short story

Prom Kiss – Short Story

 

bookOur first kiss was nothing like the fairy tales we were read made it out to be. We did not have some basic chaste contact or even some lovey-dovey movie kiss. If people did not know of us they would think we hated each other. Neither one of us knew that we were actually close friends outside of school only deciding to play rivals while in it. We had a life long game of one upmanship while in school. A lot of the other students just wrote us off as the two best students who were rivals more caring about their own lives then ours. We were rivals, friends, and confidants when needed. Living revolved around each other to either better or get beaten by in our endless rivalry. When we made it back to our homes we would talk about one person got over the other.

Something changed at a high school dance after a long game just that year of different turns for both of us. Grades, sports, drama, debate all swung either my way or hers. Sometimes another kid would try to shoulder between us as the top two spots. Doing all these things at such levels made it impossible to get a social life even started. Some of the girls would ask me to dance though, and on the more energetic songs I would leaving when a slow dance cropped up.

During one of these cycles my eyes caught a familiar figure away from most of the students enjoying themselves. She was a in a simple blue dress with her thick spectacle resting on the bridge of her nose while her hair was maintained in to one long braid resting over her shoulder. Her posture screamed her usual disgruntled attitude while I was walking up. Pulling the cup from my offered hand it was hard to see her face with the light of the room being pointed on the dance floor.

“What are you looking at, spud?” Her noncomittal containing so much effort it almost seemed hypocritical.

“Someone else who is having a bad night, string bean.”

Being a little heavier in middle school she had thought since I was shaped like One I was going to be named as one. While since she was going to be lanky and had problems anything that was too physical she was nicknamed string bean. Our names for each other was never used as a flat out insult being obvious why we had gotten them.

“You aren’t having fun?”

Chuckling in to my cup I shook my head before mirroring her position.

“I love going to these things alone. Makes me feel that trying to do all this stuff is worthless.”

Murmuring a reply she soon stood away from the wall before draining her cup. Asking me if we could talk without her usual fiery bluster we made our way out. Draining my own cup in short order before passing the doors out of the cafeteria. Going on auto pilot to the the auditorium where currently only a handful of students had the keys to. Which was also to mean that we both were in that group.

“You know when you said that back there, I was wondering the same thing why are you still in everything?”

“So I can be the best, like no one ever was, to calm them is my real test..”

Her purse hit my fore arm before bouncing back in her lap. The song I had started my answer to effective in getting her to smile. Despite showing everyone a gruff exterior while we sat in the darkness she felt comfortable because I had lived within a couple blocks of each other. This made study parties easier to get going and swap notes at. When I say “Party” I mean egghead sleep over. Our parents didn’t think much of it as we never actually did anything. We were rivals and friends.

“Pokemon, Huh?”

I smiled widely in the light hoping my smile could provoke hers. Instead, she looked serious before looking at the floor again.

“Why are you doing this then, no one cares here.”

The little bit of light coming through the door barely made things less then complete pitch.

My smile dropped in the silence before explaining as succinctly as I can.

“So what, fuck ’em. I want to be the best. No matter what I end up doing and if you haven’t noticed these are the people competing against us for everything. If they think they can stop me from making the world better. Then they got another thing coming.”

Her single eyebrow lifted slowly wondering something.

“You really are buying in that you can change the world.”

“Of course, people don’t even try anymore. So how can they say it can’t be done. I just haven;t found someone to believe it as well.”

The last comment felt right to say, but also strange. I never thought of doing this with anyone. Not a whole lot of girls would even be able to keep up. Noticing how close she was my mind seemingly went ballistic for now reason. Her light pressure of her head on my arm something that has been done so many time I really had to wonder what was wrong. Turning lightly to look at here she seemed to be contemplating something behind those glasses looking down in to the black.

“I had a date tonight, you know.”

I did know that, but everything related to fact or reason seemed so very very far away.

“Sean Kingsmond, the tennis player. He got drunk off of a couple beer he has brought and tried groping me.”

