Trial Moderator  
Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: NY REPRESENT~ Posts: 1,509 Rep Power: 7 | Our Summer (Summer Festival Prose Contest Entry)
(Note: I'm only posting it here instead of the contest thread because it's reallyyyyyy long.
But I'll take feedback too. <3)
Our Summer
As day faded into night, two silhouettes walked hand in hand against the horizon, through a meadow of tall grass and short flowers. Two hands intertwined, two smiling faces, two hearts filled with such compassion, the love radiated like an aura surrounding their bodies, as tangible as the humid summer air of July.
“I wonder what time it is... the sun’s nearly down.” A voice cut through the thick atmosphere, but the tone hardly held any concern. One silhouette stopped for a moment to pull out a cell phone and look at the time.
“It’s a little after 9:30. What’s the rush for, my silly little dove? Got a hot date tonight or somethin’?” The teenage boy’s laughter followed his response, and soon a girl’s giggle chimed in to accompany him. The shadows stopped near the end of the meadow, at the outskirts of the forest, which would inevitably lead them back to civilization, and with that, their town.
As the sun finished it’s job and the last desperate rays of light faded into black, the moon became much more apparent in the sky, and with a dull glow, highlighted some of the features on the faces of the young couple.
“No, I just wanted to know if we had enough time to do...” The girl paused, her lips curling into a devious smirk. With the boy obviously curious and waiting for her to finish her sentence, she pushed him against a tree, then pushed herself into him. Her lips only centimeters away from his, she spoke, her hot breath blowing into his face. “..This.” And before the boy could respond, she crushed her lips against his, hot with the passion of a summer’s eve.
After tugging off the belt that held the boy’s jean pants up, and other means of undressing each other as quickly as possibly, they made love, fireflies dancing around them as the night finally shrugged off some of the heat it had been wearing all day.
This was their summer, filled with beaches and blowing bubbles and butterflies. Sam Gossert and Jenna Byrd, that couple that everybody knew, that couple that outlasted all the others. They had been seeing each other since the middle of freshman year. And now it was summer before senior year. They wanted to make the best out of this summer, before it faded into a school year full of pressure and decisions.
Not thinking about such stressful matters, the two relaxed in Jenna’s bedroom, Jenna’s body draped over Sam, her arms dangling off the side of the bed. Today seemed even hotter than usual, so to battle the heat, they were innocently laying in their underwear, watching the fan cut the air like dull razor blades. Even with the fan, Jenna’s face glistened with sweat, and Sam’s curly brown hair matted against his forehead.
“Our summer...” Jenna murmured, turning her head to look at her lover’s face. Sam had his eyes closed, but one of his hands absentmindedly twirled Jenna’s hair between long, but slender fingers.
“Yes, my dove.” Sam opened one eye to look back at her, and a small smile formed on his otherwise passive face. Dove was the nickname Sam bestowed upon Jenna early in their relationship. After all, she is a Byrd.
“But why does it have to be so hot?” Jenna grumbled, and sat up. “Maine should not be this hot in July.” She pouted her childish pout that Sam could not resist, so instead of replying he lifted himself up to place a kiss on her lips.
“You complain too much.” Sam laughed and dragged himself up and off of the bed, then proceeded to stretch out every muscle of his tall, built body as he spoke. “Yet for some reason I still love you.”
Jenna stood up on the bed, her hands on her hips defiantly. Before Sam could even wonder why she was doing such a thing, he saw her petite little body flying at him. With the impossibly quick reflexes he had been given as a gift from God, he plucked her out of the air and into the safety of his arms. Laughing, he held her for a moment, then put her down and bent over to dig his hand around in the pocket of his shorts, which lay on the floor. “Where are my cigs?” Now it was his turn to mumble and curse under his breath as he gave himself a body search that would make any police officer proud. Although, he knew from the start it would be fruitless, seeing as he was only wearing boxers. “Damn, I guess I dropped them somewhere. I think I’m gonna go out and buy another pack, I’ll be right back. Alright dovey?”
