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Heart Rhythm

"Iris, I don't think we should do this!" Darren breathed heavily.

"You don't want to?" Iris pouted.

"No, I don't think we're ready, not yet." Darren's face turned red.

"Oh. OK, well I hope that one day, we'll be able to take this step, together." She slowly reached over and turned down the insane speed on Darren's treadmill.

"Thank... you..." Darren had his hands on his knees, wheezing and accepted a bottle of water from his best friend.

"Heh heh. Towel?" Iris chuckled.

Darren reached up without looking and grabbed the cloth.

Iris froze, "Um... hands?"

Darren looked up, and snatched his hand quickly off of Iris' right breast. "Oh... uh... oops?"

"You... pervert!" She flung the towel at him with full force and stormed off to the women's locker room.

Darren looked at his hand. "Bad hand."

***

Darren found Iris waiting outside the men's locker room.

"Crap, is she still mad?"

She didn't look mad. Instead, like always, she looked devoid of emotion. But he knew otherwise, he had seen the blue flash in her eyes when she was angry and the way the same eyes darkened in sorrow. Unconsciously, he looked around quickly for any items she might grab to hit him with.

"What are you doing, idiot?" she chuckled, her cute eyes twinkled. Safe.

"Nothing. Let's go." Darren grinned.

"I swear I can't tell what is going through your mind sometimes."

***

Snow started to fall and they took a shortcut to the dorms from the gym. As first year students, they were required to live in college housing, they both ended up in building 214, her room 214-5B was directly above his, 214-5A.

Darren watched as snow lightly accessorized her hair while she walked gracefully through the front door. She looked back with a gaze that, to his wonder, he didn't know the meaning to. It wasn't the first time he saw that look before either. The snow glistened on her eyelashes. She softly brushed the snow off his shoulders and head.

Looking back, he saw their footsteps, lining their past, in the snow.

"You got early morning lecture, right?" Darren asked, putting his key in his door.

"Yup, six in the morning."

"I'll knock on your door when I go to my morning class, you wouldn't be able to get up otherwise."

Her eyes flashed. "What was that?" She said through with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, uh see ya" he quickly slid through his door and closed it behind him before she could react.

"JERK!" he felt her kick the door and trudged heavily upstairs.

***

The sharp tone of Darren's cell phone woke him and he stumbled for it half-asleep.

"Hello?" Darren answered it with his eyes closed.

"Where the hell are you?!" a slurred voice asked, broken by sobs.

"Danielle? Baby, what's wrong?" Darren was awake with the call from his girlfriend.

"We need to talk, come over."

"Honey, it's awfully early, three-twenty six..." Darren started before he was interrupted.

"I don't care! I want to see you right now!"

"OK, calm down. I'll be right over, just relax."

***

Darren walked in the frigid air to her sorority house, the path already shoveled of snow. There he spent the next two and a half hours trying to convince, unsuccessfully, his on-again, off-again girlfriend that he wasn't sleeping with half of the campus. She fell asleep before she sobered up, but not before blurting out that she was already cheating on him and breaking up with him with a few choice insults.

The bright sun reflecting off the snow made him squint his eyes when he entered 214. By the time his vision cleared, he was almost at his room door. Standing in front of it was Iris.

She was still wearing her sleep clothes, a t-shirt that said "Princess", light blue, silk pants with little ducks on it, and fuzzy cow slippers that actually "moo"ed. Her hair was still frazzled; but still, he stood watching her.

Looking up, she called out, "Good morning!" She held up a box of peanut butter puffs cereal. She saw him frown and turn to leave.

"Hey!" she yelled. He stopped.

She dropped the box of cereal, scattering little round sugary treats on the floor, that would be picked up later by a rather large rat the tenants called "Stinky". She grabbed his sleeve and he turned around.

"I got up early to have breakfast with you, look I even brought your precious peanut butter puffs because you have something against my perfectly good chocolate omletes." She put her hands on her hips and stomped a puff underfoot in frustration, inciting a loud moo.

"What’s with these annoying girls?" He thought to himself. He spat back, "Whatever lazy, you didn’t get up to have 'breakfast'. You obviously overslept and decided to skip class". He steadied himself for the slap.

