I Never Knew, But It Has Always Been
You
Chapter Three (part five)
“Fletcher! I got your text, what on earth happened to
you?” Ella said frantically running towards him. Fletcher
stood there, limp and cold. Ella could see the path of tears on his
red-stained cheeks.
Ella reaches the withdrawn Fletcher and hugs him tight, and he
shivers and shakes with sadness. She felt him fall a little, but
she held him up. Fletcher is breathing heavily and sighing and
sniffling. Ella pulled away from the hug and took Fletcher’s
hand. She led him to the back of the park, behind a couple of huge
willow trees and some bushes there was a private grassy area. The
two friends sat up against the willow trees, Ella across from
Fletcher.
Ella sat crossed-legged in her yoga pants and her fitted lacrosse
sweatshirt . Ella waited for Fletcher’s tears to subside and
patted his knee. He leaned up against the willow’s huge
back-rest and held his head up to look at the vast overgrowth of
the tree. Fletcher wiped his eyes and then sank his head back into
his hands in his lap. He started shaking and tears began flowing
down his sculpted face. Ella scooted a little towards him and wiped
the tears away from his beautifully broken face.
After
a few deep breaths and a few moments of silence Fletcher began his
story. “My mom, she was crossing the parking lot at the
grocery store and she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
There was this car and the driver wasn’t paying attention to
what he was doing.” Fletcher paused and a silent tear slid
down his cheek and onto Ella’s hand which was placed on his
knee. “She was hit, and killed Ella.” That statement
led Fletcher into a whole new batch of tears.
Ella’s mouth dropped and she was unable to even talk. Ella
had known Fletcher’s mother forever. All Fletcher ever talked
about was how his mother sang goofy songs all the time. His mom and
him were best friends. Fletcher wasn’t a mama’s boy,
but he looked out for her. Elaine was one of the nicest people Ella
has ever met. Elaine worked a lot with the nursing homes and animal
shelters in the area. She was always so down to earth and extremely
funny. She was quirky and very original.
“Fletcher. Fletcher, oh my God. I’m so sorry. Come
here.” Ella opened up her arms to him. He graciously made
himself comfortable in her arms. Fletcher cried while Ella rubbed
his back and whispered in his ear that everything will be okay,
even though Ella doesn’t know that everything will be
okay.
After
awhile of crying, and reassuring they both stood up and hugged. It
was a real hug, passionate and beautiful. “Fletcher, do you
want to stay the night? We could pull out the air mattress, and put
it in the middle of my room? My mom-“ Ella stopped at the
word ‘mom’, and quickly changed her choice of words.
“No one is home. I mean, just so you wouldn’t have to
be alone.” Ella suggested kindly.
Fletcher
looked down into her eyes and nodded. Ella wrapped her arm around
Fletcher and they began walking across the park towards her car.
They both hopped in and drifted off towards Ella’s
house.
“Alright I’m pretty sure we have some extra blankets in
the laundry room, and if you want to go get some pillows from the
living room.” Ella said as she escaped into the laundry room
to get the extra sheets, blankets, and the air
mattress.
Fletcher
walked into the living room and gathered up all of the pillows he
could find. He didn’t hear Ella walk in room because he
jumped when he heard her voice. “Hey, Fletch. Come on,
let’s get you into bed.” Ella said soothingly. She
walked over to him and took some of the pillows from his arms and
led him into her room. The two over them set up the air mattress
and spread the sheets while plopping pillows at the head of the
mattress.
Fletch didn’t talk throughout this whole process. Ella is
genuinely worried about him, what if he does something stupid
during the night? No, he wouldn’t do that, he’s a smart
kid. They finished putting the comforter on the air mattress and
then Ella grabbed some pajamas from her second drawer down and
shuffled into the bathroom to change. When she came back Fletcher
was in bed staring at the ceiling.
“Hey,
do you want to borrow a huge shirt and some sweatpants?” Ella
asked soothingly. Fletcher slowly turned his head toward
Ella’s tiny figure standing in the doorway of her
room.
“I’ll take the shirt, but have you seen yourself
lately? You’re tiny, me, not so much.” Fletcher managed
to crack a smile, but Ella knew it was forced. She knows the many
expressions of Fletcher Reece Simmons, and that so-called
‘smile’, was not a smile at all. In fact, it was
Fletcher saying, ‘I’m breaking’.
“Alright. Lemme just find one.” Ella said as she
maneuvered her way around all of the scattered things in her
bedroom. Finally she arrived at her dresser and again opened the
second drawer and found a huge tee shirt laying on top of the pile
of pajamas. “Will this do? It’s my dad’s old
shirt from a stupid basketball raffle.” Ella said throwing
the piece of fabric to Fletcher.
He nodded
and shrugged off his own button up shirt and threw on the ratty
shirt. “Is it alright if I just sleep in my boxers? I really
doubt you will have anything that will fit me.” Fletcher said
standing out of bed. He started undoing his belt and taking things
out of his pockets.
“Yeah I don’t care. I’m sleeping in a tiny
tank-top and boxer shorts, so you’re more covered than I
am.” Ella smiled and closed her drawer. She turned and pulled
her covers back and hopped in.
Fletcher
sank into bed and then within three minutes both friends were
soundly sleeping. This tragedy brought both friends closer than
they were before.
The
six friends sank into the soft green grass and played truth or dare
as they waited for the movie to begin. Ella grabbed
Fletcher’s hand and squeezed it gently. He looks at her with
eyes filled of compassion and kissed her just real
soft.
I Never Knew, But It Has Always Been You Chapter Three (part
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Dec 21, 2010 2:52pm
