Destiny’s Story

by Louis Ryan, Wanniassa School

“The new year’s celebration was silent as it marked the year of 79n868E. This was apparently the year the sun’s interwork would align. We knew this would happen. Now we just needed to wait; the sun’s solar seismic beam would wipe us all out anyway. We were helpless. All the space crusaders had long left and not many people remained. Fortuna the widow and our neighbour did stay. She wanted to die in the house that her dead husband had built for her. She was shrouded in her love for the house. However, it was old and dilapidated; it was almost rubble.

I needed to check if someone was still here, the girl of my dreams, Sylvia. She was the most beautiful person to grace the Earth. Her natural skin radiated from the dark walls and her red lips blossomed like flowers, if such things still existed. Her turquoise eyes looked so beautiful but most important of all was her brown hair. It was the colour of an old oak tree, if the history class was correct. We can only speculate.

I found a lone hill in the golden colours of the afternoon; the interwork was almost in alignment. I sat on the nearest rock and waited. There wasn’t anything I could do. We had three units until alignment so I waited. I spotted Sylvia thirty-four steps behind me, or so my glasses said. I walked towards her, and she walked towards me. I invited her to sit with me; she never had before. She looked out at the sunset and asked me if I thought there was life after death.

This was my moment, my time to tell her we would be together forever, but I just said, “I don’t know.”

She responded, “Do you think we will remember anything when we wake up tomorrow?”

I couldn’t mess up again. I told her I could never forget her, no matter what came next.

***

“Yo, Joel. Joel c’mon, stop writing that stupid thing and get moving. We’ve got class,” said Wyatt breaking my train of thought while writing another one of my stories.

”Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just let me finish it off.”

“Nah bro, what does that thing even say?”

“Nothing major.”

“Come on man, show me.”

“No!”

“Give me the damn paper or else I will tell everyone your secret.”

“No Wyatt, come on.”

“3-2-…”

“Fine, read it.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. Man, chill out for Sylvia. She has a boyfriend and she really will never go for you. Think about it, you aren’t the best-looking kid so you don’t get girlfriends.”

“Please keep this a secret.”

“I’m telling Sylvia.”

“No man, please.”

“No can-do, chief.”

Wyatt pushed his way past the other classmates. My legs started pounding and wind rushed through my hair. Every stride was fuelled by anger and hate. My eyes glared at people as I ran past them. My throat was rasping for air; however, I didn’t stop. I ran for a while then stopped after I saw something in the window. It was Sylvia. She looked down at me and then something made her turn; Wyatt had made it to her, had given her a note and ran off. She looked down at me, but before I could think, my legs started running again.

A few moments later I realised I was no longer running. Something inside me had changed. I thought about the story. What would the ending be? And then I hit the ground. The impact rattled my bones. Everything went fuzzy but I could see someone in the distance. Was it her? As the person neared, I finally realised who they were. They helped me up. I thanked them and they put my glasses back on. It really was her. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I wanted to ask you something,” she replied.

“Yeah, go ahead.”  I already had a good idea of what she was going to ask.

The next moment shocked me. “Hey, I just want to check, can I read the story?”

“Actually, I haven’t finished it.”

“Do you mind if I finish the story? I promise I will.” Her words echoed through my head.

My words slurred as I said, “Y-y-yeah, sure.”

***

“I, Joel O’Connor, leave the rest of my worldly possessions to my beautiful wife, Sylvia O’Connor. I just hope you fulfil your promise,” the solicitor concluded, as he strode off to a different room. A piece of old paper sat on the top of the box, ‘Destiny’s Story: A Story about Lost Love’. The room fell into silence. Joel’s mother approached Sylvia.

“So, will you ever finish it, Sylvia?”

“I am not sure. He always wanted me to finish it.”

“Well why don’t you? It would give you some closure.”

“I’m just not sure.”

“Start writing a little bit at a time. Don’t forget – that story got you two together.”

“Why not? It would be what he wanted. This is for you, Joel.”

***

A woman, all alone, sat by a dwindling fire, her weak hands carving words onto the page. Her face smiled, yet salty tears flooded from her eyes. She rubbed her hair before continuing. She looked at the fire. The house shook and the windows shivered. The fire grew weaker; she kept writing. She weaved the pen on the paper until the whole page was finished. The fire went out. It was the end of a long story. Destiny’s Story.