|
LOVE AND WAR! (my new book. chapter 1 for your intrest) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAPTER 1: VERONIKA
My breath left me as I read the book. Poe was obviously a genius of his time. I looked out over the bay, the foam crashing against the cliff. I stood up, holding my hat to my head, the purple ribbon flying in front of my face. I looked down.
“to fall from this height would be just wonderful.” I breathed. My Victorian dress looked as if it would carry me across great differences, the many petticoats under it ruffling in the breeze. My brown curls spun under the hat. I took after my Momma unlike my fully German Poppa who had blond hair and blue eyes. I let my hand fall off my hat, it flying away into the midday sun.
my arms outstretched as if I could fly. It looked as if I could. It looked as if I was. I started to lean forward over the cliff as I felt a hand catch me.
“you know if you do that then you’d die.” Said a male voice behind me. I turned around and he grinned “Veronika Kronheim you never fail to amuse me.” Sam York, A boy in our town who had fancied me for a while now. I didn’t really take any mind to it. I found myself too young for a romance at the time. 15. dear lord no. I sighed looking down at the icy waters.
“well if you wouldn’t show up at the right times I would succeed in my mission not to.” I wasn’t a particularly pretty girl. Far from it. long face, dark brown eyes. I looked like the walking dead to say the least. Well that’s what I saw In the mirror every morning.
Sam looked at his feet as I walked past, head held high. And what did I do by holding my head high, not looking where I was going? Tripped. Well I wanted a falling experience. Next time I wouldn’t walk so close to the edge.
I missed the rocks completely but the water froze me instantly. I couldn’t move, of course couldn’t breath. My eyes were so tight but the water, none the less, seeped through my eyelids, burning my eyes. Then I felt someone tugging on me lifting me above the surf. The waves carried me and my hero to the land.
“Veronika?” Sam’s voice asked. I rubbed my eyes and he sighed. “next time don’t not look at me and watch where your going!” I sat up looking at his face. He sat by me looking out at the ocean.
“thanks Sam.” He scoffed.
“yeah you would have done the same.” Whoops... I probably would have gone to get someone.
“yeah I would have.” He stood up and offered to help me up. I didn’t take his offer, instead I helped myself up. “well thank you for your help sam but I'm sure that I’ll be fine from here.” I turned on my heel and walked toward the grass. He ran forward and got in front of me, walking backwards.
“come on you owe me you know.” He insisted. I rolled my eyes.
“in what way do I owe you Mr. York?” he gave off a face that said you have to be kidding me.
“I saved your life.”
“I was in grasp of the situation, I could have handled it myself thank you.” He laughed.
“you are so full of yourself.” He told me
“and you are about to fall over.” I replied. He did. There was a ledge that you had to step up on to get to the grass. He tripped over it and I stepped up. He grabbed my leg and tripped me. “HEY!” I yelled. He started to laugh. I looked down to my purple and white dress and saw a grass stain on it. “look what you did.” I scolded.
“oh no.” he said sarcastically. He sat in front of me. “come on one of the two. Go out with me, or kiss me. One of the two which will it be?”
“You know that Mariah Weisthal fancies you.”
“Yeah well I don’t like her. I like you.” I shook my head.
“Fine one kiss. That’s it! my momma’s not gonna be very happy that I kissed a guy before I went out with him.” He chuckled
“does your momma have to know?” he asked me grabbing my nose playfully. I pushed his hand aside.
“come on get on with it.” I told him. He grinned leaning in toward me. I closed my eyes bracing myself. Our lips came in contact and well ill admit it was... alright... I mean my stomach started to churn and stuff but it wasn’t like the fireworks you hear about in books. He leaned back and looked at me expectantly.
“it was alright.” I told him, pursing my lips. Then I heard a voice from afar.
“MOMMA!” it yelled. My little sister, Alice. I stood up faster than lightning as I watched her running toward our house.
“oh no...” I looked to him. “see what you’ve done! Now I have to fake going out with you.” A grin spread across his face.
“yay.” He sniggered. I rolled my eyes. I walked back to my house. The smallest house on the corner of a dirt path leading to my Momma’s ranch. My father had died so we had to run it ourselves with hired help. It was pretty cute if you didn’t live in it all your life. Green shutters, white paint. The works. Sam followed me like a lost puppy as I walked inside and saw Momma waiting for me.
“so you were kissing.” She looked me up and down. “why are you in your dress again Nika?” she looked at my stained dress “it was your great grandmothers you know. And why are you drenched” I rolled my eyes.
