So this is a story i'm writing thus far. I'd like any opinions and thoughts about it if you would. Okay, Enjoy!
What if death...wasn't the end. What if every single person that has ever died is actually still with us? Look, I know it sounds weird, but just try to sit threw it. I'm not asking you to believe me, I just need the story to get out there. My name is Jeck, I can't tell you my last name, not because it's secret, but because I don't have one. I'm an orphan, one of many in San Francisco. I was found on the doorstep of St. Patrick’s Orphanage (don't ask me why it was called that, it just was) with a piece of cardboard that said, “His name is Jeck, no Last name, don't give him one.” The person who found me (a nurse by the name of Mary) was not surprised by this, so she brought me inside with only a
"Another one" as recognition for my arrival. I lived the first ten years of my life there peacefully, with only a couple scuffles with the other kids. On my Eleventh birthday (choose the date you arrived at the orphanage, and they would guess your age) something out of the ordinary happened. I was looking at Mary, as she was really the only friend I had. She was roughly 26 (she had been fifteen when she found me), black hair, dark brown eyes, and a kindly smile. I was looking at her, and this strange image of another person that looked a very little bit like her. pulsed? yeah pulsed, that's the closest word I can use to describe it, out of her. It only happened the once that day, and I managed to hide my surprise and confusion. Another three years passed, with this happening occasionally to some people I was more familiar with, people I knew well. I discovered that the images were not necessarily the same age as the person they were pulsing out of. The ages of the images ranged from baby's to the elderly for every person, one two year old I had been put in charge of taking care of during the afternoons had the image of a seventy, maybe seventy-five year old man.
This continued until about six or seven months ago. Up until that point, I had thought it some error of my brain, like getting two different TV shows on the screen at one time. I had decided not to mention it, I was still hoping that I would be adopted, even though I was well past the likely adoption age at thirteen. Therefore, I said nothing, not even to Mary, who had become almost like an older sister. Mary had gone outside to grab the milk bottles from the doorstep ( I know what you're thinking "milk bottles on the door step? what is this the dark ages?” To which I answer, St. Patrick’s is a very secluded orphanage, just inside of the city limits.), while I sat on the stair way, bored out of my mind. It wasn't my turn to choose what we watched on TV today, it was a five-year-old's turn so I quietly abstained from watching Dragon Tales. After ten minutes, Mary opened the door, held it open... and she walked in. She looked about my age, just as tall ( I’m actually fairly tall for my age) long brown hair, with hazel eyes. I can't tell you how I noticed this all in the span of the first glance at her, I just did. Then something very unexpected occurred, she pulsed. I mean, image pulsed. The image was of a beautiful woman probably in her late twenties early thirties, with the same brown hair except slightly different eyes, and a very different face. I knew my face held a shaken and slightly disturbed expression, so I shook it off quickly. It wasn't just the fact that someone had pulsed who I didn't know, that was a factor, but most of it was I thought I knew the image of the women. I had begun calling these images aura's, for lack of a better word. So, as I was saying, I felt like like I had some sort of deep connection to this girl’s aura, and to her by way of association. As I was gawking at the girl, Mary turned tom me and said,
"Jeck, this is Anna, you're the only one your age here, could you show her around?” Mary had asked as if it was treat, which it sort of was, but I heard what had gone un-said in that question,"Jeck look, another person you're age, so you might actually have a friend!” I guess I forgot to tell you this, but I was the oldest at the orphanage, which wasn't a position of honor, but nor was it a position of shame, if you had just arrived at the orphanage as being the oldest. The greatest position of shame was living your whole life at St. Patrick’s, and being the oldest, a position I currently held. All my friends from when I was younger had been adopted, so I had been left alone, with no one but Mary. Don't get my wrong, Mary's great, and I love her to death, but a sister is just... a sister you know? Sometimes you just need more than that. Mary had been pushing that, but it had fallen through every time because all my potential friends were adopted. Therefore, this was a source of new hope to her, but I didn't really expect much. I mean, we're talking about a thirteen-year-old super model here, there's no way she wouldn't get adopted as soon as the first couple walked in. Sure, once you were ten you were allowed to veto an adoption, but everyone wanted to get out of the orphanage. I'd never seen anyone veto an adoption. I replied to Mary cheerfully, it'd be nice to have someone my age around, but it'd be nicer to get some answers, and I got the feeling this girl would have some,
"Sure Mary, sounds like fun!" I turned to Anna, "Hey, I'm Jeck, and i guess i'll be your tour guide." I laughed, this was an inside joke with me, myself, and I. I'd done this so many times only to see the people go soon after, that i came to think of it as an "extended tour". Mary hadn't understood it, the one I tried to explain to her, so I had let it drop, but I always introduced my self as a tour guide. Anna had smiled then, and her why-isn't-she-a-model-ness hit me hard, so that I couldn't really think straight,
"Thanks Jeck, I’m Anna." and she walked from beside Mary over to my side. Mary hid a smile, "Ok, I’ll let you to get to it.” I looked at Mary, this was the first time she had acted this way when I was tour guide-ing.
