Scattered Things of Dark Mavis

I guess I'm a pretty intense writer when it comes to prose. I never mean for that to happen but it always does.

 

Standing in Grey Lantern Lights, Mavis was looking sexy in her dress that night.  All my insecurities disappeared as she saw me enter the bar.  She gave me that childish grin of hers.  With her look, I could tell she thought I looked hot that night.  I did my best to flaunt it.  After I got up from tripping over the chair that I failed to see, it wasn’t very easy to try to keep my cool and smooth walk.  Some guy in the bar busting out in laughter at my expense sort of dampened my coolness also.  But Mavis wasn’t surprised at me anymore.  Her childish grin became a big smile, and we walked to a table.

            “Have you been here long?” I asked her as we were sitting down.

            “Not too long.  Only a couple of guys had a chance to offer me a drink.”

            “And a lady can’t refuse an offer from a gentleman.”

            With a little coy smile and batting eye lashes, she said, “Oh, of course not.  A woman has to keep the gentlemen happy.”

            “I guess I should thank them.  They gave me a head start.  Now I won’t have to buy you as many drinks before you get smashed off your gourd and I can do as I please with you.”

            “Yeah right.  You couldn’t ever do anything like that to me.  You’re too sweet to do something like that.”

            “No I’m not.  I’m a barbaric animal.  I will have my way with my women.”

            “Ha ha.  I would like to see you really try to be that kind of guy once.  It would be a real hoot.”

            “No, you don’t.  I can be really mean if I want to.”

            “Uh-huh.  Sure,” said Mavis as she rolled her eyes.

            I gave her this pathetically fake mean face and said, “Grrrr.  See I’m mean.  Don’t mess with me.”

            Mavis started laughing even harder at this and said, “Oh, don’t hurt me Mr. Meanman.  I’m just a poor innocent little girl.  I don’t mean you any harm.”

            “Just do as I say, and you’ll be fine, missy.”

            “Yes sir.  I don’t want any trouble sir.”

            Mavis saw me bust out in laughter and immediately responded with, “Ha, see I told you.  You can’t be mean.  You’re far too sweet.”

            “Yeah, I guess you just know me too well.”

            She leaned across the table, gave me a soft kiss, and said, “It’s ok.  I love you the way you are.”

            We sat in silence for a little bit.  We just held each other’s hands and looked at each other.  Then I put one of my hands under her chin to pull her back to me and gave her a long passionate kiss that ended with the whispered words, “I love you Mavis.”

 

            Every time I go by that bar, I always think of that night.  I don’t remember if that was the first time I ever told her that I was in love with her, but it was definitely one of the first and the most meaningful one in my book.  That night was just so incredible.

            I’m in a wide open space.  I’m standing.  I’m all alone and staring into space.  The stars are even out tonight.  I’m glad I wore my heavy coat tonight because it’s colder than usual.  I don’t know why I go on these walks at these hours in the middle of winter.  I just want to disappear for a little while.  I’m just asking to get sick because of these walks though.  Oh well, they do calm me down some.  I guess that’s why I take them.

I wish that McDonald’s was open right now so I could get some coffee.  I’m starting to get cold.

 

            “Are you ready?” asked Chad with a playfully evil voice.

            “As ready as I will ever be.”

            “All right, lets go.”

            We jumped out of her navy blue Geo and proceeded to walk into McDonald’s.  She walked in acting as if she was a blind lady.  She had one of those cane things for blind people and everything.  I walked in like it was no big deal that she was blind.  I acted as if I was her brother or something.  The people at the counter didn’t really think anything of the fact that she was blind or pretending to be.  I think they just assumed she was.  We then proceeded to a somewhat populated area of the restaurant and sat down.

            I wasn’t quite halfway done with my Quarter Pounder when I got up and said to the guy sitting beside me, “Excuse me.  I’m sorry.  I need to go to the bathroom, and Maryanne here doesn’t like to be alone.  So could you watch over her for a little bit?”

            “Sure.  No problem,” says the man with the Jeff Gordon hat on.

            I quietly walked off to the bathroom.  The guy with the Jeff Gordon hat proceeded to eat his Big Mac and didn’t take one glance over to see if “Maryanne” was OK.  Seeing her que, she started to ask for “Chuck.”  She gradually got louder and louder.  Then she stood up and started yelling my name.  She became more and more hysterical.  She started to swing her cane around.  She knocked all our stuff off our table.  Then a chair was knocked down.  Then the trash that wasn’t thrown away on another table was slapped to the floor.  As the seconds ticked on, she became more hysterical and began to trash the place even more.  She was so hysterical that neither the guy with the Jeff Gordon hat or any of the employees wanted to get near her because she was swinging a stick around like crazy. 

I eventually came out and saw the mess that was made while I was gone and asked the Jeff Gordon hat guy, “What happened?  I asked you to look after her for like two seconds.”

Soon after that we made our exit from McDonald’s.  The whole way back to her place, she was telling me every little detail of what just went down.  I had to get her to watch the road and quit laughing so hard more than once on the way back.

 

Graham crackers were stuck in between my teeth when out of nowhere I told Mavis, “If I ever live again, I wish I could be you.”

“Take it easy, Chicken.  I’m not all that great of a person.  I have problems like everybody else,” she said in response.

“But you’re such a strong person.  You’re a lot stronger than me.  I’m a freaking wuss.”

