After what seems like forever I come to a little pond, but the girl is no where around me. I'm out of breath and my cheeks are freezing. I sit on a log and try to catch my breath. Where could she have gone? Does she live nearby? I keep trying to figure out what's going on.
"W-Why'd you follow me?" I hear a voice softly ask behind me. I jump up my heart racing in my chest again. There she is, standing in front of me. Leaving me breathless. She's wearing a long light pink dress. I now notice a silver music note necklace. I shiver looking at her, it's freezing. I can't get out my words.
"I... I don't know." I finally get out. Her lips are light pink and pursed. I walk towards her a little and she backs away slowly.
"Don't touch me." She says quickly. Defensively. "What do you want?"
"I won't hurt you..." I say quietly. "Why were you there?"
"I'm sorry. I was used to visiting... without people there." She says looking away from my eyes. "That is... was my house." she says.
"Why are you out here?" I say feeling the chill slip back. "It's freezing." I fold my arms to try and get my hands warmed.
"I was... kicked out." She says.
"Come with me?" I ask cautiously. She hesitates and then she moves her eyes to mine again. She just nods. We walk towards the house when we walk in I hear my mom and Step Dad upstairs, probably unpacking more things. We walk through the kitchen and when I look back to see her following me looking around. She lightly touches the walls, and railings. I notice her posture is perfect, she's really graceful as she walks down the hallway behind me.
"So what's your name?" I ask after we both get into my room.
"This was my room." she says smiling, wow, a beautiful smile. "I remember it like it was yesterday. She slowly walks around the room touching everything lightly. Flowing around the room, almost like she's floating.
"How long ago did you live here?" I ask carefully, wondering if she'll answer.
"Three years ago." She says. "Three long years." She sighs. "So what's your name?" She asks.
"Alan." i say. "What about you?"
"If I told you... I'd have to kill you." She smiles another slaying grin and I can't help but smile either. I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. My girlfriend Ashley is calling, I answer it quickly.
"Hello?"
"Alan, you haven't answered in an hour... are you alright? Hows the new house?"
"Tired that's all. Sorry, it's big." I say looking up at her. She's watching me intently now, those brown eyes are staring me down.
"I can't wait to come stay the week in two weeks." She says.
"Me either..."
"I hope you don't meet another stunning girl at your new school tomorrow." She giggles over the phone.
"Of course not."
"Well, I'll call later tonight, I just wanted to check in." She says.
"I'll talk to you later." Before she can even finish I hang up. "Sorry." I say scratching my head nervously. "So your name?"
"How about you guess." She says moving past me, I get the chills as she sits behind me on my bed, her dress flowing on the bed.
"Give me a hint." I grin feeding into those eyes; that smile.
"No. Guess." She says. She starts humming a song. I look at her confused.
"Hunny? Are you alright? Who are you talking to?" My mother taps on my door. The girl jumps up her eyes wide. She puts her fingers to my lips and disappears into my closet. When my mom comes in, I'm wide eyed and confused.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." She says confused. "Dinner is ready." She looks around and backs out of my room, closing my door.
"I better go." The girl says quietly coming out of the closet. She heads for my door.
"Wait, I still didn't get your name." I say quietly.
"I told you to guess." She grins a playful grin and backs towards the door. I see her necklace laying on the floor by the closet, and when I go to pick it up and hand it to her, she's gone. I try to run after her, but when I look out of my door, she's gone. I head down the stairs looking around hoping to catch her one last time, but she wasn't there. Weird. I think to myself but shrug it off.
"Your dinner is served." My mom says as she stands in the kitchen grabbing sodas from the fridge.
"Mom, no one came by here right?" I ask looking through the back windows, the forest has turned dark, just like the sky.
"No?" She says again, confused. "Are you feeling alright Alan?"
"Just fine." I lie.
My stomach is turning right now. She was the most beautiful girl I've probably ever seen. I mean, flawless. She looked like she was airbrushed, right into my life. I wonder when I'll see her again... I shrug this off, I probably will at school tomorrow. I hope to. She was so mysterious, she was there and then she was gone. I feel like she's still here, her presence has lingered since she left. That, makes me smile.
