Story Time

I thought I'd post a story for a change of pace. Here's one a wrote a few days ago. I sat down and typed it up in about an hour and a half; it's based off a sudden idea I had. It's a little Nicholas Sparks-esque, but it was fun to write, because I think it's about something that everyone secretly dreams will happen to them.

There's no title, unfortunately. Let me know if you think of a good one.

Jack felt something shift on the bed next to him. Heart thumping, he groped in the darkness for his lamp.
“Don’t!” a soft voice came, “you’ll spoil it!”
Jack paused. “Spoil what?” He asked finally, wondering how his death by the axe man beside him could possibly be ruined by a bit of light.
“This,” the now definitely female voice answered, “Your wish.”
“My…what?” Jack lowered his outstretched arm slowly.
“Your birthday wish of course. You wished to hold your true love in your arms for a night. So here I am.”
Jack was baffled now. His wish had been earnest, although certainly not expected to come true. True loves did not suddenly appear in one’s arms because of wishes made over flaming candles. Furthermore, in his dream he had meant the holding to take place in the future, preferably when he was not in a dorm room and wearing his pajama pants with the hole in the knee. He didn’t say any of this to the girl, of course. He didn’t want to be rude to such a nice-sounding apparition.
“But how did you get here?” It seemed sensible to start with this question. Go back from the beginning, and work forward. That was how Jack liked to do things.
The girl laughed a little, and turned her head on the pillow so that she was facing him. It suddenly struck Jack that there was a girl in his bed. Next to him. His amazement only increased with her reply: “Oh, someone sent me. I’m not sure who, actually. I was sleeping in my bed, same as you, and suddenly I heard a voice giving me instructions and I appeared here. I’m as surprised as you are, you know.”
“What instructions?”
“They were very cryptic. We’re not to see each other in the light, We’re not to tell our names, or reveal anything that will help us to find each other. And we’re not to do anything besides hold each other.”
“And then what happened?”
“Things went black in my room. Blacker than they were already. It was if I had closed my eyes. Then everything went fuzzy for a second, and I found myself here.”
There was another short silence as Jack thought about what the girl was saying. It was magic, or God. Must be. He supposed that he should believe it was the latter who had sent her to him, but somehow this seemed too fairy-tale-like to be of His doing.
He finally spoke again: “Then you’re my…” Jack trailed off.
“True love, yes. And you’re mine,” the girl said sweetly and simply. “I’m pleased to meet you,” she laughed.
Jack laughed too, and reached out to shake her hand in the darkness. Her fingers were small and strong, and her palm pressed firmly against his own.
“What happens if we break one of the rules?” He wondered.
“I disappear,” the girl said solemnly, “and we never meet again.”
“We’ll be careful,” Jack promised. He could hardly get the words out. He was still holding her hand.
The girl squeezed his thumb gently. “What now?” She asked him.
“Well,” Jack hardly dared to say it. “About my wish.” He ended with a period, not knowing how to articulate what he wanted more than anything.
“About your wish.” Her period was more definite than his, and she scootched closer to him, so that all he had to do was shift his arms and she’d be inside them, right up against his chest.
He did, of course, and wrapped them around her back. She snuggled her face in his shirt and sighed quietly.
They lay that way for hours, not talking, or even moving. Jack was so happy and contented that he felt if he closed his eyes he would drift into a peaceful sleep. So he didn’t close his eyes, for once not wanting to lose a real moment to the beauty of his dreams. Not that he had ever encountered a moment this beautiful.
He couldn’t see her, not even the curve of her cheek or the glint of her hair. But he could feel her nose pressing against his heart, her hand still in his, her feet tangled in his own. He could feel her strength and her wisdom and her clarity. He could feel the preciousness of what he held, and when he thought of when he would have to let her go and slowly continue to live the rest of his life, he almost couldn’t bear the cruelty of it all. He would plod the path alone for a long time, he knew.
This wish felt like a halfway point; it was a moment given to him so that he could face a million moments unlike it with courage. He was sure that this wish wouldn’t have been granted had he been destined to meet the girl in his arms tomorrow, or even next year.
He traced her face, smiling as he felt her grin under his hand. “Trying to figure out what I look like?” She teased.
“No,” Jack returned mockingly, “I expect I’ll find out soon enough.”
“It can’t be soon enough,” the girl said, suddenly sober, “I’ve been thinking of all the months and maybe years I’ll have to live without you.”
Jack pulled her closer. “At least we have this. Most people don’t, you know. They just have to live in mystery and hope that someone perfect for them is out there. We know for sure.”
“Do we?” the girl asked doubtfully. “What if this is a dream? What if we wake up and everything is the same?”
“Everything will be the same,” Jack replied. “We’re the ones who will have changed.”
Then they were quiet again, each thinking their own private thoughts, each holding on tighter to the other as they saw the morning creeping up under the window shades. Just as the light began to reach out onto the floor near the bed, the girl disappeared.
The room seemed to tilt sideways for a second, and then his arms were empty. Instinctively, Jack rolled over onto the spot where she had lain. The warmth from her body still lingered. So she had been real. Dreams do not leave body heat behind.
He was still for a minute, relishing the night. Then he got out of bed and began putting on his clothes in the dark. Taking a deep breath, he strode over to the window and opened the shades, feeling himself flood with day and the promise of a girl who was looking out her own window into the same brightness.

-End-