"Okay, let's go.” I said, not wishing to think more on Mary's smile. Now before I go on, I’d like to give you a picture of what I look like, and a more detailed picture of Anna.
Anna is about 5'6, she has long brown hair, and hazel eyes. That day she had been wearing an old sweatshirt and some worn out jeans, but god, she made it look like a designer outfit, she was that beautiful. Now don't get me wrong, I’m not bad looking, but she was a super model in comparison to me. Oh right, you don't know what I look like. Ok, well I have curly brown hair, which I think looks like a bush frequently. I have Green eyes, I’m tan from playing outside where I spent most of my time when it wasn’t my TV day. I have all my teeth and they were reasonably straight (which is a miracle for an orphan). I'm also about 5'6. I normally wear something roughly in the genre of t-shirt, jeans, shoes, socks, and my arrowhead necklace.
So now that you know what we look like, let's get back to the story, shall we? Anna sent me another one of those mind-numbing smiles as I lead her up the stairs, talking as I went,
"This is the dining hall, " I said gesturing to the room just in front of the stairs, " this is family room, " I commented as I pointed at the room where the same six year old was now watching Bob The Builder. I pointed at the room to our left, "This is your room I think, as it's the only one open since Felicia was adopted. I pointed at the big room at the bottom of the hallway, "That's Marie's and the other caretakers rooms past that door. We're not allowed in there unless escorted by a caretaker.” And I continued my tour, showing her all the rooms where one could entertain one's self, the door to the back yard, which was really a large meows, and all the other rooms and stuff. Anna had been nodding her head, throwing in a "Wow!" or a "Cool" here or there, occasionally smiling at me when I cracked one of my infamous retarded-jokes. Once when I had been reaching to open the door to the kitchen, our hands touched, and I swear to god it was like an electric shock, not unpleasant, but surprising. I'm not sure who pulled their hand back fastest. I tried to ignore the blush on my face while I was showing her around the kitchen, where the pans and stuff were kept. After an hour, I was finally done, and we were back at the bottom of the stairs, by the front door, "So, umm, that's it, any questions?” Anna smiled at me,
"Just one, what do you normally do here?” That question took me off guard, that wasn't the question normally asked, it was normally something like, "so what is there to do here," or " Do you have any video games" to which I always had a reply, but this one was surprising. Then Anna Pulsed again, which was another thing that caught me off guard, no one had ever pulsed twice before. I managed to say,
"Oh, you know, I just hang out in the meadow out back normally.” She smiled again, and said cheerfully,
"Oh, cool! Well I guess I’d better go settle in to my new room, thanks again Jeck!” And with that, Anna ran up the stairs. I watched her go, awestruck by her grace. She then kind of ruined it by stumbling on the flat surface of the carpet upstairs, but I pretended not to notice, as she was blushing deeply. I turned around, and Mary was again hiding a smile, and looking at me oddly.
"So did you have fun, Jeck?' she asked, very innocently. I smiled,
"Yeah it was great....heeey what's that supposed to mean?” I looked at Mary suspiciously.