“Go, I need to clean this place up a little anyways, before my mom threatens to make me sleep out in the yard again.” Jenna giggled and picked up a lacy thong, letting it hang from her index finger before flicking it into the hamper. Sam bent down and gave her a quick peck on the lips, then turned on his heel and moved for the door. This seemingly simple and harmless action sent Jenna into another wave of her cute little laughs, which she quickly explained with a suggestion to Sam. “You might want to put some clothes on. Don’t want other girls looking at your butt now!” She danced over and grabbed his butt, then handed him his clothes.
“Thankya love,” Sam laughed at his own stupidity as he pulled his clothes on. “Now, I’ll be back shortly. Don’t talk to any strange boys while I’m gone.” He chided her jokingly, then received a light punch in the arm from his tiny princess.
Standing in the doorway of her room, Jenna stood on her tip-toes and Sam bent down and for no reason, they kissed each other like it was their last day on earth.
The next time Jenna saw Sam was through eyes where tears constantly blurred their sight. He looked so peaceful lying on the bed of white linens, his arms crossed over his chest. Sam’s parents had dressed him in his favorite shirt, and black slacks, as if the formality of the pants could fix the small rips and holes of the shirt he always wore. Jenna had given him that shirt for his birthday, and he wore it at least once a week, just barely permitting his mother to wash it.
Next to Sam lay a stuffed animal of a dove. That way, Jenna said, I will always be with him, as he will always be with me.
They had cleaned up his wounds well. The main gash, the one on his forehead, that bled profusely, had finally closed up. Every nick and cut was covered in a powder that seemed to match his skin color so well. But it didn’t seem so hard to match when his skin paled, when he lost the glow in his cheeks.
As Jenna stood over him, tears that never seemed to stop dripped off the tip of her nose and onto his shirt, making tiny little dark dots. She wanted him to open his eyes and pop up, making a silly face at her as he normally did when he played a practical joke on him. But this time, there was no movement in his face, no trembling of excitement in his hands. He would never shout boo, never put that telltale smile upon Jenna’s face. Then again, she didn’t think anyone would be able to do the latter. Not anymore.
She tore herself away, and took her seat. More people filled into the room, dressed in the somber, mourning black. They perched in their chairs like crows, crooning over a loss. Never one to cry in front of others, Jenna forced the endless wells of her eyes to shut down, mainly achieving this by closing her eyes and hugging herself. She didn’t know how long she was doing this for, but eventually someone took the seats around her, and right after that a pair of arms wrapping around her in consolation. As her eyes fluttered open, she saw it was her mother’s loving embrace.
On the other side of Jenna sat Sam’s mother. She was a mess. If not for the black veil over her face, days of sleeplessness, old makeup, and tears would be on display. Even Sam’s father, a very strong man, had silent tears running down his face. He had one hand over his mouth, which seemed to be forever stuck there, as he remained in that position for the rest of the funeral. Jenna could not look at him; he looked too much like Sam.
Around her she heard people whispering to each other about what happened. “A car hit him? What a shame...” and “I always thought he had quick reflexes. You know, one time I threw a ball at him and he caught it, barely looking at it. Shame, shame, shame,” and “I wonder how that Byrd girl is taking it. They were going out for a long time, I hear. Damn shame.”
And so the procession began.
Jenna was not paying attention to the priest, not paying attention to the family members that came up to talk about fond memories of Sam. All she could do was look the coffin, closed, sealing off Sam along with her heart.
And then it was her turn to talk. Mustering up all the courage she could possibly have in a time like this, she pulled herself towards the altar, with the aid of her mother, there for support. Standing there in front of over two-hundred people with bleary eyes and tear-streaked cheeks, Jenna wasn’t sure she could do it. Her mom rubbed her back comfortingly, and she attempted to string words together, something to honor her life love.
