The Queen is Dead

Chapter 2: It's You: Johnathan

Lizzy was sure as hell a mystery to me. Ever since the age of sixteen, she had gone from a girl into a young woman over night, or at least that is what she forced herself to become.

I don't understand why she would want to live up to to such expectations. Yeah, her father is a great scientist and her mom is an archaeologist but it didn't mean she had to grow up to impress them. Life is about making mistakes and being a kid at heart. If you always have a bit of a young spirit in your heart, then you won't miss out on the beauty of the world.

I knew Lizzy deep down was like that but it became masked over the years. Although she was frustratingly logical, I deep down knew that she balanced me out. She was the star to my moon.

Lizzy kept me grounded and made sure I didn't get carried away with becoming emotional. But I worried about her, she covered up whatever she felt. I had only seen her cry once in my life when her grandfather died of terminal illness. I felt guilty I couldn't help her more although she told me multiple times that being there for her was enough. I probably should have listened to her more that day though instead of trying to make her laugh. Maybe that was how she saw me. A grown fool.

We had gotten home late after crowding onto a narrow bus. The ride was certainly uncomfortable but admittedly, there were positives. There was nonstop conversation between everyone in the bus and laughter was everywhere, especially among the children who laughed as I told stories of the Great Booban.

It was ridiculous stories I had remembered since I was a child that had kept me entertained when my grandfather would tell me the stories to keep me relaxed. To this day I spread the stories to the anxious youngsters if they need a good laugh and a good moral to the story. As I told the stories however, I could have sworn from the corner of my eye I saw Lizzy staring at me with a grin plastered on her face but as I looked up to meet her eyes, she would look away with her grin quickly fading into a proper smile.

The next day, I quickly made it over to town after lunch. She was hesitant to the idea but the reminder she had nothing in particular to do the next day except meet with her father's coworker or rather the guide that would help them find the plants for the extraction made her feel a little more comfortable to meet me.

I pulled up to the corner on my motorcycle I had received for my eighteenth birthday and slipped off the slick leather. Truthfully, it wasn't as nice when I had gotten it, in fact I was surprised to get it at all.

My family is very large but exceedingly poor. We rarely had money for anything and if we did, it was truly a blessing. The surprise came on my 18th when my father gave me a used motorcycle. I was in shock and I remember I could not stop hugging him out of joy. Since then, things have gotten better as I have gotten older.

Three of my brothers and I had begun working and making our own money which has helped lift the financial barrier of my father. Though he has often told my brothers and my younger sister that he wishes he could give us more, but in reality he had given us everything.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Lizzy walking towards the market. She turned her head as soon as she felt her eyes on me. "Fifteen seconds, you're getting quicker!" I laughed at her annoyed expression as my sentence completed. "You're so annoying!" She said mockingly but I couldn't help but grin. Though she maintained an annoyed expression, her crystal blue eyes practically formed a smile.

"Now are you going to tell me what we're doing?" She said as she came to a halt in front of me. "We are going to eat a baby duck," I told her trying to maintain a serious expression but she automatically knew I was making a horrible joke. After a moment of silence and a disapproving look from Lizzy she smacked my arm, "I am being serious! What are we doing?"

I gave her a wild smirk before I made a motion with my head to follow. In reality I had planned to give her a ride on the motorcycle. I secretly hoped she would agree to it, maybe it would bring back the girl I once knew. The girl that was a risk taker and wasn't afraid of anything.

Her eyes became wide as she saw the bike. "Well those are nice improvements but don't tell me we are-" "Oh don't tell me you are scared now Ms. Collins," I said giving her a sarcastic wink. "Scared? You think I am scared?" "Well you obviously don't want to do it," I said with a chuckle. She paused to think before slowly continuing, "It's just even with helmets we could get hurt- it is unsafe and..." she paused again but I knew exactly what she was trying to do.

She was trying to word her thoughts 'nicely'. "Let me guess, you think it is immature and it is not the adult thing to do?" She bit her lip before nodding, "I don't want to hurt you Johnathan," she told me with a solemn expression. I nodded before breaking the brief silence. "Tell you what, if you don't want to go for a ride we can go to a restaurant and I will pay, my treat. But you need to do me a favor and answer two questions, would you regret it and would you hate it?"

She looked up at me with a mixture of shock and appreciation. "I don't mean to be rude but I thought you were having trouble with money?" I couldn't help but let a soft smile form across my lips. "I recently got a raise and I haven't been having as many troubles." She nodded and looked down, pulling gently on her shoulder length, golden blonde hair. She was nervous and thinking hard- it was something she did as long as I could remember. She would always bite her lip and pull her hair as she thought and processed things. It took her a moment but she was quick with analyzing every possible scenario which I admired about her.

"I'll go," she said vaguely. "Go where?" With this her eyes met mine. She sighed and her head motioned towards the motorcycle. I held in my excitement but I couldn't hold in my comment, "There you are." Though I didn't specify to her what I meant, I knew I didn't have to. Her familiar amused facial expression told me all and she proceeded to roll her eyes. She knew I was referring to the past; where we were nothing but two daredevils that got ourselves into the craziest situations.

The craziest one I can look back to was when she pretended to be my third cousin twice removed that was visiting from a town called "Hostibilivan" to get me out of a fight with two buff men. At one point, she even started to flirt before I played along as the overprotective cousin. They let us go confused but I often look back and laugh at how stupid our story was and how the two men believed us. I could honestly tell you, there was never a dull moment between us.

I grabbed my helmet and threw my left leg over the bike. As I put it on, she proceeded to the same. "So where do I put my hands to hold onto the bike?" "The recommend position is to hold onto my waist but if you are in for a thrill, just hold onto dear life to underneath the rim of the bike," I said putting on my helmet. "Wouldn't that be awkward for you?" I turned half around and handed her a spare helmet. "If it's not awkward for you, it's not awkward for me," I told her smiling through my helmet.

She raised her eyebrow at this, before shaking her head. "We've been friends long enough to do weird things like this," she mumbled. I let out a laugh as she put on her helmet. "If anyone asks, we're siblings." I laughed again at her comment, before giving her a quick nod. "Yes ma'am."

The motorcycle revved up before we took off. She had a tight grip on my abdomen to the point where I had to shout to her, "Relax! You don't have to hold on so tight!" Her grip loosened and after a few minutes, I knew she was beginning to enjoy herself. Though the hum of the engine was loud, I could her a soft laughter make its way past the engine. I felt a wide grin spread on my face, a chill spreading through my body. This was the girl I used to know. There you are Lizzy- there you are.