"I don't know what you're talking about, all I did was ask a question.” Mary said, for all the world looking like some guy was asking her why she'd asked him out. I glared at her, turned around, and walked out back into the meadow. I was very tired, I’d discovered that when I saw pulses it tired me out, but since I normally only saw one a day, it wasn't a problem, but today I’d seen two. So I walked to one of the back trees, walked around to the back of it, and hopped in. A year ago, I had asked for a saw for my birthday, and they had given me one for some reason, so I had used it to hollow out a whole large enough for me to lay down in (It was a very large tree) and it's been my favorite spot in the whole orphanage since. I was lying there thinking about the new girl Anna when I fell asleep.
I'd been having a very strange dream, involving Giant Catterpillars, Pink Elephants, an Evil smiley face, and flying monkeys. They had surrounded me, and just when the monkeys were about to steal my lunch box ( I know what you're thinking, "A lunch box? WTF?!?!?" i told you it was a weird dream) One of the pink elephants said,
"So this is what you meant by hanging out in the meadow." The dream-me gave the elephant weird look,
"What the hack?" The dream-me asked the elephant. The Pink Elephant gave me a very amused look,
"Jeck, you're asleep, and muttering, do you want to get up now?" Now you know how it is. You can know it's a dream fully and totally, but not be able to recognize it in the dream so you can't do a thing about it, this is how it was when the elephant was talking to the dream-me. I fealt something, a hand maybe, brush against my face. I woke up then, but took my time acting, because i didn't want Anna, for that's who it was, to know i had fealt it. I faked surprise when i saw her,
"Anna! Hi! What are you doing here?" Again with the mind-numbing smiles! She just wouldn't stop throwing them at me. I tried to clear my head as she replied.
"Came out to see you of course! You're the only kid my age around here," she smirked, "That, and i enjoyed the tour yesterday."
"What! Yesterday!" i mangaged to stammer out. I must have been really tired...
"Yup! It was yesterday." She grinned, "So what do you want to do?" I smiled back at her. I knew she had something in mind, so i went along with it.
"I don't know, what do you wanna do Anna?"
"Oh, i was wondering if there is a lake or something where we could go swimming!" She asked innocently.
"Erm, yeah there is, but we were going to do that tomorrow anyways, anything else you want to do."
Anna thought about it for a while, taking her time, and obviously enjoying my impatience.After several long moments, she regarded me cooly, stepped closer and.....
"TAG, you're it" then anna ran off with an impish smile on her face. I sat there dazed for a minute, then ran after her. Yes, i know that we were kind of to old for tag, but, who could resist Anna. Nevermind, many people probably could have. I obviously couldn't though. I ran by a seven year old on my way after anna and tagged him yelling over my shoulder,
"your it!" She laughed in delight and ran over to his slightly older brother and tagged him. Soon enough, the whole orpahanage was a giant tag game. I only ever got tagged by Anna, and Anna only ever got tagged by me. Finally, exhausted, i climbed a tree to reach the roof, where i knew noone but someone my age would be able to reach me. I layed back, winded. It was about 5:00 based off of where the sun was, i was going to have to get down soon. I just stared at the clouds, making pictures out of them, some battles, and one of them was a couple kissing (which reminded me of Anna and me, which was kind of uncomfortable, expecially when i discovered i enjoyed that thought) Finally i tore my self away from the clouds and slid down the tree i'd used to come up. No sooner had i done this then i was pounced on by anna, who clung to my back like a monkey and covered my eyes.
"Guess who?" She said giggeling.
"Hmm," i mock pondered, "Who do i know likes keeping my company, is somewhat impish, and strong enough to hold on to my back like this.......ummmmm, is it Anna?" She laughed and uncovered my eyes, to see her eyes right infront of mine, though upside down.
"Yup," She said cheerfully, "Mary told me to come find you, it's dinner time." Deciding that she wouldn't get off of me, i just started walking. She was either very light, or i was stronger than i thought. Probably the first i thought ruefully. We reached the dining room. Anna hopped off, and just as i was about to sit down, everyone in the room, some 150 people, all pulsed at the same time. It all went dark after that.