Throughout the night I am lefts with thoughts of that face. When I lay down to go to sleep, I feel as if she's still with me. I have her necklace in my hands and I marvel at it all night. When I finally fall asleep my Alarm is blaring in my ears to wake me up.
Walking through the new hallways, it's crowded, loud, I feel eyes staring me down. They're all questioning who I am, what I'm about, what I have to offer. I meet a few people, they're all pretty nice. A few classes go by, and I'm in a majority of classes with a guy named Austin, his best friend a girl named Joanna, another kid named Tino, and another, Phil. When lunch comes I meet a few more of their friends. I sit with my lunch when everyone comes to the table and introduces themselves. I remember a few names, Aaron, and Amanda. But I forget the others because I'm to occupied with looking around the lunchroom for "Mystery girl".
"Wow Alan, you look like you're waiting to see someone." Joanna non-chalantly says taking a bite out of the cookie she has in her hand.
"Well... I kind of am..." I admit nervously. "I never got her name."
"Oooooh, Alan has a crush already?" Austin jokes.
"No... I have a girlfriend." I feel my face burning up. "She was just in my backyard... weird." I shrug. "She has bright orange hair like mine..."
"Well there's 3 girls in this school that have your hair." He looks up and to the left. "Hayley Williams." He nods to a girl in the corner of the room with a few guys. She's listening to music with big red headphones. It's not her. This girl has short hair, the girl I'm looking for has long hair. I shake my head. Austin looks around again. "Lindsay Burns." He nods to the side. This girl isn't her either. "And Ellen Holmes." He points behind him, and again not her.
"Nope." I sigh. "I just want to know who she is... what she's about."
"Maybe she goes to the private school." Joanna says texting on her cell phone.
"Maybe she'll come back." I say staring off into space, thinking about what if I never see her again. Her face will be forever pastured to my mind. I can't forget that face, those eyes, her smile. It's insane to think that maybe this was love at first sight. I shrug it off, I hope I'll see her.
The rest of the school day goes by pretty fast, the classes aren't bad, the kids aren't either. Austin was in a lot of my afternoon classes too, that was cool. I take the bus to get home, I walk down our long driveway to the front door. I put my backpack on the stairs and head to the kitchen, but first something catches my attention.
I hear a distant humming and a guitar. I quietly step up my stairs. It's coming closer to my room. I realize it's a girl... I quickly open my door, but the sound isn't coming from my room... it's coming from the attic. I start weighing my options on what to do. I decide to just run up there. I count to three in my head, for some reason I'm nervous. My heart is already racing before I head up the stairs as quick as I can...
"W-What are you doing?" I ask the girl I thought I'd never see again. She's startled herself... Her eyes are huge, like a deer stuck in the headlights looking at me. She doesn't say anything.
"This is my house." She says. "This is where I grew up. This is my house." She says suddenly becoming sad. I didn't mean to upset her.
"I-I'm sorry." I say my heart falling out of my chest. She stands up and looks down, her hair falling around her face so I can't see it.
"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..." She says quietly. I notice she's wearing the same outfit as yesterday.
"Is everything alright?" I ask. "Do you want to stay here? You could spend the night... I can tell my mom."
"No!" She snaps. "Don't tell your mom." She's looking at me again, I notice her eyes... almost black, nothing like her beautiful brown ones. "Just... I'll stay..." She sighs. It grows quiet... awkward. The tension is so thick, it nearly suffocates me.
"Can you tell me your name now?" I finally muster up some words. "Please." I practically beg. She looks up and doesn't say anything. She looks at a box on the floor. One with Elizabeth, written across it in black ink. "Elizabeth?" I ask. "Is that it?"
"Mhm." She says quietly.
"Well, that's a beautiful name. " I say.
"Thank you." She says looking down. Her eyes haven't met mine in a few minutes. I nod and sit in front of her.
"Why is all of your stuff here?" I ask. "I mean, it was your house but where did you go? You're family?" I have so much to ask her. She's sitting in front of me now, staring down.
"My parents abandoned me." She says "I-I was living here, basically. No one bought it because no one around here... liked the house." She looks around the room. "But then your family came along and bought my house." she says with a little anger in her voice. "Your house." She says that and cringes.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." I say. "I didn't want to move hear you know." I admit. "But I'm glad I met you." I say. I see her eyes flash up at me and she grins, but it disappears.