Sean hadn’t been at the dance. Before I asked how she felt she continued.

“Got a handful of him and crunched them before he lowered a strap, how come most boys are pervs?”

His punishment made me wonder if that was in my foreseeable future. For as she wondered about others of my gender there was a slight energy that made me notice her more them what she was saying. Listening as best I could thoughts began to cloud my reasoning. Trying to figure how my emotions were before realizing that there was a blossom of something else there. Warming without heat it was very enjoyable to bask in while my friend was talking.

“ So after asking the limo driver to drop me off, here I am.”

Nodding in understanding the silhouette of her face was pointed down. Reaching over our embrace seemed stiff, but felt like someone turned on the heater. After a moment she had wrapped her own arms around me before sniffling.

“Can we stay like this for a moment?”

Her tone was soft, wavering in nature and furthest from her usual cadence.

“We can stay like this as long as you like.”

It could have been seconds or hours as we sat there before she moved. Pulling my legs out before sitting on them my snarky answer soon stopped somewhere up my throat. A warm slightly wet pressure fused my spine to the wall behind me while I wondered how we never tried this. My hand grasped hers as we practiced for a moment before breaking for air.

“Are you okay.” Her voice was strung with emotion.

“I don’t really know. I feel strange.”

“I do too. Good strange though or bad.”

Wondering for a moment her hand was still intertwined with my own.

“Like I want just hide you from the world so I can feel this again with us like this.”

Her silence unnerved me enough that it made it like I screwed up. Trying to get up though she had moved forward pulling me on my back her body was suspended on hands and knees above me.

“That’s what I’m feeling too. Tibbers.”

She was smiling wickedly. We both knew of League of Legends.

“Does that make you Annie, you may be lanky, but you’re not a 12 year old. “

Her eyebrow raised at the comment before settling herself directly over me.

“I’m not the curviest, true. But You make me feel so strange. Wicked like Elphaba and I will have to keep you Fiyero far away.”

“We are such nerds.”

The kiss was deeper then before much so. It started fires under my skin it made me go dumb. Sitting up with her weight made me want to feel her closer. Wrapping her arms around me she had begun breaking the kiss to nibbling spots biting lightly over points just hard enough to know. The pressure made something squirm in the pit of my stomach if she wanted this. My teeth sunk lightly into her flesh sucking on it enough to get her to seemingly brace for something. Pulling her close she clamped her lips reigniting a kiss it was less sweetness and more fire. After a few moments we moved back to necking just before she put her hand on my chest.

“We need to stop.”

“Why is something wrong?”

“No, that’s the problem. I want what comes next and feeling how something hard is currently poking me.”

Going from slightly out of breath to brushing red is a skill that for some reason got her to laugh. Before I felt a pressure through the fabric grab me.

“I want a round of good hard action too. But I want with someone who has been my boyfriend for a while” She took her hand off before laying it on her hip.

“That and we wouldn’t want anything to happy until we were both ready.”

Grasping her hands from her lap I rested my head on her shoulder.

“I need a cold shower.”

“One definitely sounds good right now, although it is good to know I have that effect of someone. “

Dusting myself off for a moment before looking back to here she had kissed my chin smirking before hopping lightly grabbing my hand.

“Are we a couple now?”

“Someone has to keep you in line?”

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Excerpt – “The price of a mistake”

I sat at my kitchen table, the mixed perspiration of waking from a cold sweat with tear trails down my cheeks making everything react to the cold night air in the kitchen more then normal. The counter was warm as my hands didn’t move from their marble resting place cradling a glass of dark amber whiskey. My heart was pumping fast as the dream haunted over me like a cloud of evil.

It started first in the familiar shape of the octagon. Roars from the crowd were loud despite being hidden from view. All of the light as well as the focus was in the ring. My corner was making sure my wraps was tight and our plan was set. This was where I first woke up with little problem and every night since then. After the first few days we had determined that I should hit and run as the opponent was a heavy hitter with the ability to take punishment. I had done this time after time, being the champ one had to fight on all comers. Seven days passed before things had begun to get weird.