“Come on.  You’re not a wuss.  You can be very strong too,” she said.  There was a long pause then she giggled and asked, “So, what would you do if you were me?”

“I would grab a six pack, put on a football game, and play with my boobies all night.”

I proceeded to finish reading “The Mill on the Floss” by George Eliot after that.  At one point Mavis came over and looked to see who I was reading.  I had to laugh a little when she asked if he was a good author.  I told her that yes, SHE is a good writer.

 

Well, here I am back at her house.  I need to be careful not to make any tracks in the mud that she would readily notice that it was me who made them.  Hmmm, the side window is locked this time.  I wonder why that is.

I loved to sit in that chair over there and have her sit on my lap.  Watching a rented movie like that was the best.  I don’t know.  Did I feel love or just possession?  Whatever it was, it felt really good.

I wonder why she’s not home right now.  Maybe she went to see her whacked out mom.  I never did like her mom.  She was always so happy.  She was way too happy.  It was weird.  I think she’s taking heroin or something, or she’s crazy.  No sane person is ever that happy that much.  Whatever reason it is that she’s not here sucks.  I just wanted to see her face.  I just wanted to watch her do those everyday little things.  Simple things, like fold towels. 

 

Intricately I folded the tube of toothpaste, like I do, so that I can get all the toothpaste out as possible. 

All of the sudden Mavis said, “Why do you have to do that?”

“What?”

“That s**t with the tube of toothpaste.”

“I’m just trying to get all the toothpaste out.”

“Well, quit it.  It’s annoying,” she said as she walked out of the bathroom and climbed into her bed.

Once I was finished flossing, I climbed into bed too and went to kiss her goodnight.  As I started to kiss her, she moved onto her side away from me so that I couldn’t kiss her.

“What’s wrong?”

“You keep annoying me.  I’m trying to go to sleep, and you are trying to get gushy with me.”

“No I’m not.  I’m just trying to kiss you goodnight.”

“Whatever.”

“Fine, I won’t bother you with a kiss good night,” I said as I turned myself away from her and went to bed for the first time in a long time without a kiss goodnight.

 

I never did like that bed.  It was really uncomfortable.  My back would always hurt in the morning after sleeping on that bed.

Well, now it’s really getting late.  I should start walking back home.

 

“I’m sick of all this scratching around,” said Mavis.

“You’re the one who always starts it.”

“Well, if you weren’t so God damn annoying then I wouldn’t have to.”

“Oh, whatever.  I’m not annoying.”

“Please!  You are an obsessive freak.  You have to have everything just right, or all hell breaks loose.”

“I like things done a certain way.  Is there something wrong with that?”

“Yes, when I can’t do anything without you bitching.”

I paused here for a little bit.  I didn’t know what to say.  She was pretty much right.

“I just want the Chad who loved me.”

“I’m right here.”

“No, it’s not the same now.  Things have changed.”

“What do you mean?”
            “Chad,” said Mavis, “I don’t love you anymore.”

“Don’t say that sort of thing, Mavis.  I don’t know if I can handle it.  All I want to do in life is make you happy.”

“You’ll never get to Heaven with a smile on your face for me.”

I sat dumbfounded for I don’t know how long.  I couldn’t believe she was saying all this.  She really wanted to get out of this relationship.

“So where do we go?  Who do we trust?  Who do we see?” I said.  I wasn’t really asking her.  I was just sort of asking in general.

“You know what?  I don’t really care what you do as long as you do it without me.  Could you please leave?”

“Mavis?”

“Did I stutter?  I don’t love you anymore.  You annoy the hell out of me.  Just leave me alone.”

I don’t remember if I could hear her slam the door shut.  The crashing of my heart was too loud to hear anything else.

 

Getting home, and all I want to do is write a letter.  This may sound completely cheesy, but I want to write one to her.  Maybe if I write this letter, then she’ll come back to me.  Anyway, here I go.

 

Dear Mavis,

I’m compelled to write this letter in the hope that you soon be getting better.  I’ve a feeling you should go and see a doctor.  If you haven’t, then you know you really oughta.  I mean this with all the love in my heart, you should see a psychiatrist.  It’s OK to love me.  You don’t have to push me away like that.  Maybe seeing a psychiatrist will help you see that. 

I hope you’ve changed the way you think.  I hope you’ve changed the clothes you wear.  I hope that you regret those things you said.  I hope in time that things will change.

Best Wishes,

                                    Chad

 

This will get her back.  I’m sure of it.  I can’t wait to watch her face light up when she reads this letter in that chair we would watch movies in.

Reviews

[Tony]

Isnt it sad when familiarity breeds contempt? Why cant we just always always get on fine with those we love.
Why wont they just listen to us? why wont they Change Those annoying little things that annoy us so.
Great story.

[Mokey]

Very nice use of flashbacks and time lines! One important thing to remember is that we need to be in your character's head as much as possible. Sometimes it's difficult to see how he's feeling or what he's thinking, and that removes a lot of the emotion of the story. That's something I struggle with all the time! :) Another question is: is it meant to sound offensive when he suggests she visit a psychiatrist? It comes across a little in-your-face, when I don't think it needs to be. Again, I think if, during dialogue, for instance, we can see more of the MC's emotions and physical movements, we will understand more of his overall feelings. :) Nice job!