I woke some time later to my head aching. I kept my eyes closed, just listening to who was in the room. i heard the sound of someone sleeping nearby in the room, and some pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes slowly, and there was anna, aleep with her head on my chest. I know, kind of creepy right, i mean, we'd known eachother two days, and here she was with her head on my chest, sleeping peacefully. I carefully raised my left arm and put it gently on her head. Then, with the most gentleness and carefullness i could muster, i shook her awake.
"hmmm?" She said blearily.
"Anna, it's jeck, your kind of sleeping on me"
"Oh!" she sat up quickly and blushed a bright scarlet. "Sorry, i was so worried when i came to check on you yesterday that i decided i'd sleep in here i didn't mean to fall asleep on you..."
"Wait, how long have i been out?" I asked, confused.
"Two days, i've checked on you everyday," she blushed again, "mostly because i wanted to see how you were, but also because you were talking in your sleep." She looked away, like she'd either disliked what i'd said, or liked it alot and didn't want him to know. A fall like that wouldn't have knocked me out for two days, maybe knocked me out for two hours, not two days. It must have been because of when everyone pulsed. i thought, surpringly rationaly.
"So what'd i'd say?" I asked, suddenly afraid of what i might have said. I didn't remember any of it, but that only made it all the scarier.She looked back at me,
"Oh, basically a quick replay of your whole life that you can remember, that part i had to listen really hard with my ear right next to you to hear, it was contineous but impossibly quiet. You muttred a couple times of what you thought of a few people, " at this she blushed more than she had all those other times put together, "and something about Auras." She looked confused at this last part, and had a question in her eyes, but i ignored it.
"Oh jeez, i can't believe i said all that." I buried my face in my hands, with my face hot. I knew i'd probably said what i thought about Ana. I looked up and she was looking at me oddly, in a way i couldn't really put my finger on. She saw me look up and hugged me,
"I'm just glad you're okay." her voice broke on the last word. I hugged her back, with a bit of a lump in my throat. I was randomly thinking of a dead puppy, okay? I swear.
After a couple minutes i finally said, "We should probably go tell Mary that i'm awake."
Anna drew away almost reluctantly and smiled, "Yup, especially if we're going to go swimming, mary delayed it until today. We were going to do it today even if you didn't wake up, but i'm glad you did." She stood up and walked torward the door, pausing to wait for me. I was still in the clothes i'd worn two days ago, which was better than my underware but not the best, since i'd been sleeping in them two days straight. I hopped out of bed, wincing from the stiffness, and walked over to her. "I'll go tell mary you're awake, you go change into your suit." I nodded and grinned, then my stomach growled,
"umm, maybe i should go grab a samwhich first" she laughed and ran up the stairs. I walked to the kitchen and made my self a quick ham samwhich. I ate it quickly chased it down with some milk. I heard the door bell and went to answer it.
"Candygram for a certain Mary Sybell" Ugh yup i know you're starting to think this IS the dark ages, but i swear it's not. San Farancisco people just do stuff a little differntly is all. I thanked the man and gave him five bucks from our tip jar, then closed the door. Mary came down the stairs running and practically tackled me before hugging me.
"I was so worried." i could tell that she'd been crying recently, hopefully but probably over me.
"I"m okay now Mary, okay?" She pulled and smiled with tears rolling down her face.
"Maybe this will make you feel better, you got a candygram from someone."
"Really?!" She brightened up quickly. I handed it to her and she ran up stairs with it, just as excited as a six year old who'd been given a sought after toy. i could hear her telling Amy, one of the other orphan caretakers to watch us in the lake. I heard Anna walking down the stairs and turned to her. She was giggeling a little bit.
"What was that about, Jeck?" I laughed,
"Mary apparently has an admirer, she just got a candy gram from someone." I smiled when i noticed that Anna had changeed into a bikini, "Oh, i need to go change too, i'll be right back." I ran up the stairs into my room, changed into my bathing suit and run back down. "Okay, let's go."
