(COMPLETED STORY)
Uncorrected draft, under revising.
While everyone believes he's dead, Isla is still determined that her younger brother is alive and in need of help somewhere. Isla's brother, Grayson, had a mental obsession with clues and patter...
"Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can." - Danny Kaye
****
"What's your favorite place in this world?" Somewhere in the process of reading, I got bored. It had been two hours since we took a seat on the train, four more hours to go. Nick was reading Jane Austen, which I discretely giggled at. Who would have thought Dominic Reed read Jane Austen, not me. I put my book down and quite randomly asked him the first question that came to mind. There were four hours to go, why not use the time wisely?
"Huh? I don't know," Nick's eyes didn't leave the book, guess he was enjoying the book.
"Oh, sure you do. Look at me," his eyes came to mine, "What's your favorite place?" He folded the page of which he was reading and laid it aside.
"Big Ben," Nick answered. Big Ben would have been my last guess, I was curious now.
"Why?"
"When dad, mom, and I went London for vacation we visited Big Ben. We stood right below it, and the clock rang midnight. It reminded me of Peter Pan, it always does. You know the scene where he takes Windy and the kids to Neverland, it was my favorite movie as a child. I took a picture of dad and mom as the clock was ringing, and they seemed so happy. She seemed so happy, it was the last vacation we got spent with her. Before you know..." His words drifted off.
"I know." He seemed hurt, but it was as if his memories healed him. I appreciated that Nick answered me seriously and honestly, I always liked that about him. When he wasn't busy being a jerk, he could be quite real. Somehow.
"Did you know him? Grayson, I mean," and just like that, the sudden conversation changed from Nick to Grayson.
"Well, I didn't exactly know him. I had some classes with him, sometimes I saw him in the halls. He always seemed disorganized but clever at the same time," he looked down, remembering someone he didn't exactly buddy with. It all seemed strange to me. I would find Grayson and bring him back, he would have to get used to two new family members. One of which was his former substitute, living in his house. But I guess after some while he would enjoy it, to have more males in the house. After dad had left Grayson was the only guy in the house, stuck with the girls. It's not like Grayson liked dad more than I did, but I guessed he missed the bromance.
"Yeah," was all I could answer in response, it hurt to talk about him. It felt like an ache in my throat, regretting that I brought him up. "Grayson will like you, you know. You're smart, like him. You like the same music, Mozart," I eyed him mockingly.
"What?"
"I can hear it coming from your room every night. It's kind of loud. But it's relaxing, perfect music to get me to sleep," I smiled. Nick looked like he wanted to protest but decided better not, chuckling.
"Well, yeah. It's quite calming, I like it," he looked out the window. The sun hung in the high air, its rays playing with Nick's brown hair. Paris was far behind, according to the train speaker we were in Saint-Étienne now. Even from a train seat, I could easily see how beautiful this place was. We drove past the Toulouse Cathedral, a church I had never seen before. I only caught a glimpse, but that glimpse was enough to intrigue me. High building, yellow walls, ancient beautiful construction, loose diamond shaped glass windows and washed of color grayish paint for the roof.
"Favorite music," it was a question but came out more like a statement. Nick drew his eyes from the window and to me, perplexed. "Your favorite music?" I repeated.
It took Nick a few seconds to answer, transferring from mild perplexity to searching for an answer.
"Elvis Presley," he said looking at me, somewhat challenging me.
Challenging me to what, exactly?
"Bob Dylan," mentioning a singer from the nineteen sixties, I progressively understood what he was doing. We were playing a game, both wanting to impose that we were smarter than the other.
"Ray Charles," Nick shot back, giving me limited time to think.
"Johnny Cash," I responded.
The four hours had concluded of verbal distractions from not becoming awfully bored. The female voice roamed from the speakers; Next Stop: Marseille. There was no need to rush, but I did. Putting my snacks, book, and headphones away into my backpack. Nick was still sitting in his seat, looking out the window. There was still ten minutes until we actually had to get off the train, but I felt the need to get out of there. I had to find Grayson, and this note, this address, could lead me right to him.
"Nick, come on!" I hissed at him, packing his stuff for him, my backpack hanging on on my shoulders.
"Isla? Hey, hey. Chill, there's still at least seven minutes!" He shot back, snatching his bag away from me. I felt embarrassed, uncertain of why I was this uncontrollable. I blushed furiously, flustered and confound of my ongoing behavior. Defeated, I slouched back in my seat.
"Why are you so worked up?" He asked, his tone gentler than before. I guess it was impatience kicking in, the instinct to do something right away. I couldn't wait to get out of this vehicle, to look for my brother. He could be in danger, or worse, he could be dead.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hey!
So... Any thoughts? I've been trying to make my chapters a little shorter so that they don't become boring, tell me how it's working and what you prefer? What do you think will happen next, will Isla find her brother or go home disappointed? Don't forget to vote, comment & share! It won't go unnoticed. Love you guys.