But Iris’ eyes darkened and her voice came back softly. "Darren... you... moron, can’t you see? I’ve waited because I didn’t want to lose our friendship... I pushed my feelings down for so many years, letting you go repeatedly. I can’t... not anymore. What kind of jerk makes a girl say these things? Darren, don’t you feel anything other than friendship for me?"

Darren’s face softened. He did feel something...
"Iris, I..."

But suddenly she was in his arms, kissing him. And he could see so clearly. The subtle smiles she shot at him, the constant concern for his well-being, the sad stares when she didn’t think he was looking, he realized how foolish he really was. Wetness on his face brought him back to reality.

She was already sprinting away sobbing, "Darren, I wish you luck. Goodbye." And she was gone.

This is the first of a 2 part story Here is the second part Here is the second part

Didn't know where to put this, but damn was it good! It was written by Tommy Cullen. Her real name is at the bottom.
-LD
~~~~~~
The blue wave crested and drew back forty feet from the shore. She could see it from her window, atop the hillock to the west of the small beach and dock. The sun rose slowly from beneath the horizon, casting a misty grey light on the world outside her window. It was somehow bright and dark at the same time; the darkness and light merging, as if just for her.

--Feeling compelled, she got up and quickly clothed herself in a long skirt and short sleeved blouse; the cotton of the skirt cooling her warm skin, the silken blouse caressing her gently. Yes, she would go for a walk on the beach this fine pre-dawn summer morning. It would make her feel good.

--She tip-toed her way down to the front door of the overgrown cottage, slipping silently through the quiet corridor. Then, as quietly as she could, she unlocked and opened the front door. The fresh air hit her like the waves hit the sand, and she gently closed the door behind her, the soft click of the door in its frame telling her of her success almost silently.

--The doctor said she was very ill, and her mommy had cried. Later, when mommy had told daddy, he’d put a hole in a closet door, out of both shock and anger. It wasn’t the ‘can’t sir,’ or the ‘tubel-roses’; it was something else. Something like ‘eights,’ only that wasn’t quite right. The doctor said, behind closed doors, that the ‘eights’ had caused her to get a cold, and the cold had progressed to ‘new moan ya,’ which might make her die, but right now she felt fine, good even. She knew she would die, but she was five, and she wanted to live the time she had left, not spend it in bed while mommy cried beside her.

--The grass felt good between her toes; she missed the feeling after being in bed for a month. The grass turned to sand, and she giggled at the grainy, funny feeling she didn’t possess the vocabulary to describe. Briefly she wondered if heaven would be like this wonderful, empty pre-dawn beach. She would love that.

--She walked to the point where the water hit the sand, feeling the cold, soft water and surf lap lightly at her toes. She relished in the feeling of the surf. She looked over her shoulder, only for a second, at the empty concrete walkway that led to her house.

--A fish jumped near-by, and she tilted her smiling, cherubic face towards the sound. The rocking Ocean roared and crashed, but she loved the sound, delighted in it so greatly. This place was hers, but she knew it was also Mother Natures, the Great Goddess’ world, just as much. That was alright, she didn’t mind sharing this place with the divine; it made her feel special. If all the fairy tales could be real, it still wouldn’t measure up to the secret, and unique feeling she had now, sharing the beach’s wonderful sights and sounds with her personal Gods. It was glorious, she felt magnificent, and having no sense of ‘blasphemy,’ she felt God-like herself. And she felt ready; ready to say goodbye to mommy and daddy, ready to meet her Gods, ready for a new adventure. And look; there was a nice old warrior man to show her the way.

--She walked to him, taking his outstretched hand and looking up at him. Her smiling face locked eyes with his smiling face; he was an ancestor.

--“I want to say goodbye to mommy and daddy before we go,” she said. He simply nodded. They walked into the house, and she looked over her shoulder at the beach once more. She saw her self lying on her back at the edge of the Ocean where the water met the sand for a moment, and understood she couldn’t turn back.

--They silently went up the stairs to her parents bedroom, and she kissed them both. Alice, her mother, woke up and saw her. She said something incoherent, then her daughter waved by and was gone. Alice got up a little concerned, not bothering to wake up Chester. She went into her daughters room, and the first thing she saw was through the window; her daughters small, crumpled body at the edge of the water. The sun was nearing the top of the horizon, and she screamed.

Candice Wozniak / Dionysus
April 15th, 07
11:06 PM
Barrie, Ontario