What if death...wasn't the end. What if every single person that has ever died is actually still with us? Look, I know it sounds weird, but just try to sit threw it. I'm not asking you to believe me, I just need the story to get out there. My name is Jeck, I can't tell you my last name, not because it's secret, but because I don't have one. I'm an orphan, one of many in San Francisco. I was found on the doorstep of St. Patrick’s Orphanage (don't ask me why it was called that, it just was) with a piece of cardboard that said, “His name is Jeck, no Last name, don't give him one.” The person who found me (a nurse by the name of Mary) was not surprised by this, so she brought me inside with only a
"Another one" as recognition for my arrival. I lived the first ten years of my life there peacefully, with only a couple scuffles with the other kids. On my Eleventh birthday (choose the date you arrived at the orphanage, and they would guess your age) something out of the ordinary happened. I was looking at Mary, as she was really the only friend I had. She was roughly 26 (she had been fifteen when she found me), black hair, dark brown eyes, and a kindly smile. I was looking at her, and this strange image of another person that looked a very little bit like her. pulsed? yeah pulsed, that's the closest word I can use to describe it, out of her. It only happened the once that day, and I managed to hide my surprise and confusion. Another three years passed, with this happening occasionally to some people I was more familiar with, people I knew well. I discovered that the images were not necessarily the same age as the person they were pulsing out of. The ages of the images ranged from baby's to the elderly for every person, one two year old I had been put in charge of taking care of during the afternoons had the image of a seventy, maybe seventy-five year old man.
This continued until about six or seven months ago. Up until that point, I had thought it some error of my brain, like getting two different TV shows on the screen at one time. I had decided not to mention it, I was still hoping that I would be adopted, even though I was well past the likely adoption age at thirteen. Therefore, I said nothing, not even to Mary, who had become almost like an older sister. Mary had gone outside to grab the milk bottles from the doorstep ( I know what you're thinking "milk bottles on the door step? what is this the dark ages?” To which I answer, St. Patrick’s is a very secluded orphanage, just inside of the city limits.), while I sat on the stair way, bored out of my mind. It wasn't my turn to choose what we watched on TV today, it was a five-year-old's turn so I quietly abstained from watching Dragon Tales. After ten minutes, Mary opened the door, held it open... and she walked in. She looked about my age, just as tall ( I’m actually fairly tall for my age) long brown hair, with hazel eyes. I can't tell you how I noticed this all in the span of the first glance at her, I just did. Then something very unexpected occurred, she pulsed. I mean, image pulsed. The image was of a beautiful woman probably in her late twenties early thirties, with the same brown hair except slightly different eyes, and a very different face. I knew my face held a shaken and slightly disturbed expression, so I shook it off quickly. It wasn't just the fact that someone had pulsed who I didn't know, that was a factor, but most of it was I thought I knew the image of the women. I had begun calling these images aura's, for lack of a better word. So, as I was saying, I felt like like I had some sort of deep connection to this girl’s aura, and to her by way of association. As I was gawking at the girl, Mary turned tom me and said,
"Jeck, this is Anna, you're the only one your age here, could you show her around?” Mary had asked as if it was treat, which it sort of was, but I heard what had gone un-said in that question,"Jeck look, another person you're age, so you might actually have a friend!” I guess I forgot to tell you this, but I was the oldest at the orphanage, which wasn't a position of honor, but nor was it a position of shame, if you had just arrived at the orphanage as being the oldest. The greatest position of shame was living your whole life at St. Patrick’s, and being the oldest, a position I currently held. All my friends from when I was younger had been adopted, so I had been left alone, with no one but Mary. Don't get my wrong, Mary's great, and I love her to death, but a sister is just... a sister you know? Sometimes you just need more than that. Mary had been pushing that, but it had fallen through every time because all my potential friends were adopted. Therefore, this was a source of new hope to her, but I didn't really expect much. I mean, we're talking about a thirteen-year-old super model here, there's no way she wouldn't get adopted as soon as the first couple walked in. Sure, once you were ten you were allowed to veto an adoption, but everyone wanted to get out of the orphanage. I'd never seen anyone veto an adoption. I replied to Mary cheerfully, it'd be nice to have someone my age around, but it'd be nicer to get some answers, and I got the feeling this girl would have some,
"Sure Mary, sounds like fun!" I turned to Anna, "Hey, I'm Jeck, and i guess i'll be your tour guide." I laughed, this was an inside joke with me, myself, and I. I'd done this so many times only to see the people go soon after, that i came to think of it as an "extended tour". Mary hadn't understood it, the one I tried to explain to her, so I had let it drop, but I always introduced my self as a tour guide. Anna had smiled then, and her why-isn't-she-a-model-ness hit me hard, so that I couldn't really think straight,
"Thanks Jeck, I’m Anna." and she walked from beside Mary over to my side. Mary hid a smile, "Ok, I’ll let you to get to it.” I looked at Mary, this was the first time she had acted this way when I was tour guide-ing.
