Authors Note: This is for Megaman because I promised I would have something up by Sunday, but I ended up getting busy until now. Sorry about the spelling also.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Motel KAL.
Chapter 13: Goodbye My Almost Lover.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I should be asleep, but here I am...wide awake and patiently waiting for what is next to finally happen. A few minutes after I had closed my eyes, I felt the bed shift as if someone was rolling out of bed. He was indeed gone, Royce had thought I was fully sleep and just vanished away from my side as if I wasn't going to notice. In front of me was the clock, 1:06 clearly shinning in the pitch black room, and in the room next door light snoring could be heard, along with a faint mutter that sounded just like Lydia.
Lydia and April were talking last night, I could hear them as they were making their way upstairs, about how the motel was never going to happen. It was just to much work, April had said, and there wasn't any money where they could even start the foundation; Lydia agreed saying that hording over hundreds, or thousands, of dollars into a place in the middle of nowhere was a lost cause. They opened my door to see if I was still awake, but I faked the sleeping position and closed my eyes waiting for them to be satisfied by the sight and just go away. Doing just that, they muttered that they would tell me in the morning to start packing...we were heading back home.
That was when I felt Royce roll out of bed, he must have heard what Lydia and April were saying also; I felt the odd feeling of wanting to say something to him, anything to keep him from leaving. Instead, I continued to lay in bed and restrained myself from calling him back. As I laid in my bed, the events of the last two weeks, yes two weeks, which have seem more like months or even years, became apparent to me. I am insane. To be honestly thinking that ghost really exists and that I have the ability to speak and...share a bed with one and...
There was a shift of pressure on the bed from my side, opening my eyes once more I could see nothing but thin air. It was obvious to me that there was someone leaning down towards me, the only question on my mind was just who was it was. Closing my eyes, I half hoped they would go away...in the morning I would be gone and I could leave everything from this home here to rot. It's so odd just how quickly my thoughts have turned negative, when a few hours ago they were slightly blissful; but the realization that I would have to completely forget him just did not seem to sit every well with me. Maybe it was for the better?
Or am I fooling myself?
I am no fool, nor do I ever plan to be someone fool.
"Go away," I whispered into the air. "Just leave now and make it easier on me." A soft breeze grazed my cheek, moving down towards my chin and slowly disappearing before it could reach the bottom of my throat. The unseen pressure began to fade away, leaving me with a not-so-shockingly disappointed feeling. My emotions, at this point, started controlling my body and I turned to me side, giving my back towards the one leaving.
It is for the better.
----
Dennis slowly walked down the staircase, book and a pair of glasses in hand; Royce followed a few steps behind. The house was quiet, all the girls were asleep, leaving the two ghosts with no one to bother on their pending dismissal. Dennis stopped at the bottom of the steps and glanced back towards Royce, 'Not saying you're goodbyes, princy?'
Royce threw the clairvoyant a scowl, 'What the hell are you talking about, I ain't about that sappy crap, ya dig.'
Dennis put his hands up in surrender, shrugged and continued his walk towards the door, 'Just thought you would seeing as you got a little to cozy with the girl, that's all.'
'Yeah, well try not to think so much, leave that to me.' Royce shot back, remaining in his position midway staircase. As soon as Royce was just Dennis was out of sight, he looked back towards her room. What Dennis didn't now was that, Royce had already said goodbye in his own way. She may have 'kicked him out', but Royce Clayton always got the last word.
Royce smirked to himself and followed Dennis route towards the door and out of this dump of a home; Dennis, now waiting for Royce along the long road, ran his hand through his hair and gave Royce the 'well, are you ready' look. 'I told you, you should have parked closer to this place,' Dennis whine starting the long walk back to Royce's precious car.
Royce pulled out a cigarette, silently cursing to himself for even bringing Dennis along with him in the first place, 'You should have dragged it here then. This is the last time I'm bring you with me.'
