CLOSER • Wattys2016

A

Finals week

Eleanore

I grit my teeth and hold my head in my hands. Tears roll down my face as I close my eyes and take a deep breath. God, help me understand biology! That's it. I'm taking a walk.

I let my feet take me to wherever in my walk. Earphones on, I hum with The Script's The Man Who Can't Be Moved. I end up near the city's amphitheatre. I decide on whether I go in the shake shop or sit on the steps of the theatre. Latter.

So I sat there, with the breeze holding my hair, and the grass tickling my shins. I sat there, hearing that faint beep, but making none of it. I sat there, listening to a man who doesn't want to move, changing to a person who found love where it wasn't suppose to be.

I sat there with tears streaming down my cheeks. I sat there, waiting for the moment I snap.

Holden

After Vega, I was able to charge the headphones. How? Don't ask. Why? I don't know. I carried it with me anywhere I went to, as much as possible. Tillie, my sister, kept on bugging me to throw it away already. I kept on declining.

As some sort of revenge, I chose to bug Tillie back during her finals week. She likes to cover her notebooks with pictures of stuff, so I got those pictures and turned them at a 180 degree angle. She wrote on her notebook normally, but the notebook was inverted. She noticed, and told mom. I'm a horrible brother. Like I care.

"Holden, where are you going?" Tillie asks, the moment I reach the main door. "Out" I reply. Annoying brat.

Then I realize I left the headphones. I run back inside and retrieve them from beside my laptop, then run out the door again- before Tillie asks anymore questions.

In all honesty, I do not know where I'm headed to. I just want to clear my mind. Somewhere far, I think. Maybe the shake cafe by the amphitheatre. Yeah, that's pretty far from here. So I take off, heading east from the house.

Twenty five minutes later, I near the amphitheatre. There was only a few people around. Some children were playing in the middle, old people sitting on the benches by the trees on the other side, and a person in a jacket- hooded.

I feel the headphones vibrate, so I near them to my ears and realize that a song was playing through them. The Script. I choose to put them on and continue my journey to buy a shake.

Once after buying a shake, I sit down inside the shop and continue listening. The song has changed to something mellow. I don't know this song. There was some feeling I got from listening to it. Sad, tears. The song was not sad at all, however that was what was being projected from it.

I wonder how the owner of the device is feeling. I have the urge to wrap my arms around them. Them- well, let's say it's a her, right? The person who manned the booth had to come from the all-girls school. Yup, it's a her, anyway.

Problem is, I didn't know who she was.

*

The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script
I Found - Amber Run