"Okay, let's go.” I said, not wishing to think more on Mary's smile. Now before I go on, I’d like to give you a picture of what I look like, and a more detailed picture of Anna.
Anna is about 5'6, she has long brown hair, and hazel eyes. That day she had been wearing an old sweatshirt and some worn out jeans, but god, she made it look like a designer outfit, she was that beautiful. Now don't get me wrong, I’m not bad looking, but she was a super model in comparison to me. Oh right, you don't know what I look like. Ok, well I have curly brown hair, which I think looks like a bush frequently. I have Green eyes, I’m tan from playing outside where I spent most of my time when it wasn’t my TV day. I have all my teeth and they were reasonably straight (which is a miracle for an orphan). I'm also about 5'6. I normally wear something roughly in the genre of t-shirt, jeans, shoes, socks, and my arrowhead necklace.
So now that you know what we look like, let's get back to the story, shall we? Anna sent me another one of those mind-numbing smiles as I lead her up the stairs, talking as I went,
"This is the dining hall, " I said gesturing to the room just in front of the stairs, " this is family room, " I commented as I pointed at the room where the same six year old was now watching Bob The Builder. I pointed at the room to our left, "This is your room I think, as it's the only one open since Felicia was adopted. I pointed at the big room at the bottom of the hallway, "That's Marie's and the other caretakers rooms past that door. We're not allowed in there unless escorted by a caretaker.” And I continued my tour, showing her all the rooms where one could entertain one's self, the door to the back yard, which was really a large meows, and all the other rooms and stuff. Anna had been nodding her head, throwing in a "Wow!" or a "Cool" here or there, occasionally smiling at me when I cracked one of my infamous retarded-jokes. Once when I had been reaching to open the door to the kitchen, our hands touched, and I swear to god it was like an electric shock, not unpleasant, but surprising. I'm not sure who pulled their hand back fastest. I tried to ignore the blush on my face while I was showing her around the kitchen, where the pans and stuff were kept. After an hour, I was finally done, and we were back at the bottom of the stairs, by the front door, "So, umm, that's it, any questions?” Anna smiled at me,
"Just one, what do you normally do here?” That question took me off guard, that wasn't the question normally asked, it was normally something like, "so what is there to do here," or " Do you have any video games" to which I always had a reply, but this one was surprising. Then Anna Pulsed again, which was another thing that caught me off guard, no one had ever pulsed twice before. I managed to say,
"Oh, you know, I just hang out in the meadow out back normally.” She smiled again, and said cheerfully,
"Oh, cool! Well I guess I’d better go settle in to my new room, thanks again Jeck!” And with that, Anna ran up the stairs. I watched her go, awestruck by her grace. She then kind of ruined it by stumbling on the flat surface of the carpet upstairs, but I pretended not to notice, as she was blushing deeply. I turned around, and Mary was again hiding a smile, and looking at me oddly.
"So did you have fun, Jeck?' she asked, very innocently. I smiled,
"Yeah it was great....heeey what's that supposed to mean?” I looked at Mary suspiciously.
