The First Story: In the Begining
Title: In the Begining
Word Count: 2,944
Prompt: Begining
There were waterfalls. They didn’t say anything, I didn’t expect them to, but I knew they were watching. They were expectant, in a way that only waterfalls can be. I think it’s because they’re so immediate. They change every second of every day, there is no stopping or stalling. Even when the water runs slow they rush along. Waterfalls don’t wait for you, they just continue. So when I stood near the summit and looked down I could tell they were judging me. Let them. They earned that right.
It doesn’t take a lot to end up on a waterfall, but it seems like it as you go along. It only took one decision to bring me to mine. But I’m jumping way ahead; no story begins at a waterfall. The waterfall is the climax, the turning point. We’re going to have to go back, just a little. Two days ago, to be precise. That’s where this will begin. We know where it goes. I guess we’ll find out where it ends.
I am ordinary. I think I should state that at the very beginning here so that no one is confused. I am not famous, or beautiful, or even that interesting. There is nothing about me that would make you stand up and stare. I am atypical in many ways, but not the ways that get you on television. All in all I am just exactly what you’d expect. I’m 24, I’m mildly attractive, and I’ve never really done anything noteworthy. Yet. So I suppose you’re wondering why a story about me would be worth reading. Well, in my experience it’s the ordinary people who make the most extraordinary lies. You can take that however you want to, me, I’m going to pretend its deep and move on.
So, two days ago. It began normally enough. Wake up, get ready, find shoes that don’t smell bad and heigh ho off to work I go. Same as every day before it and, I could only assume, every day after. The bus was exactly three minutes late that morning, nothing new there. If the bus was ever on time I would probably miss it. So. Sitting on the 32X with my headphones on to detract from any unpleasant human interaction. Score. Hopped off on my stop, neat and tidy and nary a deviation from the routine.
I’d like to think that the pivotal moments in our lives are bright, that they stand out and shout and say “I AM SIGNIFICANT!” But the truth is that they don’t. They’re just like every other moment. It’s only when you look back that you see how that little thing is what brought you here in the first place. So. My moment. I was walking down the street, headphones still firmly in place, when I bumped into her. She wasn’t tall, or dark, or handsome. She wasn’t anything, really, but a middle aged woman clearly late for something or other. I apologized and she gave me a harried smile and that was it. My day continued, her day continued. End of story.
Flash forward to that night. There’s gum stuck on the bottom of my shoe and damned if I can get it off. The doorbell rings and I nearly trip over a pile of books trying to get to it. She’s standing there, soaking wet, smiling sheepishly.
“I need somewhere to stay tonight.” And she’s pushing her way into my apartment and settling herself down on my sofa like she’s been here before.
“Um, sorry, but, I don’t know who you are.”
“Of course you do. Do you have anything to eat?”
All I can do is stare at this woman sitting in my living room and pulling a tiny hair dryer out of her purse. Life is suddenly far too surreal.
“No, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I do.”
“We met this afternoon, remember? You bumped into me.”
And then I did. But that still didn’t explain what she was doing here.
“Yeah, right. But, sorry, did you follow me home?”
She laughed, a surprisingly deep sound for a woman who spoke like a chipmunk.
“No, of course not! I have your drivers licence.” She fished it out of her purse and held it up like this was normal. “It fell out of your pocket. So I picked it up.”
“Oh.” I took it from her, not sure if this made things better or worse.
“Don’t look so frightened. I’m not a creepy serial killer you know.”
“Okay. Well, that’s good. I guess.”
“Do you have any food or don’t you?”
I pointed vaguely in the direction of the kitchen and she stood, keeping her handbag clutched closely to her chest.
“Cheers. Do you want anything?”
I shook my head mutely and she walked briskly out of the room. I suddenly found myself sitting, though whether or not it had been a conscious decision was up for debate. What kind of person finds your driver’s licence and uses it to invite themselves over? I should really ask her to leave...
“You’ve got no food in this house, did you know that? I’ll go shopping in the morning.” She sat down beside me, a hardboiled egg tucked neatly between her fingers. “Where shall I sleep?”
This was the moment where I told her to get the Hell out...
“I’ve a guest room just down the hall. The sheets are clean.”
“Thanks.” She smiled at me, every single one of her teeth showing. And even though I knew it should have been creepy, it wasn’t. “I think I’ll turn in. Night.” She stood and walked toward the hall. “Oh, I’m Candace. By the way.”
“Stacy,” I replied without even thinking.
“I know. I found your driver’s licence, remember? Night.”