----
In the morning, the sun had barely risen enough to give the horizon a beautiful view; April and Lydia were already up and about packing what little things they had brought for the trip. I, on the other hand, continued to lay in bed and had no real intention of picking every single piece of material that decorated my floor up. The clock read 6:56 AM, both girls in the room next door whispered quietly about things they were missing and possibly checking their personal lists to make sure they were forgetting anything. I heard soft footsteps coming towards my room, the door slowly opened, but no further movement could be hear.
"Hey, Kathy?" April called from the door, "wake up, you need to start packing."
Pulling the covers away from me, I nodded my head and whispered back, "I know." With that April was gone from sight and I was left alone once again – not much of a surprise.
Shifting in bed something poked my back causing me to jump forward and almost fall completely out of bed. Turning around quickly, I could see that it was only the sharp corner of a thin book laying in the empty space next to me. Sitting up and taking the book with care, I glanced at the front and back cover for a tittle, but it was just blank; opening the book, the first page had the image of a young man, blond hair, blue eyes, baseball uniform on and a baseball bat slung against his right shoulder. It took me a minute to realize just who this boy was as I slowly read the words in bold letters underneath the image: "Royce Clayton, Gifted Baseball Star."
Turning the page, another image was placed in the center of the page; this time it was of a crashed car, a police officer pushing back a few people that were cut off the image, and a cover draped over a lying figure. The caption reads: "Rising Star Killed In Car Accident: Drag Racing Takes Another."
As the pages continued, they all showed different image of Royce, some with him surrounded with people, others along; a few in his baseball uniform in the middle of a baseball field, and one or two in his black jacket, jeans and plain white tee. All accompanied with quotes from classmates or decorated with things that related to the image shown. The picture of him ended and were replaced with class pictures; it was a yearbook. Flipping randomly along the following pages, a few highlighted names caught my attention, I read name and put their faces to it. Most of the names were of girls, all smiling in black and white, but one name stood out to me; Katharine A. Luna. Class on 1953, my aunts graduating yearbook.
Holding the book closer towards me, to get a better look at my aunt, a crumpled paper fell from the back of the yearbook. I put the book down on the bed and grabbed the paper, carefully flattening it down; crossed out in pen, "In Loving Memory of Royce Clayton; taken by a car accident. 1953." was replaced with a shaking hands guiding the pen was...
"Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die tomorrow."
--
A car engine started running, the sound of the closing of a door filled the quiet morning, keys made their final jingle as they were put away in a safe place, and she stood before the home, gazing at the slowly decaying building to take in the past events. April stood next to Kathy and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, playfully crashing their cheeks together, "Aren't you glad we're going home."
It wasn't a question, more so of a statement to get a reaction from the, suddenly, quiet girl; Kathy, however, gave a shrug and moved away from her older sister. "Guess so," was her simple reply as she made her way towards the cherry red Toyota. With the yearbook firmly in her grasp, she entered the car, waiting for April to join Lydia and herself on their long trip back home, and stared out of the window with a silent wish to catch one last glimpse of him. Although she had sworn to not think of him, it was just a hopeless dream.
"Are you alright?" Lydia asked, bringing Kathy out of her thoughts.
With a nod, Lydia was satisfied and gave a quick look towards April as she climbed into the car; Kathy returned to look out the window and felt the starting of movement from the car. A sixteen year old girl knowns nothing of love, it was just...nothing. Kathy hid her face from the other girls and laid on her side, back towards April and Lydia, as quiet tears started falling down her face as she thought, '...so why does it feel like I just had my heart ripped out...'
--
Yes. That's how it ends. Hope it was good, sorry for the long wait but it's hard to get ideas with little kids running around trying to get my attention. Maybe you'll see something else from me later along with year. Oh, and yes. The title is from that one song, "Almost Lovers" by A Fine Frenzy, I'm loving on the song so I used it to finish up the last part of the chapter; the first half was from some other song I can't remember...oh well. Happy October everyone. :) Bie.