“come on momma.” I complained, looking back at Sam. “Sam just asked me out for one. And two its an easy stain to get out and three I fell in the water while I was walking on the dock.” I heard a growl form in her throat
“Veronika Marie get upstairs and get in your work clothes. You know Henry’s gonna throw himself a fit if he has to do all the work himself.” I nodded looking back to Sam who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“Bye Sam.” I started upstairs as I felt him pulling me back.
“how bout a kiss before you go missy?” I groaned and turned back pecking him on the lips and ran upstairs. I walked into my room and fell onto my bed, screaming into my pillow. Me of all people huh? I have to go out with that pretty boy, that arrogant little twit that calls me his, ugh, girlfriend.
I sat up on my taking my dress off and lying it on the stand I always lie it on. My boots and overalls were on the desk I had in the corner. Like always momma had come in and picked them up off the floor and folded the over’s and my shirt. I slipped the white shirt on, then my grass stained, washed out overalls, then my heavily mud covered boots. My idea of a great ensemble to say the least.
Henry, a white man of 17 years, was Momma’s most prestigious hired help. I helped him with the little stuff like feeding the animals. But today he was in the shed with the car. Like I said we usually started with the field work so I guessed he had been working for a while now. I walked out to the ratted old shed and sat by him. He was under the car. It was a 1915 model. Pretty old for 1941.
“so,” he began the conversation today. That was usually my job. “I saw you and Samuel York today Ver-Ma.” I rolled my eyes at his stupid nick name and I shuddered at the thought of Sam. “he looked mighty happy to be trailing behind you.”
“Henry can you keep a secret from my Momma?” he sighed standing up, wiping his hands of motor oil. His hair was shorter. I guessed that he got tired of his thick shaggy hair in his face while he worked and buzz cut it off. He looked like an army man now. A 17 year old tall, dirty blond, baby blue eyed, well built army man like you see in the newspaper
“is it something that wont hurt your momma if I don’t.” I nodded. “then shoot.”
“I fell in the water off the cliff.” I heard a metal wrench clang on the floor as Henry stared at me. “No but Sam saved me. Then he told me I owed him.” I heard a growl start to form in his chest but it was louder and deeper than momma’s
“Like what?” he snarled.
“Nothing bad, just kiss him or go out with him and you know how momma is. You can’t kiss unless you date and well I kissed him and my little snitch of a sister saw and told momma. Now I'm stuck fake dating him!” I buried my head in my arms and curled my legs to my chest. I sighed as I felt his hand on my back and he kissed my hair. I looked at him.
“it’ll be alright. Ill help you get rid of him.” I grinned and hugged him. I love how all guys are so warm even if you’re cold. He was perfectly warm, I mean so perfectly warm that even on a hot day he’d feel good. But I guess that was just me.
I liked Henry, liked him a lot. We were a two years difference and I would be 16 in the spring. Well then in the summer he would be 18 but still. That face is almost impossible not to fall in love with. He was one of the sweetest guys ever.
The rest of the afternoon we worked on the car and then went inside where momma had a dinner made up for us.
“Nika, Sam called for you after you left for the fields.” She said. We were all around the dinner table. My little sister smirked and threw a single dirty blond curl behind her shoulder. I glared at her.
“Momma.” She began not turning to momma. “Maybe Nika and Sam should go out this next weekend together. I mean lord knows that she needs to go out often if they are going to exercise restraint when together.” I could feel the anger bubbling up inside of my stomach like heartburn. This wasn’t good for my body it being in its condition.
My body is weaker than most humans, I have less iron in my blood, if I get mad I can have spazems and I start to get a burning feeling in my stomach. There’s no found cure for it but it’s the 1930’s so I gave it time. But none the less I do chores like any other human. I mean come on I work on cars and momma’s ranch in my free time.
Anyways back to that. Her sea foam eyes were cold. I couldn’t stand how her hair could be such a dark blond and her eyes be a perfect shade of sea foam green. Momma turned to me from Henry. I looked to him.
“well now Nika you should go with him. Your sister has made a good point.” Henry sat his fork down and wiped his mouth, swallowing his food.
“she can’t Mrs.Kronheim . Me and her are going to the fair next weekend.” My Momma grinned.
“well that’s great. Bring one of your lady friends you like and you can go with her and Sam.”