And she was gone. Well. It was alright, for one night. She didn’t seem like a psycho, and maybe she really did need some help. Besides, it was kind of nice, knowing there was someone else here for a change. I put my driver’s licence back in my bag and headed for bed.
I woke up to the smell of pancakes. I kept my eyes closed, thinking that sometime last night I teleported back in time and my mother would be in the kitchen wearing an apron and a smile... Then I remembered that even when she was alive my mother never wore aprons and if she had made pancakes they probably would have been toxic.
“Breakfast is ready!” Candace stood in my doorway looking like a throw back from some terrifying 1950’s catalogue, complete with June Cleaver hair do. “I made pancakes! I don’t think you have any syrup though.”
“Uh, probably not,” I said, still slightly groggy.
“Oh well. We’ll just have to have jam. Well, hurry up, get dressed! They’ll get cold!”
It took me a minute to find my feet, and another five to find anything clean to wear. By the time I made it out of my room there was a pile of dirty dishes in my sink and a stack of pancakes on my table.
“Go to it kid. There’s plenty more where that came from!”
She turned back to the stove, flipping another perfect flapjack onto the plate. I sat down and pulled the stack toward me, spearing three and setting them down in front of me.
“Jam is next to your elbow,” She told me.
I dug out a healthy dollop of raspberry and slathered my cakes with it. The first bite was amazing, it had probably been months since I’d eaten anything like it...
“I hope they’re alright.” She tossed two more pancakes onto the stack and sat down across from me. “The mix was at least six months old, but I couldn’t find anything else.”
“No,” I said around a mouthful. “They’re great.”
“Thanks. I used to be a chef, you know. I worked at this huge restaurant, really fancy place. We catered to the rich, snobby folks and the people trying to impress their dates. I did mostly deserts, but I always loved doing the breakfasts. We’d have these huge, all you can eat buffets. I loved watching what people took. You’d have these skinny, stuck up women who had clearly just had their arms done nibbling on fruit and stealing the bacon off their husbands plates the second they’d look away. And then you’d get the ones who would come alone. You know, the secret eaters who’d fill their plates five, six times. You knew they were there by themselves because they couldn’t bear for anyone to watch them. I used to be that way, a secret eater. I had all this food stashed all over my house, and when anyone was watching I’d eat all this healthy stuff, you know? And never too much. And then the second I was alone I’d eat like it was my last meal. No one could understand why I was so fat.” She laughed and put another piece of pancake in her mouth. “But you know what? I decided I didn’t have to be that way. I didn’t have to be ashamed of food. So I just started eating whatever I wanted in public, and you know, it helped. Pretty soon I was just eating enough.” She finished her stack and pushed the rest toward me. “Go on, eat them. You know you want to.”
I took another and was about to slather it with jam when my alarm went off.
“Shit! I’m going to miss my bus!”
I jumped up, reaching for my purse and running for the door. I stopped with my hand on the knob and looked back.
“Don’t worry,” She said, waving her hand airily. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Uh, well...”
She laughed.
“Don’t worry about leaving me alone here. I promise, everything will be fine.”
“The extra key is hidden in the flower pot next to the door,” I told her. Then I went to work.
The office seemed less monotonous that day. For some reason the coffee tasted better, and the paperwork seemed easier to get through. Everything just seemed to speed past, and before I knew it I was on the bus again heading home. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I walked in my front door, but my apartment was immaculate. I don’t think it had been that clean since the day I moved in. All my CDs were on the shelf next to my stereo, there weren’t any random articles of clothing on the floor, and something smelled heavenly.
“Hey, you’re home! I made tacos!” Candace popped back into the kitchen and I put my purse down beside the door. “Come on, they’re ready!” She called, her voice echoing in my clean, perfect living room.
She had cleaned my kitchen as well, every dish scrubbed and put away, the garbage taken out, and the table set with a bouquet of dandelions and those tiny daisies that grew in the grass in front of my complex.
“Did you have a good day?” She motioned toward a chair and I sat, toying with the origami swan she had made out of my napkin.
“Yeah, it was alright. Nothing special.”
“Oh come on!” She put a plate full of taco shells down on the table. “You can’t tell me nothing happened today!”
I shrugged.
“Well, Davis in accounting accused Sally from marketing of stealing his lunch again and she punched him in the face...”
“See, that’s pretty interesting after all, isn’t it!” She put a bowl of meat and a bowl of cheese down and sat across from me. “Dig in! I hope you like onions, I made the meat with some caramelized ones, and some mushrooms. I think that really brings out the flavour, don’t you?”