First it was the music he came out to a song I had never heard with no lyrics mimicking more of classical music then anything. Normally fighters would pick music that would give them energy, but this was different. The tone was slow without draining energy from the audience. Violins played against piano and drums that would mimic a beating heart before the strings screech marked a supposed flat line. Every time I got to his music I could feel something saying how I should remember it. Vaguely familiar I applied myself in the days to see if anyone made an entrance to such music. From my agents to the fight bookers to my friends who recorded no one had heard about the haunting melody stopped by the sudden flatline. It was then my guess to figure what kind of person would use such a track. Intelligent yet comfortable within the confines of the cage.

Someone who preferred their normal nature then one aided by adrenaline. Overall it painted someone strong enough in their craft despite everything that began to creep me out. I was beginning to feel excited about my dreams wondering what little tidbit would appear next. People started noticing it too as I begun to train harder in efforts to properly tire myself out. Sick as my mind had been I was getting better shape after every night.

Finally tonight came despite training so hard I was feeling like a kid at Christmas. Closing my eyes my heart begun to race like my first fight only for the music to hit like a bucket of cold water. The first sounds of the keys and strings working through the melody did not slow the crowd. Someone from my corner saw him before I could to immediately get in my line of sight. Disgruntled I couldn’t arc my head to see as hands rested on the sides of my face while my cornerman spoke.

“Listen, this may be something we need to walk away from.”

I shook my head at such a notion. Whoever this was clearly was skilled in their craft. The look in his eyes as I replied filled me with something I didn’t know I felt for a while.

Fear.

The music had made me so eager that I didn’t notice the fighter enter the cage. My cornerman was looking down on me with what I would call a look of mournful pity. Watching my guy leave the cage I soon turned my head forward. A moment later I was kicking my sheets while my apartment filled with screams of terror. No champ could face the opponent and win. It was impossible.

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Excerpt – “Personal Policies” – first draft

Here is another piece of writing I am working on. It will be a short story when everything is said and done, but here is a excerpt from the first draft. So here we go…

Watching the sun fall over the village all was as it should have been from the outside. Peaceful and many of the soldiers back home with their loved ones. That did not make him feel any better as he stood watching from his place near the window.

For as the moonlight began to glow did the questions begin to come en masse. Why did everyone hate them? Why did they believe they would do them harm? It was only when they had mobilized from the village that the battle truly began and all of his power to stop it was useless at the charge of the masses. She would not be there anymore to help him. Reported dead it was not long before proof of her demise came to him as part of the casualties list and it stung to know that the one he had trusted more then any other would be part of the next life.

Now the question stood was what he would do next. As the then child to the lord and now mayor of the village he had done everything to show them that working with them was the most effective strategy. With her death though it did not take long for the opinion of the town to drop losing allies from the other side of the sea. Shaking his head he moved over to the plush love seat lined of red velvet that they would always sit on as they read in front of the fire. Where the fire of warmth and happiness was now there was only a dark void seemingly all the good from the room in a manner not unlike a magic spell. Looking around the room memories of their happiness seemed to paint the room. Both of them talking about the artist of a painting on the wall while another had both of them sitting behind his desk shoulder to shoulder sharing a candle before she had turned inward taking their first kiss.

Beast folk as they were called in town had been part of the beginning of the future. A future based on happiness and teamwork for all versus what had actually transpired. It was dismal to think what was going to happen knowing that he did everything to make it good only for it to rot in his hands. From the central government he had been called a coward, a leech trying to make peace instead of trying to invade. All of the beast folk encampments had been removed burned in the anger stoked by the fear that only a people with so many differences could conjure on such short notice.

The knock on the door signaled his maid waiting behind the door.

“Come in.”

