I let out a long sigh and stare at my fingers.
Where do I start?
"I don't really know where to start..." I mumble into my lap.
"How about the beginnin'? Is everything you've told me been a lie?" He questions still sounding pretty furious.
I don't know what's worse him being angry at me or... him thinking I'm crazy. I guess we'll find out.
"Not everything, no not at all. The stuff about my family is true, about being lost is true, mostly." I look at him and he raises an eyebrow encouraging me to continue. "I'm not from round here, I have been here but not this year. I'm from 2016." I don't look to see his reaction and carry on as fast as I can. "I was miserable. Everything I told you about my life was true. I was stuck and bored. I lived in Florida and I was a lawyer and I was alone. I was a big fan of yours, hence the tattoo, and I always wanted to meet you. Have you ever seen Pinocchio?" Now I lookat him. His eyes were vacant but he seems amused by my question.
"Sure." He responds.
"Well, I wished upon a star. Oh god. I sound insane. I never thought it would work but I wished I was back in time to meet you, to come back to the era I felt like I belong in. Then the next morning I woke up in an apartment in Memphis, with all my stuff but it isn't my apartment. Then I realised what had happened got sick outside your house, met you and well, here we are." I gush.
I don't look at him. I don't want to know what he's thinking. We are silent for a while so I decide I should leave.
"I should go. Maybe I could still claim that apartment." I get up and go to get my things but he grabs my wrist as I do.
"I don't think so. You've got some questions to answer honey." His commanding tone was back.
He pulled my wrist downwards so I eventually ended up back next to him on the sofa.
"I'm not indulging in your story... but, I don't really see why you'd make up something so damn crazy." He explains a bit too calmly.
"I understand that. I'm not making it up. I know I sounds crazy but I'm not I swear." I promise.
"Well why do you look like you fit in so well here? Your hair your clothes? Surely things are different in 3016?" He probes.
"Erm, well... it's 2016 and back home it's just how I liked to dress. The 'vintage' look was my thing."
"Vintage?" He questions raising his eyebrows.
"Obviously, where I'm from 1965 was 50 years ago. That's vintage." I stifled a laugh at what I was explaining. It was so ridiculous.
"Right, okay. Why would you want to look like that?"
"It's just something I like. I like looking this way. I never fit in back home, I liked keeping to myself but I also liked the way I looked. I can't really explain." I sigh at my own lack of clarity.
"So you stayed away from people by standing out, I'm sure not everyone in 2016 wants to dress that way."
"They don't, that's why they leave me alone. I'm the weird girl who dresses from a different era and listens to Elvis Presley." I laugh this time and after a few seconds Elvis joins in as well.
When we stop Elvis asks "so you wished to meet me?"
"Erm, well yeah. I was unhappy and unfulfilled back home. I figured I'd go back to an era that I loved and meet a person I respected. I never had the intention of meeting you and being a part of your life. I still don't. There were just things I wanted to tell you, I thought I'd be a happier person having done that. Then I could make a life for myself here. I didn't realise how different and difficult everything would be. Hell I didn't even think it would work or think it through at all." I groan in frustration at my own foolishness. I feel a hard lump form in my throats as my head sinks into my hands.
Do not cry. Not. Now. Later but not now.
"What do you want to tell me Dawn? Now's ya chance..." He places a hand on my back.
Why is he being so nice? He should think I'm crazy.
"I... I wanted to say..." I lift my head and look at him, still fighting the urge to cry. "I wanted to thank you. You saved me in a lot of ways, I had rough patches when I would just sort of self destruct, I'd do things I knew would hurt me but I just didn't care. I didn't think anyone else cared but every time I crawled into bed and listened to my music and you came on I felt better. I felt like everything would be okay again. There were times I wanted to just die and then I'd stick my headphones in and your voice would just... take me away. I related to a lot of your life and your struggles. I just respected you and everything you did. It made me sad but I thought... given the chance I could help since I'd gone through the same shit. It doesn't matter anymore. I'm sorry all this happened. I should never have been a part of your life." I trail off into a whisper as tears slip down my face. I knew this man's fate and nothing could help him. It was the way it was meant to be.
He reaches up and wipes my face. I frown his way confused by his calm reaction.
"Don't you think I'm crazy?" I ask.
"Of course I do!" He laughs and I curl into myself. "But I believe you, there is somethin' in me tellin' me to believe you. I felt it when I met you, this connection, maybe it was fate, that's why I wanted to help so bad and even though you're telling this insane story, I believe it. All of it. As for what you wanted to tell me, that's the most sincere thing anyone's said to me since my mama died." He confesses.
I'm shocked by his reaction. I'm glad but I was still shocked and slightly wary.
"Elvis... I don't know what to say." Silent tears fall down my face again. I'm so confused. I don't know what to do.
"Don't say nothin' honey. It's alright. Just stop cryin'."
Seconds later both of his arms are around me pulling me to him on the sofa. My head ends up resting on his chest as one arm wraps around his waist. He has both arms circles around me like he's afraid to let me go.
"I'm scared Elvis, I don't know what I'm doing here." I confess into his chest.
"I know honey, but we'll figure that out together." His voice vibrates my head but it calms me because I really believe what he's saying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know why I believe this crazy story but I did. Everything I felt when I met her came back demanding that I believe her. Being the religious man that I am, I believe everything happens for a reason. She must have come into my life for a reason. Her wish must have worked for a reason.
She belongs here.
I think as I stroke her hair while she sleeps on my chest. It feels right to have her here. I want her to stay.
I have so many questions about her time, the future, about my life. I'm itching to know but I feel like she needs to sleep.
God, I must be insane for swallowing all this but I can't shake this feeling that she is meant to be here.
I decide that I need her in my life and she needs me or she wouldn't have been allowed to come here. Somehow the universe and God thinks we need each other and I'm willing to listen to this crazy gut feeling that I have.
While stroking her hair and thinking, I eventually drift off to sleep. This first time in a long time that I haven't needed any help.
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Hope you're still enjoying this! This chapter was quite a hard one to write. I wanted to get in right and have it in the way I wanted it to come across. I hope it does 😄
So apparently Wattpad is being a bit shit and this isn't coming out. I will keep trying to republish it. Please let me know of you can see it!
Thank you!
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Wish Upon A Star
FanfictionWhen you wish upon a star your dreams come true, right? Well for Dawn it did. She felt like nothing was going right and one night decided to take a chance on the famous Disney line and it took her right where she wished for. But isn't that other lin...