Post by Ritsu on Sept 13, 2004 19:42:35 GMT -5
The weird thing about this is that I wrote it in Portuguese and am translating it uncarefully. So, if some things make no sense, you'll know why. I translated his name too.
#1 - Untitled
The mall was crowded up with people from the town's suburbia, a typical thing to be seen on Sunday mornings. Entire families with noisy and misbehaved children could be seen strolling everywhere, jumping from shop to shop, drooling all over the windows. The parents, impatient, either pretended they weren't their children or yelled at them, which led to another demonstration of noise through some over loud cry.
Or it could be just Laura's migraine speaking for itself. She never had the required patience for shopping malls on weekends, and she didn't have any patience for children. And that day wasn't any different, quite the contrary, all her loathings seemed to be more accurate, her fears more mirrored in her face than usual. But everything had went well, after all it was just the panic of the initial moment. The papers had been signed, her husband didn't raise the kind of problems she was expecting him to, acting calmly and normaly, agreeing that that was the only solution for their problems.
"Husband? Ex-husband...", and with this came a wave of relief so big that all the noises surrounding her seemed to melt into each other, forming a relaxing sound, while the images blurred. From that moment on, she was free. From that moment on there wouldn't be any more nights waiting for his return, no more suspicions, she wouldn't be ignored, nothing. She was free from the person that caused her all the pain she had felt for all those years. She could start things all over again, if she wanted to. But did she want to? Go through all the agonies again, all the worrying? No. In that moment, like any other woman after a relationship, she though that there would be years before she had the patience and time to give herself to someone again.
She headed to the underground level, looking for her car key inside the huge bag she always carried on her shoulder.
"I seriously need to buy a small light to put in here".
She also took her wallet out of the bag to pay the parking fee. As always on weekends, all the machines were out of order. She dragged herself to the staff's cabin, payed, and headed back to her car. She got in. Turned the key on the ignition, not before choosing a CD for her trip. She chose one that always made her remember some of the most special moments she had lived till then. They were songs that depressed her, always remembering her of everything she hadn't reached, but apart from that, they made her remember the time she was free. And after all, this was the appropriate time. A celebration of freedom. She drove backwards, absent mindedly. She felt a small "bang" on the car's back, and that was when she noticed what she hadn't noticed before, involved in the sweet rythm of the music - a huge dark-blue van right behind her car. She felt herself blushing and sink on her seat. She knew that a very unpleasent fight with the driver was going to take place very soon, fights which she was never prepared to have. Each driver was different from the other, and each time she thought she had the right words, the driver came up with a tottaly different conversation. She could hear this one screaming already. Slowly, she opened the car's door and, without turning to the driver, started saying apologetically:
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see... I was distracted by something else... I didn't check the mirror. I'm really sorry"
"If there's someone who knows that you were distracted, that's me! The side part of my van is completely damaged, but I know that you can't pay for it because you're going through a finantial crisis and that you've got a husband and children to feed."
Laura stopped. That voice wasn't strange. The same voice echoed on her head once in a while, coming from memories from eleven years ago, when she was still a teenager. It was the voice she heard whenever she listened to that same CD she was listening that day. No, no it couldn't be. Not there, on that town, on that shopping mal, on that same parking lot... it couldn't be. Slowly she turned to face the driver. All of a sudden she felt all the colour coming off her face and all her weight upon her knees.
"Michael?.."
He seemed equally surprised.
"I'm sorry but... are you alright?"
"... it can't be."
She looked at him with a frightened and touched look, but suddenly she remembered everything and she knew immediately that she had no need to show any kind of drama to that man.
"Let go of me. I'll pay the damage I did to your car, just... let me go home."
She turned her back on him but, to her surprise, he came after her and grabbed her arm.
"Look here...", suddenly, his eyes stopped upon her hair, a shade of reddish-brown. No. He remembered it longer, wavy and golden. But yes, the similarities were clear, "... Laura?!"
"Ha. All this years I thought that maybe your highness and preponderance would've calmed down a bit, and I was starting to think I was wrong".
She got no answer. After some minutes, Michael decided to speak:
"Wanna go upstairs to drink some coffee, eat something?"
"No, I'm on my way out, as you may've realised."
