When Jack and I finally arrived in the town, it looked to be decorated with dark blue banners that had yellow symbols on them. There were tons of snacks, sweets, foods, and people in the streets.
After we checked into a sort of low-budget hotel, we walked around the festival. I ate so many delicious pastries and such. He even bought me a small piece of cloth with one of the gold flower symbols on them. "Hey, wanna get flowers put in your hair?" He asked, gesturing to a small station nearby where young girls were decorating people's hair with flowers.
"Definitely." I said, walking over to them. They seemed super excited to be doing my hair as there was so much of it. I ended up with a braid, decorated with various types of flowers. "How do I look?" I asked the artist who was sketching in his book nearby.
He smiled at the sight of me. "Pretty."
I snorted and we both walked to a different place, where people were drawing with chalk on the ground. I began to draw an incredibly elaborate mandala, much like the design on my piece of cloth. My arms were covered in dark blue chalk by the time I was done. It was kind of ironic, I always wore dark blue and that seemed to be the color theme of the festival.
In fact, to the festival, I wore a long sleeved dark blue dress that ended just above my ankles. It was elaborately designed with a swirly pattern all the way down the front. I stood up and examined my design, wiping the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve.
When I managed to wash off my hands, Jack and I were just hanging around, talking. "So what's this festival for, anyway?" I asked.
"You'll see. You're gonna love it."
"I already love it." I said. That's when I took notice of the music playing nearby. I ran and grabbed a young boy's hands, lifting him up and twirling around a small circle with him. People seemed to gather around and watch.
More and more people joined until it was an incredibly large group of people dancing. But Jack stood apart from the crowd. I smiled and grabbed his hands. "Come on!" I said.
"No Beth, I don't dance." He said.
"That's only true until you start dancing!" I said. He laughed but reluctantly came in the group. We didn't dance with each other, it switched partners every few seconds. But it was a lot of fun likewise. Eventually, the song neared its end and Jack and I ended up being partners. Everyone cheered loudly as the song ended abruptly. But Jack and I just stared at each other, breathing heavily and quickly moving away from each other when we noticed how close we were.
"I told you it would be fun." I said.
"Fine. Maybe you were right about this one thing."
"Nah I think I'm right all the time." He rolled his eyes playfully. "So...what now?"
"Let's just wait a few minutes for the sun to go down."
--
When the sun had left the sky and the world was dark with the slight illumination of stars, Jack took me to this canoe. The lake was pretty large and I was reluctant to get into the boat, but Jack eventually convinced me and started rowing out to the middle of the dark water, decorated by many large boats.
Eventually, we were stationary, me placing small flowers in the lake to create ripples as I rested my head on my hand in boredom.
"So what did you think of the festival so far?" Jack asked.
"I loved it." I said. "But what's gonna happen now?"
"Just be patient, it'll happen soon." I sneered and rested my head on the wood of the boat. That's when it happened, the water began to light up near where I had placed the flowers. Like tiny stars in the water. I gasped. It was beautiful.
Then the lake lit up with the stars. It was like the entire lake was a swirling galaxy. "What is this?" I asked.
"Bioluminescent plankton." He said. I knew Jack was obsessed with the universe and all the world's beauty.
"Have you seen this before?"
"Once." He replied, staring into the lake of stars.
"It's amazing." I said. I stuck my hand into the lake, running my hand back and forth as the 'stars' coated my fingers.
This was the happiest I was gonna be on this trip. I knew that. I would leave this place with this amazing memory and one really bad one. The memory of me leaving Jack.
"You okay?" Jack asked. The plankton illuminating his face only made him look even more beautiful. Today was the day when he felt more like himself in the memories than ever. "We're in a beautiful setting and you still manage to make it sad. How do you do it?" He joked, smiling a charming smile.
That smile.
"No. I'm not okay. But it doesn't really matter." I said.
"If it makes you feel better, you look really nice today." I thanked him with a small nod. "And also, I want to thank you. Beth, I couldn't be happier for everything you've done for me. Thanks to you, I'm gonna get to be with Rose again. I'll never be able to thank you enough."
A few small tears fell out of my eyes. "It was nothing, really." I wiped my eyes quickly.
"No. It was everything." He said, placing a hand on my arm as he stared me through intensely with those hypnotizing eyes of his. It's true. I was throwing away my safety, my life, and my happiness for him. But it was worth it. I loved him so much. I'll do whatever it takes to make him happy.
I smiled a little bit and looked back at the lake. "We should probably go back now." I said.
"Yeah. Get some sleep for tomorrow."
YOU ARE READING
To The Stars And Back - Jack Dawson
Paranormal"You're making a mistake. Have fun having a miserable life with the wrong girl." -- What if in that scene where Rose is lowered in the lifeboat, she didn't jump off? What if Jack had survived but they didn't end up with each other? What if his only...
