CLOSER • Wattys2016

E

Eleanore

It was January, meaning our annual fair was coming up. The last school fair I will be contributing in.

Luckily, my class was not chosen for the class booth. I did not have to do anything for the rest of the day once I get home.

Anyway, I'm home, and I've got nothing to do.

I log in to my SoundCloud, and check the notifications. Apparently, a lot of people admire my voice. But that wasn't my voice because those weren't my lyrics. "It will never be yours if they were your words," my grandpa used to tell me.

So I made my own words, added a beat, a rhythm, and some audio.

I press record:

"This my new song entitled 'Won't You' it's still a work in progress though, but here goes,

Twenty hours,
All these flowers,
And I've got,
all the broken hearts,
Falling off my tower

Oh, won't you see me now?
Running out of sight,
Losing my whole mind,
And I've been missing you, missing you ooh oh

Oh, won't you,
Take all your decisions,
Make less petitions and,
I can't seem to find who you are.." I trail off. I cough and give a dry laugh then pressed 'stop'.

I pressed the play button to give it a listen.

Holden

Dan and I just watched The Conjuring 2. It was getting dark, and now he wants me to walk him home. Dumb ass. "I've never been to your house," I ask, "Tell me about it?"

"My parents are all over the world," he begins, "So I live with my grandmother, and cousin. My cousin.. her parents died, so she lives with us too!" He says cheerfully.

"You never told me about this."

"You never asked, crocodile face!" He skips beside me.

"What kind of- you know what, whatever!" I sigh in frustration, "You, are a child!"

"Well," he slurs, "This child got us free tickets to that all-girls school's annual fair! Alveo!"

"Alveo?"

"That's the name of the fair!"

I nod at this then put my headphones on. The walk going to his house was quiet. The moment we got there, Dan said his goodbyes then ran inside.

Click.

My headphones. Then I hear this high, light, mellow voice.

"This my new song entitled 'Won't You' it's still a work in progress though, but here goes,

Twenty hours,
All these flowers,
And I've got,
all the broken hearts,
Falling off my tower

Oh, won't you see me now?
Running out of sight,
Losing my whole mind,
And I've been missing you, missing you ooh oh

Oh, won't you,
Take all your decisions,
Make less petitions and,
I can't seem to find who you are.." She trails off then stops the recording. Wow. Her voice was beautiful.

I reckon she'll be at Alveo tomorrow. I open my notes on my phones and quickly type down the lyrics before they fade away in my head.

Walking through the threshold of my home, I screamed Tillie's name like a banshee.

"What the hell do you want, bro?" She screams running down the stairs.

"Alveo's tomorrow, yeah?" She nods. "How long is it?"

"A day"

"You manage the dedication booth, right? I need to speak on the microphone tomorrow! Could you whip up something to get me in."

"Oh, anyone's welcome to speak in the microphone" I smile at this, "You just have to pay a price- and wait in line."

"And if I pay now? Double?"

"Anytime. First in line." Tillie tells me how much and I pay double- as promised, "Shake on it," I say and we do our bro-sis handshake, a little something we made when we were little.

This was it.

*

Won't You - an original - i have no talent in poetry whatsoever - don't judge me