The Night's Burden

Issac Fielder's night at the ball before everybody else goes on with their separate lives in college.

I’m telling you the back table is pretty nice, not too many people keep waltzing around here. Not too much noise and the dance lights aren't blinding us. I like this sort of atmosphere, Holly really likes it too. You know just being on the sidelines looking at other people dance their butts off all night. I'm pretty fine doing nothing with her and just keep drinking this punch Edward Shepherd improved a few minutes before the graduation ball started; this is really good I tell you, and he's gonna be some fancy bartender he told me. Holly, however, hasn't touched hers. She kept spinning the glass on her hand like one of those clay on our pottery class.

"Hey look at August Sanders, on the corner, she's puking right now," I told her but she just curved her lips into some sort of soulless smile, usually the thought of somebody puking really cracks her up, she's got weird humor like that. I told her what's wrong but she wasn't listening and continued molding the glass, which is really weird, she never liked our pottery class; the only class she's never good at.

"Happy Holly, are you there?" I told her much louder and finally, she looked at me.

"Yeah, I'm here," she said.

"Good. Wanna talk about something?"

"Nah. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, don't talk. Let's just go outside for fresh air. But first, are you drinking that?"

"Yeah, sure."

Holly and I sat down on one of the benches out in the front lawn. Lights from the lamp posts emanate the street-like mood around us even though we're perched atop of a hill far away from the city. The breeze keeps coming back from time to time giving the trees a bit of a sway. And the city looks like a huge clump of light from this far up. We were quiet for a few minutes while she was leaning on my shoulder the whole time. I wasn't able to take one sip of Edward's finest, but that's fine.

"Hey Issac, how'd you feel about all of this?" she finally broke the silence.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She said sitting straight back up, "I mean, you know, leaving all of this. We're all going college right?"

I took a sip and just savored it for a moment. It's really good. Holly with nothing on her hand anymore just rubs it back and forth. I'm really worried about her. Not the usual Happy Holly I know.

"Well, I don't know, to be honest. I've never really made any life-changing contribution to be nostalgic in all of this. But you, you're talented. Most of the talent this small city has is you." I said after I finished the punch.

"I know I'm going to stay here. But I dunno. You're going to a five-hour-drive college and me staying here is pretty fine I guess."

"Yeah. You know I went war with my parents about that decision, and I was pretty certain that I'm still going there even though it's against their will. But I dunno too, I've been thinking about it really hard."

"I've got to tell you this Issac, my parents got me this Physics scholarship in Japan."

"When's that happened, Holly?"

"A few days ago."

"Why didn't you tell me? But Holly, I was gonna say this to you. I'm gonna stay here with you. I gave it up, I told my parents about it that I wasn't going anymore. They were happy, and I'm sort of happy with it too." I said clenching the empty glass with both my hands.

"I wouldn't want them to be disappointed, Issac. I don't really wanna go." Said Holly, looking down below.

"Holly, don't be like that. Don't ditch me."

"What do you mean? I'm not ditching you. And besides, you were gonna leave me first." Holly's voice started to change.

"So what? You're blaming me for it? Is that it?"

"You know I'm not. You know my parents," She can't hold it anymore, she started crying. "I need to do this."

"See, wake up Holly, and stop being a tool. Stop being bossed around." I said.

"Are you hearing yourself right now? You're the one doing it right now!"

"No. Listen. Listen to me, Holly." I stood up.

"I'm going home!" Holly ran across the lawn and into the parking lot out on the back; I heard her car engine starting.

I sat back down for a few minutes outside and eventually went back in. I saw Vince Hedgecomb on the food table, he's hoarding all the crackers, chips, and drinking Edward's good stuff. He's one of the guys that are good at playing chess, really good at making strategies. But it doesn't work on girls though.

"Hey, Fielder."

"Yeah. Good right?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Edward, he made it. You should thank him."

