Monday, 20 August 2007

• Here and Now/Yubikiri (Update #1)

  I've decided to make a series of updates on this blog for my short story.  Hopefully everything will turn out fine.
  

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      It was a change for him. He was used to the choking smog and the bustling crowds. He'd rather have the blinding lights and the obnoxious noises of the city than this picturesque scene. He didn't want the endless farmlands, the fresh air, or the calming breeze through his hair. It would be too boring compared to the hectic, high-tech life he had grown so used to. Tobias's family had decided they needed to live in a place free of the harmful dangers of the city for their son's sake, fourteen years late. They bought a quaint little house in a quaint little neighborhood in a delightfully quaint little town.

      He didn't care for it at all. He wanted to wake up from this absurd dream. Until he woke up to a dream he didn't want to leave.

      One morning, Tobias awoke in a daze. It was strange. He had dreamed of sirens calling out to him with their sweet melodies, but this wasn't the oddity exactly. Sirens had haunted his dreams numerous times, and he never knew why. No, the odd part was that when he had opened his eyes, the singing didn't stop. Rising slowly, the morning rays embraced him and his room from the open window. There were clouds in the sky that passed by carelessly and a slight whiff of flowers sweetly slipped into the bedroom. The singing voice drifted softly from the bedroom window.

      The sound was lovely.

      Tobias rolled out of bed and almost tumbled off. A chill went shivering up his legs as they touched the hardwood floor. He shuffled dazedly towards the window, rubbing the sleepiness away from his eyes. The breeze ruffled his t-shirt as he stood slouching in front of the window. When his vision finally began to focus and he realized what he was looking it, his spine shot straight as he stood erect in surprise.

      Tobias expected a stereo or television playing music loud enough he could hear it from across the way. Hell, he wouldn't have been surprised if it was a record player in this small town. Strange and obnoxious sounds were prevalent in the city where he had grown up, and Tobias had grown used to the usual annoyances of sound making machines. But the truth in front of him was new to him.

      A girl wearing a nightgown in the house next door sat next to her windowsill as she brushed her long brown hair. Her mouth was moving, but Tobias could hardly believe the sound. Her voice was angelic but there was sadness in the echo of her melody. She didn't smile as she rhapsodized to no one but the morning, and there seemed to be some melancholy haunting her expression.

      Tobias rested on his windowsill as the nightingale continued to sing her aria. It was serene. Tobias felt calm and almost a reason to stay in this town, if only for a moment. All too quickly it ended and the girl stopped brushing her brown hair. She placed her hands on her lap and gazed down at her clenched fists as a sigh escaped her lips.

      “You sing beautifully,” Tobias called over to the girl, smiling as he did so.

      The girl turned to Tobias in bewilderment. She wasn't expecting an audience, and neither did she want it. The next thing Tobias knew, a hairbrush came hurdling towards his face.

  
  

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