“Uh, I suppose so.” I took a shell and began filling it up.
“I think so. I think every good meal should begin with a well caramelized onion. There’s just something about them, you know? That’s how we always used to do it in my restaurant. People would sometimes say they didn’t like onions, but I would always bet them that if they tried mine they’d change their mind. The secret is too cook them too long you know. There’s this magic place somewhere between brown and burned, and if you can get them there then you’ve created the world’s most delicious food. Go on, try it.”
I did. The flavours exploded on my tongue, the sweet of the onion fighting with the spicy of the sauce.
“Oh my God, this is amazing!”
“Right? I’m telling you, onions. They’re the secret of the universe!”
I took another bite and closed my eyes.
“You like it, I can tell. Everyone likes my tacos. I’ve always said you can make more friends with food than with anything else. It’s one of life’s greatest pleasures. It’s a shame people always make such a big deal about it, like good food is a crime or something. It’s different in Paris. Everything is much more open there. People appreciate food, the finer things. That’s where I’ll go, I think. When I have the money. Paris. I just need a little more, I’m that close...”
“Candace.” She stopped talking, a taco halfway to her mouth.
“What is it sugar?”
“What are you doing here?”
She put her taco down.
“I told you. I needed a place to stay.”
“Yeah, I know. But... Why did you pick me? You don’t know anything about me!”
“You apologized when you bumped into me. Do you know how rare that is? I get run into on the street pretty much every day, but no one takes the time to apologize. The second you stopped I knew there was something special about you.”
I shook my head.
“No, there isn’t. There isn’t anything special about me at all.”
“Stacy, I don’t come stay with just anyone. “
I looked down at my plate, at the perfect food staring up at me.
“Do you ever feel like your entire life has been leading up to something? Like, every decision you make is taking you closer and closer to something so big, so important... But you have no idea what it is, and you think that if you could just catch a glimpse of it then everything would be so much better, but it’s always just out of sight, just around the corner...”
“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“What!” It looked at her, slightly stunned. “But, you just got here!”
“I can’t take advantage of you forever.”
“But, it’s not, I mean, you’re not...”
“You’re a sweet girl Stacy. And you’ve been very kind to me. I want you to have this.”
She handed me a tiny pin shaped like an angel. “She’s my little guardian. I think she’ll help you find what you’ve been looking for.” She stood. “Don’t worry about the dishes honey, I’ll do them in the morning before I leave.”
And she walked out of the kitchen.
I sat at the table and stared at the little pin. I’d seen things like it before, at drugstores and Wal-Mart. It was the kind of pin that had a little prayer attached to it or some cheesy saying. I’d always hated them. They seemed so fake to me, their cheap plastic jewels too shiny to be true. I put it in my pocket and went slowly up to bed.
The next morning the dishes were done, there were scrambled eggs on the stove, and Candace was gone. I sat at my table eating and wondering how I could miss someone I didn’t even know.
“Police! Open up in there!”
I scrambled to my feet and ran over to yank open the door.
“Hello Officer, how can I help you?”
He held up a picture of Candace.
“Do you know this woman?”
“Uh...”
“She’s been seen leaving this apartment. It’s very important for us to know where she’s gone. She’s wanted in several states.”
And so I found myself standing on the cliff looking down at the waterfalls all around me. It was so easy to get here, easy as bumping into someone on the street.
``Uh, yes. She was here."
The water rushed loudly past me, making it hard to hear anything else.
“Is she here now?”
“No.”
“Do you know where’s she’s gone?”
“No.”
“Ma’am, this is very important. She’s robbed over seventeen people. Ma’am?”
I stood on the edge and looked down. There were only two ways off of this waterfall, going back or jumping...
“No, I’m sorry. I don’t know anything.”
“Well, give me a call if you hear from her.” He gave me his card and walked away.
I walked over to the couch and opened my purse. I wasn’t surprised to find my wallet missing. I had a feeling if I looked in the coffee can above my sink that that would be empty too. I tore the officer’s card in half and threw it on the floor, then put the little pin safely in the zip up pocket in the back on my bag.
In the beginning there really wasn’t anything at all. No light, no air, nothing. But slowly, over time, things began to grow. The sun created itself, tiny particles attracting each other like the missing pieces of a puzzle. In the beginning there was no life, no water, no trees. But the earth created itself and fed off the glow of the sun. In the beginning there wasn’t anything worth talking about, or anything worth doing. But eventually there were waterfalls, and Paris.