"We'll go elsewhere, then. I have to talk to you, it's the first time I see you in eleven years, I can't afford to let it happen one more time."
#1 - Untitled
The mall was crowded up with people from the town's suburbia, a typical thing to be seen on Sunday mornings. Entire families with noisy and misbehaved children could be seen strolling everywhere, jumping from shop to shop, drooling all over the windows. The parents, impatient, either pretended they weren't their children or yelled at them, which led to another demonstration of noise through some over loud cry.
Or it could be just Laura's migraine speaking for itself. She never had the required patience for shopping malls on weekends, and she didn't have any patience for children. And that day wasn't any different, quite the contrary, all her loathings seemed to be more accurate, her fears more mirrored in her face than usual. But everything had went well, after all it was just the panic of the initial moment. The papers had been signed, her husband didn't raise the kind of problems she was expecting him to, acting calmly and normaly, agreeing that that was the only solution for their problems.
"Husband? Ex-husband...", and with this came a wave of relief so big that all the noises surrounding her seemed to melt into each other, forming a relaxing sound, while the images blurred. From that moment on, she was free. From that moment on there wouldn't be any more nights waiting for his return, no more suspicions, she wouldn't be ignored, nothing. She was free from the person that caused her all the pain she had felt for all those years. She could start things all over again, if she wanted to. But did she want to? Go through all the agonies again, all the worrying? No. In that moment, like any other woman after a relationship, she though that there would be years before she had the patience and time to give herself to someone again.
She headed to the underground level, looking for her car key inside the huge bag she always carried on her shoulder.
"I seriously need to buy a small light to put in here".
She also took her wallet out of the bag to pay the parking fee. As always on weekends, all the machines were out of order. She dragged herself to the staff's cabin, payed, and headed back to her car. She got in. Turned the key on the ignition, not before choosing a CD for her trip. She chose one that always made her remember some of the most special moments she had lived till then. They were songs that depressed her, always remembering her of everything she hadn't reached, but apart from that, they made her remember the time she was free. And after all, this was the appropriate time. A celebration of freedom. She drove backwards, absent mindedly. She felt a small "bang" on the car's back, and that was when she noticed what she hadn't noticed before, involved in the sweet rythm of the music - a huge dark-blue van right behind her car. She felt herself blushing and sink on her seat. She knew that a very unpleasent fight with the driver was going to take place very soon, fights which she was never prepared to have. Each driver was different from the other, and each time she thought she had the right words, the driver came up with a tottaly different conversation. She could hear this one screaming already. Slowly, she opened the car's door and, without turning to the driver, started saying apologetically:
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see... I was distracted by something else... I didn't check the mirror. I'm really sorry"
"If there's someone who knows that you were distracted, that's me! The side part of my van is completely damaged, but I know that you can't pay for it because you're going through a finantial crisis and that you've got a husband and children to feed."
Laura stopped. That voice wasn't strange. The same voice echoed on her head once in a while, coming from memories from eleven years ago, when she was still a teenager. It was the voice she heard whenever she listened to that same CD she was listening that day. No, no it couldn't be. Not there, on that town, on that shopping mal, on that same parking lot... it couldn't be. Slowly she turned to face the driver. All of a sudden she felt all the colour coming off her face and all her weight upon her knees.
"Michael?.."
He seemed equally surprised.
"I'm sorry but... are you alright?"
"... it can't be."
She looked at him with a frightened and touched look, but suddenly she remembered everything and she knew immediately that she had no need to show any kind of drama to that man.
"Let go of me. I'll pay the damage I did to your car, just... let me go home."
She turned her back on him but, to her surprise, he came after her and grabbed her arm.
"Look here...", suddenly, his eyes stopped upon her hair, a shade of reddish-brown. No. He remembered it longer, wavy and golden. But yes, the similarities were clear, "... Laura?!"
"Ha. All this years I thought that maybe your highness and preponderance would've calmed down a bit, and I was starting to think I was wrong".
She got no answer. After some minutes, Michael decided to speak:
"Wanna go upstairs to drink some coffee, eat something?"
"No, I'm on my way out, as you may've realised."
"We'll go elsewhere, then. I have to talk to you, it's the first time I see you in eleven years, I can't afford to let it happen one more time."