She bounced in happily no doubt from her own husband returning from the latest of the encampments turning to dust. Looking over as her long auburn hair was tied up in a bun he felt nothing but venom beginning to burn in to his spirit poisoning all it touched with the malice. His own voice was rough from lack of use hiding himself in the manor while he coped with her death. While the head butler had been knowledgeable of the relationship she had been less so with her own smile making him wish for the chance the one person that would understand him to return from the grave.

“How are you doing tonight, master? Some of the men are going to the pub and would like you to show up?”

His head snapped at the speed it turned looking at her with what had to seem a fiery glare as she was unused to such vileness in dealings. Standing up from the couch he motioned her over to the desk littered with papers in two sets of handwriting. Lit candle moving closer began to illuminate everything for her as his own eyes had been used to the night. Pulling from the bottom of the pile with practiced precision brought a small report from one of the forests surrounding the village. Handing it over the woman did the most to read it with little luck.

“Miss, do you know what builds this house and every other house in the village?”

She looked up for a moment thinking before answering, “Yes sir, wood.”

“That paper is part of a packet of them wherein they all say the same. Our forests are becoming ill from something and it is turning all the wood brittle making the roots weak. Do you know what happens in the next two years if there is no wood.?”

Listening intently she could only imagine where this was going. The eccentricity of her master had been talked about more as a joke at times seemingly married more to his work then to any lover.

“We trade for it? We can still hunt for fur and use it for farmland can we not?”

His smile seemed dark enough for her to catch it as he leaned down to open the drawer closest pulling out a stack of papers as tall as a draft bottle.

“Correct, except what happens when the entire forest within a week and a half is susceptible, showing signs of this disease? Many of our animals have began to migrate out of our forests if you have not noticed the hunters have not bagged any formidable game in a couple of fortnights.”

Nodding in understanding she had noticed the supply of meat not being so plentiful despite the spring season. She had just thought it was just a hiccup of life.

“I do not know. We go further to get what we need?”

A growl was stuck in his throat as what little of his patience seemed to blow itself out like the candle flame they were standing around. Throwing the papers across the room leafs of it fell softly to the floor while the remaining stack landed in the fireplace on top of the cold ashes. The simplicity of her answer made him want to scream and yell before it all drained from him in a heartbeat.

“My dear, let me ask you a question. I did not certify by any means the hunting of the beast folk so who did?”

The question had caught her off guard. While many thought he was just being bureaucratic about the action to hear he did not endorse the attacks at all made her eyes go wide for a moment that he had caught. Silence settled in the room before she had begun to voice her answer in the tone much like the small birds outside his window would use in greeting.

“Malley, sir. He had started the movement and took it upon himself to attack the beast folk. At the pub he made them out to be creatures of evil to be destroyed.

The light of another candle came in through the doorway held by an older man with mournful eyes. Head butler of the mayor’s estate had been a job he had worn with the greatest of honors, but seeing what had happened to his master as he explained to one of the younger maids. It was all very heartbreaking to see such a fall of spirit. As her voice died to catch his explanation he bowed his head slightly because he did not put together the pieces fast enough to help the younger man currently knuckling in to the desk in what seemed to be a mix of rage and sorrow. Turning back the mayor had nodded a greeting before falling in to the chair turning less of a person and more of a defeated pile of humanity.
“Sarah, is Grast correct?”

Nodding to him she could only wonder of the many questions that began to flit through her unhampered skull.

“Grast, you knew. You. knew me and her. You had heard.”

His hand seemingly tried to find the words he needed to use except their were none left. Turning his head Grast took a moment to remember the child that would look at him with tears in his eyes because a bird had died. Before exclaiming to make the town better and everyone happy. It seemed funny in a dark sense because although they looked like the same face the emotions were so much deeper.

“Miss Sarah. What you may not have realized is with the crisis with our timber and possibly even our food there were attempts to make a treaty with the beast folk across the sea. It had gone seemingly well they were more then ready to help us in our fair town’s time of need while all they wanted was to grow and explore this land that was so foreign to them. That is until the attacks began. Now with this set of attacks they will most likely counter not with the civic minded group that was over here but with the trained soldiers of the empire of more then millions .”

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