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| The Name |
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| I woke up this morning with a name on my mind. It was a name, as beautiful as any, and there it hung - a stranger upon my lips. It was almost a crime, having it linger without it being uttered, but it was like I had whispered it all night long. My lips tingled slightly, making me wonder if they had grown accustomed to saying the name over and over again during my slumber. Although it was a common name, its feel upon my lips as I whispered it was strangely foreign. The name was neither harsh nor difficult to pronounce, but I stumbled clumsily over its syllables. I lay there in the damp air of slumber, whispering the name into the dawn. It was a quiet prayer, and it echoed through my empty house. It bounced around on the bare walls, and returned to me, nearly inaudible. Sunbeams burned themselves through my curtains, and emerged as a haze on my naked wall. I watched as a shape formed in its darkness. The shape belonged to the name, both were airy and hypnotic. The ghost slid across the wall, its partner being a dancing tree limb that had also created a shadowed body. My eyes followed their erotic and sensual tango up and down my bedroom wall, and I yearned to join them. I leaned forward; I was their victim. The name rolled around in my mind like the prancing shadows, delicately touching one emotion before tiptoeing onto the next. I dissected the name, for practically the millionth time that morning, and wondered how I could have forgotten about you. You were hidden deep inside my soul, somewhere in-between my unconscious and my abstracted view of reality. Along with you was your name, and until that moment when I had awakened, I had lived my life unaware of what I had forgotten. But now that I had whispered your name into the early morning sun, I somehow awakened you from a life of endless sleep. I gingerly tripped out of bed, carefully so I that didn't disturb the dancing couple on my bare wall, and walked barefoot into the next room. My living room, with its many secluded corners that held antiques like they were some kind of buried treasure, looked bare in comparison to the beautiful name that was fluttering through my head. There had to be something in my house that could remind me of you. Surely, there had to be some memento of our time together! Yet nothing popped out at me, only the same impractical possessions over and over again. I was obsessed, I had to find out who you really were, what you looked like, how you smelled. This obsession took me to all corners of my house, leading me to ripping apart cardboard boxes, staring insanely at old class pictures, and discovering that the face wasn't there at all. **** I had long given up on my search, and started to make breakfast, when the doorbell rang loudly from the front hall, like the unmistakable hum of an overpassing airplane. I dropped my toast onto my plate, and wondered who it could be. The doorbell rang again, more of a dreading call this time rather than a cheerful, welcoming tone. I turned on several lamps on the way to the door, their bright flash as they turned on were like tiny lightning bolts. I reached the door, and peered through the tiny eye-hole. I could see the back of someone's head, but that alone wasn't enough to determine who this early visitor was. I unlocked the door, it clicked loudly, and the person turned around. I was hit suddenly with a pang of disbelief. How could this be? The face and name intertwined, exposing a feeling of awe from deep inside of me. This is what the name looks like, I thought, and a smile spread across my face like the peanut butter on my slice of toast. "It's been so long," your face barely moved, only your mouth and jaw seemed to shift between the words. Your face was perfectly symmetrical, and your jaw came down to a gentle point. Your eyes were rounded, and full with joy and age. "Yes, it's been too long," I managed to whisper, and my knees began to feel weak. I managed to take a step backward, and held open the door. "Please, do come inside." As you settled in the living room, I made a cup of coffee, all the while matching your name with your face. What a perfect match! How could I have been so foolish? How could I have forgotten about such a mysterious and wondrous person, one that had magically reappeared into my life? I slid a cup of coffee in front of you, and received a smile for the trouble. I sat down on a chair, and, with a grin as large as the Nile River, you said, "The most bizarre thing happened this morning. I had a dream about you..." More Stories More stories for school Lair Homepage |