“Sam...was my boyfriend since freshman year...” But after only a fragment of a sentence, the tears came, and her words turned into more of a sobbing jumble of a speech. “I loved him so much...and now... he’s gone...my Sam...” The sadness that had been there for days finally gave way to anger. “Why did he have to be killed?! This was supposed to be our summer! ...He was only seventeen...Parents should not have to bury their children! Why!” But the anger receded and gave way to heartache again. “I’m sorry everyone... I just... it’s... it’s not fair...” At this point great, heaving sobs were the majority of her speech, so her mother escorted her off the stage.
That was all Jenna could take of the funeral, so after a brief apology to Sam’s parents, she left the church, her mother behind her.
The following day, the following week, everything, was empty, meaningless to Jenna. Her friends tried to cheer her up, and every now and then got her to leave the house, but mainly she went through the same ritual each day: getting up, going to school, and coming home. In the mornings she felt nauseous. During the day she was always tired, and she experienced frequent pains in her back. Mrs. Byrd, the ever-worrying mother, took her to a doctor.
After telling the doctor her symptoms, Jenna sat on the examining table, her legs dangling off and swaying in a rhythmic motion. Finally the doctor came back in, his face grim.
“Jenna, I believe you’re pregnant.”
It was only five words, but they hit her with such force that she actually had to fall back onto the table and clutch the hygienic paper lining for support. She took in huge gasping breaths, the doctor waiting for her to calm down before continuing. “Of course, you’ll need to take a pregnancy test, but all your symptoms lead me to believe you’re expecting. When was the last time you had sexual intercourse?”
At first she was embarrassed to answer such a question, but the embarrassment turned into sorrow, and her eyes welled up, pools that threatened to spill over.
“I–it–it was three weeks ago.” She stammered, recalling the balmy night in the forest. The doctor nodded thoughtfully, and turned around. He opened a drawer and pulled out a pregnancy test ,and handed it to her without saying anything. So she nodded, assembled her strength, and went into the bathroom.
It was positive, of course.
Such a simple little test, that decided her fate. But Jenna felt that telling her mom, seeing the disappointment in her eyes, was going to be worse than actually being pregnant.
“I...I’m pregnant.” Ashamed, Jenna’s diverted her eyes to the floor. When she dared to look back up, her mother’s hand was over her mouth, tears in her eyes. In that position, she looked so much like Sam’s father. It was too much. Jenna quickly spun around and ran up to her room, laying on her bed, crying.
Ten minutes later she heard knocking. Since the door was unlocked, her mother let herself in. Mrs. Byrd sat on the edge of the bed, her hand resting softly on Jenna’s ankle.
“Honey, don’t be so sad. I’m here for you. I’ll help you through this.” With her mother’s voice so soothing, so gentle, Jenna sat up, wiping tears away with the back of her hand.
“Really?” Her mother responded with a somber but supportive nod.
“So... are you going to keep it?” This question was burning on her mother’s lips ever since Jenna told her the news. Jenna swung her legs around and stood up, running her fingertips across her stomach, an part of her body that suddenly meant so much more.
“I’m not sure... Actually, mom, I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be back in half an hour, alright?” Jenna didn’t even wait for approval before she walked out of the bedroom. What could she possibly do, get pregnant? Too late for that.
The Byrds lived near the highway that connected all of Maine. Occasionally, Sam and Jenna would go to a certain overpass at night and watch the lights of the cars whirr by, holding each other and sitting in silence. Sometimes they didn’t need to talk to each other to connect.
Jenna was sitting in the same place, in the same silence, except, by herself. This was of course, not counting the new life that was beginning to grow inside of her.
This is something she had thought about doing since the funeral, since she felt what she thought was a literal hole in her chest from losing Sam. Naturally, said pain ended up being an early sign of pregnancy.
After watching the cars for a while, she stood up, and climbed up to the top of the short fence that ran on either sides of the over pass.
With a serene smile, she looked out at the cars.
“Look Sam... this bird...will finally fly...”
And with arms spread to either side of her body, she fell forward, leaving only a short message scrawled on the stone of the overpass.
'Our summer forever lasts’
__________________ 
THANKS VIK <3
Last edited by Axed; 06-10-2008 at 04:49 PM.
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