A Compilation of My Soul

Something Broken

"No, Jason." The short brunette girl repeated for the upteenth time. "Come on, Dani. You're my girlfriend and I can't go to this party alone."The girl shakes her head and pulls away as the taller blond boy reaches for her waist. "No, I told Patrick and Lacy I would meet them early Saturday morning. And the party is Friday night. I can't make it." Jason clenches his jaw and sighs heavily. "Maybe, you should get some friends that understand your boyfriend is more important." A smug smile spreads across Jason's handsome face as he crossed his arms.By now, a small crowd of people had gathered to watch the arguement and I was a face among them. Jason turned to his friends, thinking the fight was done, but Dani wasn't finished. She stepped in front of Jason, her back and shoulders straight. "Well, then you should get a girlfriend that understands you're a jerk and a real pain in the ass." She stood there a minute, enjoying the look of shock on the the broad shouldered boy's face. Then, the delicately sized girl began to walk away, but now Jason was boiling with anger.His fists curled, muscles tense and skin blotchy. He walked up behind the girl, but Dani couldn't hear him coming through her own anger clogged ears.The tall boy reached out, grabbed Dani by the shoulder, and spun her roughly to face him. As he did this, he pulled back his other hand as if to bring it down to smack her. I looked around, but there was no adult close enough in this park to alert before Dani got hurt. Over 120 high school kids fresh out of a school day, and no one to help the pretty brunette girl with her green eyes wide. No one but a sandy blond boy, with intense blue eyes. The blue eyed boy grabbed Jason's wrist before it culd touch Dani. Jason spun to face this stupidly brave young man. A name popped up in my mind to go with the blue eyed boy-Aidan. Jason hesitated for a minute, his hand still in the air ready to hit someone. He hesitates because he remembers, as do I, the beating Aidan gave him for picking on a younger boy just last year. But he only hesitates for a second before bring a fist down on the more slender boy. Aidan deflects and tries to put Jason into an arm lock, anything to stop him without injury, but finds he can't. Bth boys are a whirlwind of fists and kicks and intense expressions. Dani tries to seperate the two, but is only pushed to the ground by Jason for her efforts. She sits there, her shoulders hunched and curved in. She starts to shamelessly cry. Not from physical injury, but from seeing these two boys fight. The pain was emotional, so intense that it could be physically felt in your chest as a deep ache. The tears rolled down her cheeks silently and she didn't wipe them away. Still the boys fought. Thier faces red, thier hair pasted to thier foreheads with sweat. Jason was running out of steam and Aidan was just waiting for his opening. Jason let his guard down for just a second, but that's all Aidan needed. With a solid, finalized blow to his torso, Jason fell with a thud in the grass his eyes fluttered closed. Aidan panted with effort and something about his eyes. The way he looked at the fallen boy at his feet. Not a look of triumph or pride, more of pity and sorrow. Aidan didn't want to take Jason down, didn't want to hurt him. Just stop Jason from hurting Dani. Aidan finally straightened up and walked slowly and stiffly over to a still crying Dani. He held out his hand and she took it gratefully and heaved herself up. Before leaving, Dani stopped and looked at Jason crumpled in the grass. She took somehing from her wrist and placed it in Jason's open palm. A silver bracelet with a single heart charm. With that, she walked with Aidan from the broken scene without looking back. A few minutes later, when Jason finally came back around, he wound sit up and find a charm bracelet in his hand. He will sit there for a very long time staring at the delicate chain that suspended a single heart charm. But, instead of the expected fury and heat that was accosiated with jason would fail to be seen. Just a broken look in his eyes when he realizes what he has lost.