April Challenge
My internet has been dead since last night so I'm posting this from the library. So sorry for being a little rushed, we only get 15 minutes (there's two people glaring at me right now waiting their turn, 0|0). Here's my entry for the challenge.
The Promise
"Ten minutes Mr. Kirkpatrick."
"Okay, thanks."
Chris turned back to the mirror, this time carefully aligning each button to it's rightful hole. Finishing the task, correctly this time, he tucked his shirt into his pants and started rooting around in his travel bag for the case his cufflinks were in.
So far so good. Geez, when's the last time I wore cufflinks... Oh. Right.
Looking up at the mirror, he searched his own eyes for any sign of the emptyness he had been hiding there for so many years.
Still good. Just a little longer and I'll have kept my promise.
His hand curled around the hard shape of the cufflink case.
"Gotcha."
Flipping the lid open, he caught his breath, sighed. One finger stretched out to nudge the string of shiny pink beads that were tangled inside. His mind wandered back, to a dollar store somewhere in the mid-west.
It was one of those jumbo sized ones, warehouse big and stuffed from floor to ceiling with every item you could possibly think of... and then some you would have never thought of. He had been searching the place for almost twenty minutes now and was getting annoyed.
"Where the hell... oh for Pete's sake!"
Chris finally spotted him, intently hunched over a display rack in the makeup department.
"There you are. I shoulda known you'd be in the womens section." Chris smirked. The grinning face that turned to him wasn't the least bit fazed by his comment, which oddly both irked and pleased Chris at the same time.
"Look at these!" A handful of shiny, colorful, beaded bracelets were waved under his nose.
"They're Chinese Healing Bracelets! See here? It says that the different stones can help with different ailments. I think I'm gonna get..."
Anyone else and Chris would be having the time of his life ridiculing them for being so gullable. Not him though. His enthusiasm was just so damn infectious! His smile, too real.
"Whoa, wait a minute. Your not getting that one are you?!"
"Um, yeah."
"Why! Why not get that blue one?"
The eyes staring at him didn't even blink.
"Because the blue one is for arthritis. I don't have arthritis. This one helps with circulation, which I think you'll agree I need."
Chris stared at the pink beads and sighed. Of course it does.
"Fine. Come on."
Chris quietly slipped the bracelet over his hand, remembering the last words whispered from a hospital bed.
"Live life for me."
He blinked, swallowed.
"I did. Just the way you would have."
There was a knock at the door, then it was opened.
"We need you now Mr. Kirkpatrick."
"Okay."
As he walked through the door of the dressing room and into the backstage area, he could hear Bono's voice from the stage.
"...a multi-platinum selling performer, writer, and producer, it is my great honor to present Chris Kirkpatrick with the highest honor the recording industry can bestow..."
Chris managed a small smile.
A promise is a promise. We did it JC.
The Promise
"Ten minutes Mr. Kirkpatrick."
"Okay, thanks."
Chris turned back to the mirror, this time carefully aligning each button to it's rightful hole. Finishing the task, correctly this time, he tucked his shirt into his pants and started rooting around in his travel bag for the case his cufflinks were in.
So far so good. Geez, when's the last time I wore cufflinks... Oh. Right.
Looking up at the mirror, he searched his own eyes for any sign of the emptyness he had been hiding there for so many years.
Still good. Just a little longer and I'll have kept my promise.
His hand curled around the hard shape of the cufflink case.
"Gotcha."
Flipping the lid open, he caught his breath, sighed. One finger stretched out to nudge the string of shiny pink beads that were tangled inside. His mind wandered back, to a dollar store somewhere in the mid-west.
It was one of those jumbo sized ones, warehouse big and stuffed from floor to ceiling with every item you could possibly think of... and then some you would have never thought of. He had been searching the place for almost twenty minutes now and was getting annoyed.
"Where the hell... oh for Pete's sake!"
Chris finally spotted him, intently hunched over a display rack in the makeup department.
"There you are. I shoulda known you'd be in the womens section." Chris smirked. The grinning face that turned to him wasn't the least bit fazed by his comment, which oddly both irked and pleased Chris at the same time.
"Look at these!" A handful of shiny, colorful, beaded bracelets were waved under his nose.
"They're Chinese Healing Bracelets! See here? It says that the different stones can help with different ailments. I think I'm gonna get..."
Anyone else and Chris would be having the time of his life ridiculing them for being so gullable. Not him though. His enthusiasm was just so damn infectious! His smile, too real.
"Whoa, wait a minute. Your not getting that one are you?!"
"Um, yeah."
"Why! Why not get that blue one?"
The eyes staring at him didn't even blink.
"Because the blue one is for arthritis. I don't have arthritis. This one helps with circulation, which I think you'll agree I need."
Chris stared at the pink beads and sighed. Of course it does.
"Fine. Come on."
Chris quietly slipped the bracelet over his hand, remembering the last words whispered from a hospital bed.
"Live life for me."
He blinked, swallowed.
"I did. Just the way you would have."
There was a knock at the door, then it was opened.
"We need you now Mr. Kirkpatrick."
"Okay."
As he walked through the door of the dressing room and into the backstage area, he could hear Bono's voice from the stage.
"...a multi-platinum selling performer, writer, and producer, it is my great honor to present Chris Kirkpatrick with the highest honor the recording industry can bestow..."
Chris managed a small smile.
A promise is a promise. We did it JC.