LJ Idol: A Travelling Travesty
We sit on the ledge, kicking our legs to and fro. Jessie’s staring at the bright blue sky and I’m staring at the hollow of her throat.
She turns and I quickly jerk away, pretending to contemplate the sky.
“What are you thinking of right now, right this second?”
Jessie adores asking random questions. Rooms are never silent for long with her around.
I’m sure my ears are turning red. I certainly am not thinking of how kissable her throat is or how I want to run my fingers through her scarlet pixie cut.
Still watching the clouds, and noting that one looked particularly like a clown, I begin, “I’m thinking that I want to run. I want to run and never stop.”
“But you hate running,” she says with a smirk.
“Not that kind of running. Cars, buses, trains, metros, pogo sticks, you know, the same old deal.”
She looks at me like I’m crazy, but I know it’s just a front. She wants to run just as much as I do.
“I got money saved up,” I say, praying that she doesn’t ask me how much.
Of course she does.
I twist my lips in a guilty smile. “Three dollars and forty-two cents.”
There’s sadness in her eyes. “That won’t even get us past these gates.” She points at the wrought iron fence.
“We just need to jump the gates.”
“Don’t you think if it was that simple, everyone would have jumped the gates already?”
“They’re afraid.”
“Of the barbed wire and spikes? That’s not fear, that’s common sense.”
But I see her looking. I see her planning. “You know we can,” I say.
There’s a long pause as she tosses her head to the sky. I wonder what the clown looks like to her.
“Tomorrow,” she finally says. “And don’t you dare go without me.”
I beam. The clown cloud is dancing in the sky. I can barely wait for tomorrow. Distraction rules my thoughts in every class. I pay little mind to the guards moving us to and from rooms. ‘Tomorrow’ flirts with my mind and swarms the brain. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
The guards take us to our units. I curl up with my stuffed jaguar and dream of tomorrow.
And when tomorrow comes, Jessie’s not in class. She’s missing. Gone.
They’ve taken her away. And they're watching me. My guard is enforced. Leaving is not an option. Yesterday’s tomorrow disappears in a heartbeat.
There is no escape. There will be no travel. No running. No buses or trains or cars. No whimsical pogo sticks. And no more clouds that look like clowns.
In five years there will be another girl. She’ll look like Jessie in spirit. She’ll mention tomorrow and point out a cloud that looks like a fairy. She’ll say, ‘Look! She’s showing us the way out.”
And Jessie’s voice will scream in my mind, “Don’t you dare leave without me.”
-
Written for therealljidol
She turns and I quickly jerk away, pretending to contemplate the sky.
“What are you thinking of right now, right this second?”
Jessie adores asking random questions. Rooms are never silent for long with her around.
I’m sure my ears are turning red. I certainly am not thinking of how kissable her throat is or how I want to run my fingers through her scarlet pixie cut.
Still watching the clouds, and noting that one looked particularly like a clown, I begin, “I’m thinking that I want to run. I want to run and never stop.”
“But you hate running,” she says with a smirk.
“Not that kind of running. Cars, buses, trains, metros, pogo sticks, you know, the same old deal.”
She looks at me like I’m crazy, but I know it’s just a front. She wants to run just as much as I do.
“I got money saved up,” I say, praying that she doesn’t ask me how much.
Of course she does.
I twist my lips in a guilty smile. “Three dollars and forty-two cents.”
There’s sadness in her eyes. “That won’t even get us past these gates.” She points at the wrought iron fence.
“We just need to jump the gates.”
“Don’t you think if it was that simple, everyone would have jumped the gates already?”
“They’re afraid.”
“Of the barbed wire and spikes? That’s not fear, that’s common sense.”
But I see her looking. I see her planning. “You know we can,” I say.
There’s a long pause as she tosses her head to the sky. I wonder what the clown looks like to her.
“Tomorrow,” she finally says. “And don’t you dare go without me.”
I beam. The clown cloud is dancing in the sky. I can barely wait for tomorrow. Distraction rules my thoughts in every class. I pay little mind to the guards moving us to and from rooms. ‘Tomorrow’ flirts with my mind and swarms the brain. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
The guards take us to our units. I curl up with my stuffed jaguar and dream of tomorrow.
And when tomorrow comes, Jessie’s not in class. She’s missing. Gone.
They’ve taken her away. And they're watching me. My guard is enforced. Leaving is not an option. Yesterday’s tomorrow disappears in a heartbeat.
There is no escape. There will be no travel. No running. No buses or trains or cars. No whimsical pogo sticks. And no more clouds that look like clowns.
In five years there will be another girl. She’ll look like Jessie in spirit. She’ll mention tomorrow and point out a cloud that looks like a fairy. She’ll say, ‘Look! She’s showing us the way out.”
And Jessie’s voice will scream in my mind, “Don’t you dare leave without me.”
-
Written for therealljidol