a Scene

 

A Scene,

 

The car slowed as they reached the top, “Where should I park?” he asked,

“Right there in front of the gate”

“The gate with the sign that says please don’t park in front of the gate?”

“That’s the one.” He shook his head but parked there anyway, noting the glint of mischief in her eyes.

“Sam Holden a rule breaker, I like it” he teased. “So what now?” he asked as the sound of the car doors closing disturbed the absolute silence that surrounded them.

“Follow me” she started walking in the opposite direction to the edge.

“Um Sam, not sure if you’re aware but the view seems better that way”

“Just trust me”

“Is this the part where you reveal your true identity, and start performing some cult sacrifice by burning me alive on top of a mountain?” she laughed and shook her head,

“Thomas Reed; the sceptical one. Hope you’re not afraid of heights”

“Why would I have agreed to escort you up a mountain if I was afraid of heights?”

“So you’re my escort now? You hussy.”

“Hey I’m the classy type though.”

“Oh yes that makes your choice of profession much more admirable.”

“Oh no” he said, seeing her standing at the bottom of the metal tower, her one foot already on the first rung of the ladder up its side, a daring look in her eyes.

“Scared?” she asked raising an eyebrow, and then she turned her back and started to pull herself up rung by rung.

“Sam no, that doesn’t look, particularly safe” he hesitated, but she just laughed and carried on climbing steadily. “D****t, Sam.” He exclaimed as he gave up and began hauling himself up the ladder, wearily checking the stability of each rung under foot.

Reaching the top, she stood holding on the rail that surrounded the tiny, circular platform, unable to hold back a smile as she watched him pull himself up beside her, dark hair tousled in the wind and grey eyes wary. ”See, not so bad” although his look, and the fact that his knuckles were turning white holding onto the railing, told her something different. She laughed but showed him some sympathy by bumping his elbow with hers.

They stood like that, shoulder to shoulder not saying anything at first, hair whipping in the wind, looking down at the town that had been home forever. Familiarity, it was the danger of small towns, the comfort was addictive, making leaving feel like a tearing sensation, as if your body was experiencing a force of inertia so strong that each cell strained against turning in any new and unfamiliar direction.

His voice broke the silence first, “what if there isn’t a plan. What if our so called destiny was just created by a guy randomly splashing paint on the floor around him with absolutely no subject matter in mind?”

“Did you really just compare God to Jackson Pollock?”

“Think about it though, what if there’s no greater purpose, we’re all just here like meaningless marks on a canvas.”

“Okay first of all; that was an extremely critical analysis of Pollock’s work, and secondly I’d like to think of life as more of a Mona Lisa than a Full Fathom Five”

“So God’s a Da Vinci then?”

“It’s a nice thought, I don’t think he’s as arrogant though.”

“Let’s hope not.” He smiled.

“So what’s with the sudden outburst of negative outlook on life?” She asked.

“Maybe it’s the new perspective from up here.”

“It does make you think doesn’t it?”

“It almost forces you to.”

They were quiet for a while, lost in their own thoughts.

“Where will you go?” He asked.

“Away from here.”

“Not far though.”

“How’d you guess?”

“It’s the look in your eyes, almost frightened, it gave you away.”

“Guilty as charged.” She admitted. ”What about you?”

“I have no idea.”

She turned to him, “so you spend time wondering over where we came from instead of thinking about the future?”

“I think about it, I just haven’t figured out a plan.”

“But you’ll leave?”

“Yup.”

“Far?”

“As far as I can get.”

She smiled knowingly.

“But you knew that of course, what was it, the absence of fear in my confident gaze?” He grinned, his teeth bright, even against his pale skin, he seemed to be adjusting to the extreme height and looked a lot more relaxed.

“No, it was more a look of desperation to get away from it all.”

He smirked, his smile faltering a bit, and turned instead to gaze at the mapped out roads criss-crossing the chessboard of neighbourhoods. She turned, and leaning back over the railing, let her shoulder length hair hang down her eyes closed. He studied her then, watching how her long, dark eyelashes brushed against her freckled cheeks, she wasn’t the demanding type of beautiful, but the more you looked at her the more you noticed the subtle things that set her apart from the rest, almost bold in the way she refused to be anything like the girls in our town. She was from another world though, she had already gotten away from the strangling ties of small town life, she just hadn’t realised it yet.

They drove down the mountain, the sounds of some new band that she’d discovered filtering through the speakers, his eyes fixed on the winding 4km road ahead and hers through the side window at the too dry veld bordered by pine trees, even those alien water thieves seemed to be struggling against the drought. She felt at ease though, which was strange, she didn’t have the panicky feeling rising in her chest like when she was desperately searching for something to say, even an off-hand comment on the weather. It was refreshing to just be silent, too many people rattled on about nothing, just for the sake of talking, not because they actually had something worthwhile to say.

“I should check if my mom needs any help at the store.” He said as they drove past the collection of signs advertising places to stay that hinted at the beginning of a town, “Do you mind if I just drop you at home?”

“No that’s really fine, just drop me at the turnoff here, I feel like a walk.”

He pulled the car off to the side and as she jumped out she turned to him, “Hey, I had fun today, thank you”

He smiled, “Me too, anytime you need an escort,”

“I’ll make sure to call you.” she finished for him, “Bye Tom.”

“Bye Sam.” She closed the door smiling at him through the car window and started walking down her road. He watched her go, an averagely tall figure with average length, dark brown hair, and couldn’t help but think that there was nothing average about that girl.

Author's Note

Not sure where this would fit in but i had an idea and decided to write it down before i lost it. Let me know what i should change i know it needs a lot of work.