"Alan," She says quietly. "Don't fall in love with me." She surprises me. But I love the way she says my name.
"W-What." Is all I can say. I gulp. I look down at the floor. My heart just shattered... Why?
"I'm just saying... I have a lot of baggage... A lot of un-fixable problems. Secrets you won't be able to swallow." She's still saying. "Can we keep this friendship a secret Alan?" She asks.
"Why?" I ask. She looks up at me. I notice her eyes are back to the beautiful brown shade, this makes me happy.
"I don't want anyone to hear my name again." She says still keeping my gaze. "Please." She begs.
"Yes." I say without anymore questions. I want to be let in. I want to help her carry this baggage, I want to help fix her problems, I want to keep her secrets locked in my heart, I wish she'd let me do that. After a while of sitting on the attic floor, we head to my room. I lay on my bed and she sits on my desk chair.
"So tell me Alan, why are you dating her?" She asks without looking from the ground. I take a moment to answer but then she looks up at me, and it's like she pulls the words from my mouth.
"She's the only one that gave me a chance." I say we're both looking into each others eyes. "She let me be me... she saved me."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I was going through a tough time..." I gulp. I'm not one to open up, I'm not the type of person but I go on. "I-I was depressed... terribly. My family was being torn to pieces and I was like the tug-of-war rope. I was like their little pawn in their arguments. They used me to get back at each other." I say feeling the anger that I used to have come back. "Well, that put me through hell, along with school, kids treated me like I was nothing... then you start to believe it." I look up to see if she's still listening and she is looking straight at me still, eyes wide open. "Well, I wanted to kill myself. I began hurting myself, Ashley helped save me..."
"That's why you're here?" She asked.
"Well, my mom started dating this guy... Drew, and a few months later they were married and then, we came here. I think, she's using the distance against my father... and maybe Drew is using it against me... I don't really know." I let out a long sigh. "I've never told anyone other than Ashley this." I say looking up at her. She looks like she's going to say something but, my mothers voice comes from downstairs calling me for dinner.
"Come eat?" I ask. "I'm sure we have enough." I stand up. She shakes her head. and doesn't leave my room, when my mom calls me for dinner. The house seems warmer now, without her around. I eat dinner quickly thinking about her sitting in my room. I hurry back up the stairs. I feel like I need to see her again, find out more, but when I get there, she's gone. I check the closet, the bathroom, the attic, even under the bed but she isn't there. It's still cold in my room, I feel like she's still here but I know she's not. I roll my eyes and lay back on my bed. Why did she do this to me?
Her voice keeps ringing in my head. The words are echoing, "Don't fall in love with me Alan," Over and over again. I wanted to know more. I needed to know more...
Weeks pass and I haven't seen her since that night. I'm frustrated by this, I just wanted to talk to her. I've been hanging out with Austin, Joanna, the rest of the little crew they have. They keep asking what's wrong but I lie and tell them nothing. I decide to look through her things in the attic. There's pictures of her, her parents, her and a boy I don't know. He's picking her up and kissing her cheek... maybe a boyfriend...
"What are you doing!?" The voice I've missed is back, but full of anger. "Those are mine!" She yells and I feel like she pushes me, I barely feel her hands but I'm not holding her photo's anymore, I'm farther away from her too. She's scrambling to pick the photos up and I'm in such a shock that I just watch. When I snap back to reality I rush to help her. "Don't touch them!" She hisses." I back away.
"I have a right to know who you are." I say feeling a little angry myself. "I deserve to know." I say, I let her into my head, why can't she return the favor. "I told you everything."
"How about this Alan..." She says glaring at me, "Why don't you ask the people at your school about me." She says walking towards me, backing me into a wall. "Go ahead, you're asking for nothing but trouble, trying to figure out who I am... You don't need to know."
"But I want to." I say quietly, "I could help you." I say, I can help you with whatever is going on in your life." She grins, almost sinister.
"There's no helping me Alan." She says lower. "I'm stuck here forever." She says again, before storming out the door. I hesitate to follow her. When I do, it's to late... she's gone, again.

Notes

Elizabeth's look