Your Hearts Desire

Was This Real?

MARIE 

"I'll be careful, I promise."

I said to Alex as I pulled my jacket on. This guy was staring at her front door, and honestly had no idea what the deal was.

Alex pulled me in for a hug, "Just in case," she said.

I smiled then walked outside.

"Creep!" I yelled at him.

He looked at me suddenly, as if he was daydreaming and I snapped him out of it.

"Seriously," I said, walking up to him.

"What the hell, can I help you or something?"

"Yeah, sorry, I..."

He began.

"I guess I don't have a good enough explanation. It's just...I've passed this place a few times recently, and I guess I just kept getting this strong feeling that I had to come here? But today it was....extra strong as I was walking past. I wanted to try and figure out what was going on, but I guess I came across as some creep. I didn't mean any harm."

I tried to study him for a minute to see if he was lying, but when I looked into his big blue eyes, I could see a lot of confusion. I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth.

"My name's Marie," I said, extending my hand.

He took it, "Mine's Bill."

"I'll be honest," I began, "I never thought I would meet a young guy named Bill. I always knew older people with...."

I stopped and looked at his right hand as I was shaking it. He was wearing a gold ring, with a blue diamond embedded into the band...

"I'm sorry, where do you get this ring?" I asked. We still had our hands locked together.

"Oh, that?"

He said.

"Um, well, my last name is Skarsgard. I live in Sweden, and I'm here acting in a short film for a buddy of mine who lives in Halifax. He wanted to do a film with both styles of Canadian and Swedish cinematography."

"That's very nice, but that doesn't tell me anything about the ring."

I said.

"Right, sorry,"

He said, shaking his head.

"Anyways...I left Sweden about a month and a half ago, and the night before I left, I was at this carnival. I just got this ring from an older woman who was selling it."

He looked at his ring, then with my hand still in his, he turned his wrist so he could see my hand, with my ring, the blue diamond. His awkward smile began to fade slightly.

"So....should I ask how you got yours?"

"Um,"

I started to say,

"Well, it's the same story except I live here, and the carnival I went to was last night."

I wasn't quite sure how to process this. Did the damn ring actually work? Was it real? I completely forgot about the pizza man.

"Wow..." he whispered, looking at my ring. "This....might explain why I wanted....no..." he trailed off. "I don't know...."

"Do you think I'm your heart's desire?"

I asked, trying to make him laugh.

He chuckled

"I don't really believe in that stuff. But I mean...it does seem odd."

There was a pause before he checked his watch. When he raised his right wrist to check it, I noticed underneath his coat, his wrist was bandaged. Because I have a dark mind like Alex, my mind went right to the worst possible scenario for that bandage, making me rub the rope burn scar I got on my neck about two years ago.

Probably one of the reasons why I bonded with Alex so well was because we both had similar demons to fight. She told me her secret and the nightmares she had. I wanted to do everything I could to help her through those dark moments. To make the bond stronger, I told her about my suicide attempt. The thoughts and feelings (or lack of feelings I should say) still follow me sometimes. I can remember the rain hitting my window as I got the rope ready. I'm just glad my roommate at the time came home a day early from her family trip.

Bill broke my mental tangent when he asked,

"Listen, if you're not doing anything, I was on my way to go walk along the dock. I needed some time to look at the ocean alone. Want to get coffee?"

"I'm not a coffee person,"

I said,

"But, I'll still walk with you."

"I'm not a coffee person either,"

He said

"I guess it's just what you say."

Alex suddenly ruined the moment by screaming from the window,

"ARE YOU OK?"

I gave her this "WTF woman" look then went inside to meet her, telling her I was going to go for a walk. She was not very happy, saying that I was crazy.

I decided not to tell her about his ring right away. I wanted to see how much she trusted me. I hugged her, saying that the rings could be real and went off, promising to text her when I got home. I needed to figure this out.