Wild Child: Love Cannot Save You Part 1

It was a cool evening in March when Jim decided to show Caroline his favorite spot. This, he told her, was where he came when he needed a place to gather his thoughts.

Caroline could feel in the air that spring was just around the corner. The wind felt nice against her skin, it made her feel alive. And the thrill of being up on the roof of the abandoned building was just incredible! It was slanted, and the knowledge that she might very well lose her balance only added to the exhilaration.

It was, Caroline thought, the perfect place to be alone with your thoughts. The old Torpedo Factory felt so isolated from the rest of Alexandria, as though it were its own separate world.

“I used to go up on roofs all the time in New York,” she thought aloud, “but you can actually see the stars here.”

It was amazing! Caroline had quite literally never seen anything like the clear night sky, untainted by bright city lights and tall monstrous buildings. There were so many stars she could hardly believe it. There must have been billions of bright twinkling dots, faraway worlds that dotted the night sky.

“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Jim agreed, and Caroline stole a glance at him as he tilted his head up towards the stars.

She could hardly believe that they had known each other for over two months now. And yet, she thought, each day with him brought something new and unexpected.

They had gotten to know each other as well as two people their age could in such a short amount of time. Aside from discussing philosophy and literature, Jim had told her about his constant moving from one place to the next. As the son of a naval officer, he was used to having to pack up and leave as soon as he would start to get settled in, and somehow knowing what he had gone through helped Caroline come to terms with leaving the only home she had ever known.

“Jim?” she asked, unable to tear her eyes away from him.

“Hm?”

“I was just wondering,” she stammered, “why you don’t ever talk to anyone else the way you talk to me.”

He turned to her, one eyebrow raised.

“I mean,” she continued, “sometimes with other people you just sit in a stupor and shut them all out. And the other times it seems like you’re just humoring them. But you actually talk to me and I just…I guess I want to know what makes me so special.”

She watched as he took a deep breath, and looked out at the docks for what seemed like an eternity. Then, finally, he met her gaze.

“You’re different, Caroline,” he said, “everyone else with their sports teams and their fraternities…they’re just a bunch of self-centered teenagers. They don’t know what’s really important. They have no idea what life is about. But you,” he looked at her with an emotion that she couldn’t quite place, “you understand. You see the world for what it really is. You have such an incredible curiosity, a need to know more. I guess I talk to you because I can.”

Caroline looked at him for a long while. She figured that she understood Jim as much anyone could. After all he wasn’t exactly the type of person who wore his heart on his sleeve. Nevertheless she saw in him the incredible urge to be recognized-to be noticed. It was clear that he wanted more out of life, just as she did.

“I’m going to get away from here, you know,” he spoke almost to himself, “I’m going to do something with my life. Something big. I’m going to be somebody.”

“I know you will.” Caroline said. She had no doubt that every word he spoke was the truth. “You’re going to go further than anyone here could ever even dream.”

She knew that Jim would get everything he ever wanted out of life. The question was, would she?

“Hey,” Jim said, suddenly looking over at Caroline with mischief in his eyes, “what would you do if I jumped?”

The change of subject only took her aback for a moment.

“I’d jump too,” she replied, grinning, “and then I’d jump off the docks and swim out as far as I possibly could-just so you wouldn’t outdo me.”

Jim looked at her with what could only be described as admiration.

“See that,” he said, “you really are one of a kind.”

And then, without warning, he leaned in and his lips met hers.

It was a soft, slow, easy kiss. They were both tentative, as neither one of them had the slightest idea what they were doing. Yet, somehow their lips managed to meld together perfectly, and at that moment, Caroline knew that whatever happened in the years to come, she would never forget how his lips had felt on hers. They were warm, in contrast to the cold wind, and soft as a worn-in pillow. And she knew that in the days that followed, she would be able to think of little else but the warm, tingling sensation that was spreading through her body as she let herself melt into him.