“I don’t mean to be rude miss but I don’t have any lady friends. Ver-Ma is the only one besides little miss Alice.” My sister grinned. “and of course you Lin. Seeing your face brightens up my day.” My momma blushed.
“well thank you Henry. Well I guess we can get them together after church on Sunday.” My momma wiped her mouth. “when dinner is done Alice you need to do the dishes tonight.” Alice groaned as Momma walked out.
I piled a bunch of potatoes onto my plate along with momma’s chicken and her homemade barbeque sauce. It smeared all over the plate into the Potatoes and then I dumped my plate into the sink along with my cup which had potatoes and sauce in it too. Henry couldn’t help but chuckle.
Me and him headed upstairs and we went in my room. I automatically clung to him.
“thank you so much!” I yelled into his stomach which my face was smooshed into by the way. He laughed.
“for that. That was nothing. Its good cause now I get to go to the fair with you.” I grinned looking up at him. I got to go on a date with him! My wishes were granted, well one wish was granted. If I could have anything though it would be to not have to go out with Samuel York, I thought. I lie down on my bed and Henry sat by my feet.
“so what's so wrong about Sam?” he asked. I groaned.
“you know there really isn’t anything wrong except he's an egotistic maniac who thinks he can get any girl he wants. But most of all I always imagined my guy being perfect in every way,” Henry, “A guy I could relate to,” Henry, “and a guy that would just love me the way I was,” Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry. “you ever get that?” he shook his head no.
“I want my girl to love me and not be greedy but that’s it. I could care less about her looks.” Score! I sighed looking at the blue ceiling contently.
“I need to get out of this fantasy world. I read to much momma says. That’s why I expect my guy to be that way.” I sighed and heard a knock on the door downstairs.
“NIKA GET THE DOOR!” Momma yelled at me. I groaned, obeying my mothers request though I was on a totally different floor. I opened it and there was Sam. He looked kinda loose, relaxed, but he didn’t smile. His body leaned against the door frame.
“Hey Sam.”
“Your momma said that I called for you right?” he asked me looking everywhere else but my face. I nodded confused.
“She didn’t tell me why.” I replied. He sighed.
“well I wanted to take you out somewhere tonight.” I started to say no. “just hear me out. lets try and get to know each other. I think that’s the entire reason you aren’t open to a relationship.” I sighed. This was true.
“ill get my coat.” I told him, looking up at the winter sky. He nodded. “I guess I’ll change too. I think I got a dress somewhere.” He shook his head.
“you can wear pants and a shirt. I don’t mind. It’s to cold for a dress anyways.” I smiled and headed upstairs. I walked into the room to see Henry lying down asleep. I got in jeans and a blue shirt that was not as baggy as some of my shirts and threw them on and then my jacket.
The walk was pretty quiet. We walked almost in step the entire time down to the café on Main Street. It was so cold I could’ve spit and it would have froze instantly. Inside we got a booth near the window so we could look at the scenery (whatever scenery there was that is).
“well this is nice.” I said looking outside. He smiled at me. “well you caught me right after dinner.” His face dropped, embarresed.
“I'm sorry I didn’t know.” I waved him off.
“its alright I’ll just get a shake or something.” our waitress walked up to us.
“hi I'm Bell and I will be serving you.” She told us. She had a heavier German accent than mine. I sighed looking out the window again.
“just two shakes. One chocolate and one vanilla and strawberry swirl ok?” I looked to him as she walked off.
“are you like stalking me?” I asked him. He laughed and sat back against the booth.
“no, we went out for shakes one other time remember?” I searched my brain for any possible answer to his question that would make me look less stupid. He sighed “2nd grade you missed your ride and we had to pick you up. My dad brought you and me here to get shakes. Your mom was so worried that she almost started yelling at my dad.” He laughed. I smiled still not remembering.
“well this is great.” I told him, us receiving our shakes. “I love hanging out with you.” He nodded.
“same here.” Suddenly I felt bad. How could I not like him? He hadn’t taken an egotistical turn for the worst the entire time we were together. But he could have also been luring me in.
We talked for a long time. I actually lost track of the time we were talking so long. It was late I knew that because I ate dinner at six like everyday and the sun set at eight.
The moon was in the dark night sky when he decided to walk me home. there were clouds blocking the stars but the moon was only half covered. I looked off into the distance and saw Henry driving off from the farm. I slouched over disappointed. Sam saw this and smiled. He took in a deep breath and he asked me
“wanna take a detour?” The snow began to fall. I was pretty hesitant. Momma would be riding me like a horse because I was so late. But I really didn’t care at this point. I wouldn’t be seeing Henry till tomorrow anyways so,
“where to?” I asked looking at his face which was upturned to the sky. He shrugged.
