, but he didn't consider himself a "rockstar" kinda guy anyway. Fuck, John had no idea what he was doing with his life. His only concern at the moment was getting home with the slight daze filling his mind.

"I'll get there. See ya, Halvo."

As she walked out of Eric's house John could hear his friend mumbling something about beating another band that was playing.

John got into his truck and took a breath before starting the ignition. His friends were so driven and so passionate about music at such a young age and it put him off. All he was currently was a kid that everyone loved to party with, and that wasn't about to get him anywhere.

The streetlamps lit the mostly empty streets, as it was about two in the morning. Halvo's house wasn't too far away though, and John had done this dozens of times before. Fuck, he was Irish.

Call it prolific, but there was something distinctly different about this night. Maybe it was that John was driving on the complete wrong side of the road, or maybe it was that a chain of events was about to be set in motion.

John (again, on the wrong side of the road) saw the turn to his street. His blue/green eyes hazy and disorientated and all, John did indeed see it. He just saw it a good few houses before he was supposed to make the turn. And right when the sight was made, he turned.

He turned, alright: directly into a mailbox.

The loud BANG took him completely out of dizziness just as his head was about to slam into the steering wheel.

"Fuck." John muttered under his breath, not really sure what was going on or if he was even awake anymore.

Slowly he reached over and flipped open the door to the truck, sliding out and feeling half asleep as he moved. John was completely awake though when he saw the damage on his hood.

"FUCK." He said again. It was dented inwards, not dramatically, but enough that there was no way he could hide this from his dad and it would take a lot more money that he had to fix. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK."

The mailbox had fallen over. John was, to put it simply, fucked.

John ran his hands through his hair and tried to come up with options, which was difficult sense he was still experiencing effects from the few beers he had been drinking with Halvo.

"Well damn."

John's head whipped to the side, his arms still crossed tightly as his eyes met with those brown eyes. Those eyes were placed on a wide-smiled, messy haired girl in short pajama shorts and an ASU sweatshirt.

And John, in the midst of being both drunk and royally fucked, couldn't help but consider her helplessly beautiful.

"Are you alright?" The girl responded to his lack of response.

John smacked himself out of his state. "Um, yeah." He quickly realized that was a lie and shook his head. "No, no I'm not I just fucking..."

"Rammed your truck into my mailbox."

"Yeah," John couldn't help but laugh with the girl, "that."

The girl moved so she could get a better look at his truck. Her face said it all: it was pretty explicit about matching the emotions on the inside. John swallowed.

"So um, do you-"

Both he and the girl paused as the front window flickered open from the house in front of them (whom the mailbox belonged to, and where the girl had came). The girl quickly jumped and touched John's arm, making him move with her.

Something needs to be understood: John is not a particularly confident guy; he talks around his friends, but he is if anything, harmless. His hair was long and dumb; his heart was big and dumb.

"Fuck, that's my dad!" She said quickly, moving over to the front of the truck. "Here, just help me pretend like we're pushing your truck. And follow my lead."

John did as he was told, moving along with the girl to either sides of the car and pushing it off foundation of the now destroyed mailbox. Just as they moved, the front door opened and a man wearing a robe and slippers walked out.

"Seraphina, what the hell is going on out here!?"

Sera. John locked that name into memory along with her face.

"Dad, don't look so angry." John immediately noticed Sera's change in tone, and he trusted her. "John was driving back from a quick pharmacy run and had to swerve away from an animal in the road. What did you say it was, John? Some kind of wolf?"

John swallowed, staring at the father and daughter. "Yeah, it just uh, it came out of nowhere. I'm sorry sir, I can pay for the mailbox-"

The man's face changed into a smile, and he shook his head. "Nonsense, it was an accident and you were just protecting an innocent animal. I'm glad you're alright, son."

John was sure he was probably dead.

"Can he just leave his car here and pick it up tomorrow morning? It's so late." Sera said again.

Her dad yawned. "That's fine. I need to get back to sleep-- make sure your engine is off and, how close do you live?"

"Just around the block."

With a nod and a smile, the man went back inside. There was something about him, John had sworn he'd seen that face before. He was completely sure.

"You're welcome." Sera smiled as she turned back towards her house.

This nice was all happening way too fast for John to comprehend. Quickly, he called out to her as she walked towards the door: "Wait, how do you know me?"

He had never told her his name.

"School." Sera shrugged. "I know everyone."

With a smile, she was back inside her house and John was alone by the broken mailbox. He started to walk home, a weird feeling in his chest. He wasn't sure what he would tell his dad about the car, but at least he didn't have an angry father-of-an-attractive-girl-that-apparently-knows-him mad as well.

John didn't know it then, but he surely had an inkling of a thought or a wish that he would see more of Sera. And she would surely change him, and he would change her.

And now, a more confident and short-haired John was driving to find this girl, the one he had found that night and never truly let go of.

That was the problem though: he forget that they had both changed. It was why they ended in the first place.