Heart

A little something I made for English class, emphasizing empathy and emotion, talking about something that I'm passionate about: Music! <3

   Life kind of sucked for me. I was just… bored. Like…. Everyone I knew had some talent, something they could make money off of, and live their life. Me, on the other hand… well, I had nothing. I could sing, but only half decently. I was just so lost, so done with life… I had nothing to really live for.

 

          Just when I was about to give up, I saw one of those street performers, you know? Like in New York, how they line the streets, playing music and juggling and things. This one, even though he probably had no idea, gave me hope again.

 

          I was walking along the pier, in California. I didn’t live there, I was visiting for a week. I was crying.

My mom didn’t see it, she was in some restaurant and left me outside. I just… kind of…. Cried. Alone.

Then this guy came and sat a little away from me. He looked like your typical hobo, tattered and poor, probably hungry. He pulled out a small little guitar that was just as beaten up as he was and started to play.

 

          I didn’t know the song, but it gave me so much hope.  I don’t know why… He was so beaten up, so poor, so deathly looking, but his voice was incredible. He sounded choir worthy. One lyric of the song, though, really hit me.

 

     Keep on dreaming' even if it breaks your heart.

 

 

          I talked to him a bit, afterwards. I told him my story. Thanked him. Somewhere along the line, I remember being asked if I wanted to learn how to sing. I said yes. Every day for that week I came by, and I brought him food and money and other things. He, in return, taught me how to sing.

 

          One day, I remember him saying "no matter if you sing loud or soft, you have a voice." another day he said, "everyone has a voice, but no one has your voice." he was full of inspiration, he really was.

On the last day, he said, "I'm sorry I have nothing to give you in return for the things you've given me." I said, "it's no problem. You've given me hope, and that's more than enough." he said, "im glad. You've given me hope too. Come back soon."

 

          I said I would. He then gave me a piece of paper he said not to open until I was at home, in bed, about to go to sleep. I waited. I kept it in my pocket, thinking about it the entire time.

When I got home, and I went to bed, and I was about to sleep, I looked at it.

You know what it said?

 

     Dear singer,

          I'm glad I gave you hope. I want you to know something important. I have a terminal disease. I'll be gone in a month. But before I died, I got to meet you. I regained hope to live. I'm getting surgery to recover, and if all goes well, I'll live to see another year or two. I got to see your voice, in a matter of a week, become incredible. More so than it already was. I hope when you're famous (since I know you will be) you remember the things I've said. Most of all, I want you to remember this.

 

     Keep on dreamin' even if it breaks your heart.

 

          I went back to California. I couldn’t stay away. I didn’t know his name, I knew nothing at all. But I had to know if he was okay. I found the hospital he was at. I found his room. He was unidentified. I stood outside the window. A doctor came by and asked if I knew him. I said yeah, I did.

 

          He said he wouldn’t survive. He asked me my name, and I gave it. He said the man had asked to give his last words to me if I ever came.  Tears started to form in my eyes, little by little. I entered the room he was staying in, with the doctor. I sat by the bed and held his hand. It was freezing cold.

His eyes opened. He was clearly straining to even stay awake. But he did it. I leaned as close as I could and listened carefully. He said nothing for a long while.  He finally spoke.

 

          As I exited that room after his eyes closed for the last time, I cried. I walked along the hallways towards the exit feeling both empty and valued.

I'm sure you can guess what he said.

 

 

Keep on dreaming even if it breaks your heart.

Author's Note

Hmm... Plotholes. Logic fallacies. Not my best planned, it would never ever happen, but... I'm proud of it for a first attempt. <3