Hershey Kisses

Just Out of Reach

Character: Noelle
Scene: Brian's house / Night
Conflict: Noelle is dead

   My legs are screaming in agony as I tread up the stairs to his doorstep. My heart feels heavy, head dizzy from the accident. Numbness threatens my arm with a tingly rush as I raise it to knock on the oak door between me and Brian. My knocks are soft, but I hear them echo into the darkness around me. And soon, I'm left with more silence.
   "Brian..." the words spill from my lips in less than a whisper, as if my lungs can barely produce enough air to push them out. Exhaustion is starting to envelope me, my eyelids are drooping.
   "Bri-" the words get caught in my throat as I hear steps. I can picture someone slowly walking down the large stairs that are in the center of the living room, the same ones that would take me into his room. But he never comes to the door.
   To the right of me I see the dining room window, slightly open. Large, white silk drapes move gently in the breeze and I watch them get caught between the window and the frame. I shouldn't, but I climb over the deck rail and into the window. I feel my sweater catch on a nail and freeze in place. Whispers from the kitchen drift over to me.
   "Did you hear?" My eyes get wide and my heart starts racing. All prior sleepiness escapes my body and is replaced with the fear of being caught. "...police are involved..." I let my breathing slow as I crane my neck to hear better, it sounds like Brian's parents. "...gone for over 32 hours...what a shame..."
   I hear the voices get further away and hear a door shut. Pushing against the rail with my foot, I haul over the windowsill. With a soft thud my body greets the white carpeting of the dining room. After making sure nobody is around, I head to the stairs to Brian.
   Without knocking, I open the door to his room. The radio is on, lightly humming about the latest news in our small town. Brian lays in his bed by the window, asleep and handsome. I rush over to him, body still full of adrenaline from almost being caught. His arms are stretched up behind his head as if he fell asleep while staring up at the ceiling. I reach over and lay my arm across his chest. He huffs lightly.
   "Brian, I missed you.." I kiss his cheek and smile. He's so peaceful, laying in the light of only the moon that is pouring through a crack in the curtains. "Brian you need to wake up." I kiss him again on his cheek and he doesn't respond.
   The radio crackles and a woman starts talking slowly. "A grey car has been spotted on the outskirts of town, it seems to have made head on contact with a tree at high speeds..." my attention gravitates to the small radio on his dresser, "it is believed to be the vehicle of missing person Noelle Johnson..."
   My head starts to hurt, I only walked here but my memory isn't letting me remember why I was walking. Why didn't I drive? How am I missing? I pull at Brian and try to get him to wake up. Something isn't right, it's as if he is bound to his bed and my pulling does nothing. I can't even lift up his arm!
   "A body has been found inside of the wreck. We are waiting for officials to release more information."
   Brian still isn't waking, I try again to pull at his arm but it dead weights to the bed. "Brian please! You have to get up!"
   "The body of Noelle has been discovered. Sources say that..." my body locks up and I sit on his floor numb, "...blunt force to the head..." I feel my forehead and pull back as a searing pain radiates through my skull. "...family is being notified..."
   Brian starts to roll around and unintentionally faces me. His lips are slightly parted as his soft breath tumbles out. I press my nose to his and feel warm tears dance down my cheeks. My lips meet his and I hear him sigh. My hand balls up in his blanket and I crumple to the floor.
   "Noelle..." his voice is deep, and hits me like a tidal wave, "Noelle...." he drags out the last part of my name in a moan. My body reacts as if on command straightening up and pulling towards him. "Brian?" His eyes shoot open and he sits up straight. His disheveled hair falls around his eyes, and he has to use his arm to push it out of view.
   Then he looks right through me.