“just through the forest. Its beautiful when it snows.” It snowed more than when we lived in India for two years (dad got transferred when I was 10 we moved back after he died). I missed it but loved Germany just the same. I loved the snow and he was right. It was downright gorgeous at night in the forest. Then we came to a nice, quiet little clearing with snow from the day before still covering the earth
“it’s pretty Sam.” I looked around the beautiful trees that were covered in snow. I sat on the ground looking up at the tops of them. He sat by me and I looked over to him, smiling.
“this place is abnormally cold. Some say its just the earth, clay in the dirt holding the cold in and all. I think its the magic of this forest.” I grinned lying back in the snow.
“this is great. I didn’t think I could really have a good time with you.” He smiled at me grabbing my hand. I sat back up, looking at my body print in the snow.
“this place.” He began looking around us. “what do you see?”
“what?”
“what do you see?”
“well I see trees, and snow and...” he laughed.
“that’s not what I mean. Here close your eyes.” I obeyed. He sat behind me. he put his hands lightly on my waist and I put my hands over his. “alright now just imagine what I see.” He began, resting his chin on my shoulder. He whispered into my ear “I see leaves on the trees, I see flowers covering the earth, I see magic everywhere.
“There are faeries carrying two crowns for each of us to wear as we dance under the moonlit sky. The moon is full and is lighting the area along with a ring of lightning bugs that float around the area. There’s beautiful music playing just for us.” I could see it. it was like so many of my fantasies before but more elaborate. I was living a fantasy this time. It was really real. My eyes were open and I could see the flowers poking through the snow, the sun shone overhead, yet it did not melt the perfect snow that lye like sand on a beach. The fairies floated around us and I could see the magic dust floating around us. This place was full of magic, just like he told me.
“its beautiful.” I told him. He was standing up looking around the area. He turned to me and offered his hand. I took it and he grabbed my waist, taking me into a perfect waltz. My clothes were not pants and a shirt but my grandmothers dress, like new. My curls were pinned up, my face full of color. we floated above the ground, as if we were living the Peter Pan experience that Berry had explained in his elaborate tale. I lye my head on Sam’s shoulder afraid to close my eyes in fear that this world would disappear once I did.
“You look beautiful tonight Nika.” He whispered in my ear. I looked into his eyes which were a nice brown color. His hair, I noticed, was not quite black. It still had traces of his previous chestnut brown color.
“why thank you.” I giggled. He spun me out and took me back in. “the music is beautiful.” He nodded.
“that’s because I composed it.” my face dropped amused.
“really? Are you a famous composer?”
“and actor.”
“VERONIKA!” I heard a voice yell. Momma. Everything faded instantly. the magic left and all I saw were dead trees covered in snow under the would-be rainy night. My breath came in puffs again and we were flat on the ground. I looked to Sam face which had “why now” written all over it. I grinned.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He sighed.
“that sounds great.” I nodded and kissed him on the cheek. I turned on my heels to run off to the house when I felt his hand grab my hand and sweep me around. Our lips met and this time I felt something. it was a soft, sweet kiss. I closed my eyes kissing him back. I didn’t want to leave him, but Momma just insisted with her yells. I broke away lying my head on his chest.
“VIRONIKA GET HOME NOW!” I looked to the sky and laughed spitefully.
“COMING MOMMA! I have to go. I’ll see you later.” I flew through the trees to the dirt road leading to my house. I had had one of the best evenings of my life and almost nothing could bring me down off my high horse now. Almost nothing.
I walked inside to meet Momma again. she looked mad at me.
“missing something dear?” she asked me as if I had forgotten something. I checked her hands. Nothing there. Her hands weren’t even behind her back as if hiding what I had forgotten. I searched her face, her hands again, and then her clothing. i still couldn’t understand but then I relized. I searched my pockets. It wasn’t there. I sighed looking to my feet then back to her.
“Momma,”
“Do you know what could happen? They could have got you Nika!” she ran her fingers through her golden brown hair. “Going out with him without your ID could get you in trouble.” It could. Being brown hair and brown eyes wouldn’t help me if I was walking alone with a Jew like him, ID not on hand.
 Keirae Huruma · Sat Oct 13, 2007 @ 06:01pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