"Yeah, right. No thanks to that bully," He said while taking a sip off his glass. "Aren't you with Holly a few minutes ago? Would you mind if I dance with her?"

"Yeah, sure, you're very welcome to do so. But she went home though." I filled my glass with the good stuff again and nabbed the last chips on the bowl before Vince got them all. "Wanna dance with me?"

"Okay, I better get going."

"That's a relief."

I wasn't planning on staying here all night. But Holly left and I got no one to ride home to. I kept the punch bowl all to myself and I kept drinking until all of it was gone. And Like any sane enough drunk, I went down the hill and tried walking back to the city when Mr. Carlson, our Science teacher saw me with his silver Toyota zooming down the road.

"Hey, Mr. Fielder, Where are you going?" he said.

"Walking home, I guess," I replied.

"Get in here. Are you drunk?"

"Sure. Why not. I dunno," Mr. Carlson opened the door and I went inside. "Holly and I had a fight."

"That's why she left early right?"

"Yep." I was getting sleepy, but I wouldn't want to sleep. Not until I get to my own bed.

"How much did you drink? Who made the punch bowl?"

"Some of it. Edward. He's really good at making that stuff."

"Huh, I never noticed."

"Yeah. I mean, people don't really notice anything, do they? Some people are really good at Math right? And those who aren't, are good at something else. You know the people that are really good at anything, they show it, or at least everybody just knows about it. But some people don't know they're good at something, and when they know, they hide it; they still keep hiding in tall grass," I said leaning on the car window. "They try to keep it to themselves."

"How about you Mr. Fielder, which are you of those people?"

"Me? Yeah right. I don't do anything, I'm just the guy that knows people are good at something. I hate it."

"Why'd you say that?"

"I'm jealous of everyone alright. Everyone that's good at something. Holly Sayes is just really good at maths and everything, except pottery you know. Everybody knows that. Edward Shepherd's a bully but he can make a really mean drink. Can everyone really make a mean drink? I know he's good at it, but nobody knows he made that drink. Another is August Sanders, she pukes a lot, but she's really good at dancing, she's a talent right? Vince Hedgecomb, the fat kid. He's a real winner compared to me; chess might not be the sexiest sport but he's won medals right? And you, the cool teacher, everybody likes you, everybody respects you."

"Maybe you're good at something. You said it yourself, 'Some still keep hiding on tall grass.' Maybe you're still hiding." Said Mr. Carlson.

"Yeah, I mean, let's go with that," I said. "I haven't really done anything"

"How should I know, it's up to you right?" he said.

I told Mr. Carlson to drop me off the cul-de-sac near the door. It's hard to tell when you're drunk but it was a short ride since I covered most of the distance myself.

"Thanks for the ride. I'll be going now."

"Issac, listen." Mr. Carlson took my hand before I could leave the car. "This isn't your house is it?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm the cool teacher remember? And this is not cool." He was staring at me and I wasn't able to move for a few seconds.

"Nope. It's Holly's. I'm going in there. I gotta tell her I'm sorry," taking my arm back.

I walked into the door. Just like any other night, I thought her parents wouldn't be here. I would just like to say sorry to her and that I wasn't thinking straight. That's all I wanted her to know.

I knocked on the door with three bangs, "Holly! I need to talk to you. I'm sorry."

"Issac, don't do it." Mr. Carlson left the car and went after me, I wasn't listening to him.

I knocked again, "Holly, can you hear me? I said I'm sorry."

"Issac, listen. Stop it! You'll make it worse. You had a fight with her. She needs to be alone. If you don't respect that, then you're not good for her. If you knock again, it'll just prove your point that you really are a good-for-nothing."

My tears started to fall as I sat down and leaned my back on the door, "Yeah, let's go home."

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think. I'd really appreciate your reviews. Thanks.

Reviews

[L]

Will you write the rest of it?
This is so relatable. Reminds me of my senior year of high school, almost 4 years ago.