"I don't know what you're talking about, all I did was ask a question.” Mary said, for all the world looking like some guy was asking her why she'd asked him out. I glared at her, turned around, and walked out back into the meadow. I was very tired, I’d discovered that when I saw pulses it tired me out, but since I normally only saw one a day, it wasn't a problem, but today I’d seen two. So I walked to one of the back trees, walked around to the back of it, and hopped in. A year ago, I had asked for a saw for my birthday, and they had given me one for some reason, so I had used it to hollow out a whole large enough for me to lay down in (It was a very large tree) and it's been my favorite spot in the whole orphanage since. I was lying there thinking about the new girl Anna when I fell asleep.
Part Two
I'd been having a very strange dream, involving Giant Catterpillars, Pink Elephants, an Evil smiley face, and flying monkeys. They had surrounded me, and just when the monkeys were about to steal my lunch box ( I know what you're thinking, "A lunch box? WTF?!?!?" i told you it was a weird dream) One of the pink elephants said,
"So this is what you meant by hanging out in the meadow." The dream-me gave the elephant weird look,
"What the hack?" The dream-me asked the elephant. The Pink Elephant gave me a very amused look,
"Jeck, you're asleep, and muttering, do you want to get up now?" Now you know how it is. You can know it's a dream fully and totally, but not be able to recognize it in the dream so you can't do a thing about it, this is how it was when the elephant was talking to the dream-me. I fealt something, a hand maybe, brush against my face. I woke up then, but took my time acting, because i didn't want Anna, for that's who it was, to know i had fealt it. I faked surprise when i saw her,
"Anna! Hi! What are you doing here?" Again with the mind-numbing smiles! She just wouldn't stop throwing them at me. I tried to clear my head as she replied.
"Came out to see you of course! You're the only kid my age around here," she smirked, "That, and i enjoyed the tour yesterday."
"What! Yesterday!" i mangaged to stammer out. I must have been really tired...
"Yup! It was yesterday." She grinned, "So what do you want to do?" I smiled back at her. I knew she had something in mind, so i went along with it.
"I don't know, what do you wanna do Anna?"
"Oh, i was wondering if there is a lake or something where we could go swimming!" She asked innocently.
"Erm, yeah there is, but we were going to do that tomorrow anyways, anything else you want to do."
Anna thought about it for a while, taking her time, and obviously enjoying my impatience.After several long moments, she regarded me cooly, stepped closer and.....
"TAG, you're it" then anna ran off with an impish smile on her face. I sat there dazed for a minute, then ran after her. Yes, i know that we were kind of to old for tag, but, who could resist Anna. Nevermind, many people probably could have. I obviously couldn't though. I ran by a seven year old on my way after anna and tagged him yelling over my shoulder,
"your it!" She laughed in delight and ran over to his slightly older brother and tagged him. Soon enough, the whole orpahanage was a giant tag game. I only ever got tagged by Anna, and Anna only ever got tagged by me. Finally, exhausted, i climbed a tree to reach the roof, where i knew noone but someone my age would be able to reach me. I layed back, winded. It was about 5:00 based off of where the sun was, i was going to have to get down soon. I just stared at the clouds, making pictures out of them, some battles, and one of them was a couple kissing (which reminded me of Anna and me, which was kind of uncomfortable, expecially when i discovered i enjoyed that thought) Finally i tore my self away from the clouds and slid down the tree i'd used to come up. No sooner had i done this then i was pounced on by anna, who clung to my back like a monkey and covered my eyes.
"Guess who?" She said giggeling.
"Hmm," i mock pondered, "Who do i know likes keeping my company, is somewhat impish, and strong enough to hold on to my back like this.......ummmmm, is it Anna?" She laughed and uncovered my eyes, to see her eyes right infront of mine, though upside down.
"Yup," She said cheerfully, "Mary told me to come find you, it's dinner time." Deciding that she wouldn't get off of me, i just started walking. She was either very light, or i was stronger than i thought. Probably the first i thought ruefully. We reached the dining room. Anna hopped off, and just as i was about to sit down, everyone in the room, some 150 people, all pulsed at the same time. It all went dark after that.
I woke some time later to my head aching. I kept my eyes closed, just listening to who was in the room. i heard the sound of someone sleeping nearby in the room, and some pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes slowly, and there was anna, aleep with her head on my chest. I know, kind of creepy right, i mean, we'd known eachother two days, and here she was with her head on my chest, sleeping peacefully. I carefully raised my left arm and put it gently on her head. Then, with the most gentleness and carefullness i could muster, i shook her awake.
"hmmm?" She said blearily.
"Anna, it's jeck, your kind of sleeping on me"
"Oh!" she sat up quickly and blushed a bright scarlet. "Sorry, i was so worried when i came to check on you yesterday that i decided i'd sleep in here i didn't mean to fall asleep on you..."
"Wait, how long have i been out?" I asked, confused.
"Two days, i've checked on you everyday," she blushed again, "mostly because i wanted to see how you were, but also because you were talking in your sleep." She looked away, like she'd either disliked what i'd said, or liked it alot and didn't want him to know. A fall like that wouldn't have knocked me out for two days, maybe knocked me out for two hours, not two days. It must have been because of when everyone pulsed. i thought, surpringly rationaly.
"So what'd i'd say?" I asked, suddenly afraid of what i might have said. I didn't remember any of it, but that only made it all the scarier.She looked back at me,
"Oh, basically a quick replay of your whole life that you can remember, that part i had to listen really hard with my ear right next to you to hear, it was contineous but impossibly quiet. You muttred a couple times of what you thought of a few people, " at this she blushed more than she had all those other times put together, "and something about Auras." She looked confused at this last part, and had a question in her eyes, but i ignored it.
"Oh jeez, i can't believe i said all that." I buried my face in my hands, with my face hot. I knew i'd probably said what i thought about Ana. I looked up and she was looking at me oddly, in a way i couldn't really put my finger on. She saw me look up and hugged me,
"I'm just glad you're okay." her voice broke on the last word. I hugged her back, with a bit of a lump in my throat. I was randomly thinking of a dead puppy, okay? I swear.
After a couple minutes i finally said, "We should probably go tell Mary that i'm awake."
Anna drew away almost reluctantly and smiled, "Yup, especially if we're going to go swimming, mary delayed it until today. We were going to do it today even if you didn't wake up, but i'm glad you did." She stood up and walked torward the door, pausing to wait for me. I was still in the clothes i'd worn two days ago, which was better than my underware but not the best, since i'd been sleeping in them two days straight. I hopped out of bed, wincing from the stiffness, and walked over to her. "I'll go tell mary you're awake, you go change into your suit." I nodded and grinned, then my stomach growled,
"umm, maybe i should go grab a samwhich first" she laughed and ran up the stairs. I walked to the kitchen and made my self a quick ham samwhich. I ate it quickly chased it down with some milk. I heard the door bell and went to answer it.
"Candygram for a certain Mary Sybell" Ugh yup i know you're starting to think this IS the dark ages, but i swear it's not. San Farancisco people just do stuff a little differntly is all. I thanked the man and gave him five bucks from our tip jar, then closed the door. Mary came down the stairs running and practically tackled me before hugging me.
"I was so worried." i could tell that she'd been crying recently, hopefully but probably over me.
"I"m okay now Mary, okay?" She pulled and smiled with tears rolling down her face.
"Maybe this will make you feel better, you got a candygram from someone."
"Really?!" She brightened up quickly. I handed it to her and she ran up stairs with it, just as excited as a six year old who'd been given a sought after toy. i could hear her telling Amy, one of the other orphan caretakers to watch us in the lake. I heard Anna walking down the stairs and turned to her. She was giggeling a little bit.
"What was that about, Jeck?" I laughed,
"Mary apparently has an admirer, she just got a candy gram from someone." I smiled when i noticed that Anna had changeed into a bikini, "Oh, i need to go change too, i'll be right back." I ran up the stairs into my room, changed into my bathing suit and run back down. "Okay, let's go."
