This is a modified version of a story I wrote years ago. Since it tentatively fit the parameters for the writing contest, I thought I would submit it. I had to delete one of the characters to fit the word limit. At some point down the line I will post the original story. I hope you like the abridged version:
It was Saturday morning, the worst day of the week for Alex. Nobody really paid attention to him at school, so he could mind his own business and fall into the background. At home, it was a different story. He was the oldest of six kids. His parents expected him to take care of his siblings, and they were always so loud…so intrusive. All Alex wanted was some peace and quiet…to be left alone.
“Alex! Where are you! I need you to help get Cathy dressed, check on the boys, and help me with breakfast.” The worst part of it, his mother never bothered to ask him what HE needed. She just demanded that he take care of HER kids for her. There was no use asking his dad for help; if he showed up at home, he wasn’t about to lift a finger to help anyone other than himself. Like the good son he was, Alex dressed his sister, checked on his siblings, ensured everyone was safe and secure, and helped his mother prepare breakfast…wishing the entire time that he could just find a quiet corner to disappear into.
The entire day was filled with loud screams, pushing, shoving, running, and mayhem. Amidst it all, Alex was expected to somehow create order from the chaos. Dinner was the usual scene from a city zoo. Most of the food made it everywhere except into the kids’ mouths. Alex ignored the chaos at the table and ate his dinner in silence. When the meal was over he told his mother, “I’m going to go to the park.”
“Why don’t you take your brothers with you so I can get this mess cleaned up.”
“No.” Alex was starting to feel angry now.
“What do you mean, no?”
“I have been taking care of five kids all day! I need some peace and quiet! It’s not like I was the one who got pregnant and had these kids anyway.” With that he turned and walked out leaving his mother standing there with her mouth gaping.
“Hey, Mick, I’ve got some great news. There’s an internship opening up at the firm this summer. That means after you graduate, you can get a leg up on everyone else before heading into college in the fall.” Mickey’s father had been pushing him to go into law ever since he could remember. That’s fine and good, but now he wanted to take away the last summer Mickey had to himself?
“I don’t know, Dad, I mean, I really wanted to spend this summer focusing on my music.”
“I understand how much you like your music, Son, but you have to be realistic here. You can’t make a real living playing a guitar. If you want to support yourself, you have to have a real career, and that’s what I’m offering you.”
“But music is in my soul…”
“I know it is, and music is a wonderful hobby. It relieves stress. It helps you focus. What it doesn’t do is provide a stable income for you or your family. Just ask the guy down on the subway platform; I’m sure he can confirm that.” Mickey knew his dad was right, but he still didn’t want to accept it. Music was a part of him, and he just wanted to be part of the music, too.
“Dad, I totally get what you’re saying, but it’s so hard to just let it go…”
“Mickey, don’t let it go, just rearrange. There’s a place for music in your life, just not on the main stage. Do you understand?”
“I get it. Is it ok if I go to the park tonight and play my guitar for a bit?”
“That’s a good idea. Take the time you need.”
“Jake, are you ready to go over those scholarship opportunities?”
“Not right now, Dad. I’m still looking for the right one.”
“What do you mean ‘the right one’?”
“All of the ones I’ve gotten are so far away. I was hoping to stay closer to home.”
“What does it matter if you’re close to home or not? The scholarship includes boarding. All of these places are offering full scholarships…” A spark of awareness flashed through his eyes. It’s that girl, isn’t it? You’re ready to blow a full boat scholarship to one of these prestigious colleges for a fling!”
“It’s not a fling, and she’s not ‘that girl’!”
“I don’t care who or what she is, I’m not going to let her ruin your future!”
“She can’t ruin my future; she is my future!” With that, Jake stormed out of the house.
Amanda sat on her bed doodling in her notebook. Everyone else was so sure about their lives, their opportunities, their futures. She never truly knew what her future held…until Jake. That’s the only thing that she knew for sure; she loved Jake, and without him, she had no future. Unfortunately, she knew her mother would never understand. After leaving her abusive father, hiding, and running for years so he couldn’t find them—always looking over their shoulders for a sign that he may have found them, there’s no way her mother could believe in love again.
Amanda felt, torn she didn’t want to hurt her mother, but her heart belonged to Jake. She wished there was a way to make her mother understand. If only she and Jake could be together without hurting her mother. She decided to go to the park to think.
It didn’t take long for the friends to find each other in the park. Jake took his fake I.D. and bought a case of beer to help raise the somber mood. For a Saturday night, this was pretty dark, and that’s not referencing the lighting. Mickey dealt with his darkness by strumming his guitar. Alex sat by himself on the swing savoring the peace. Jake and Amanda’s moods did brighten a bit when they saw each other. They climbed to the top of the slide to brighten their moods a bit more.
A little while later as the moon shone gloriously down onto the still, cool night, Jake and Amanda sat together at the top of the slide.Their lips were locked; his hand steadily finding its way up the inside of her shirt, and her hand creeping its way up his thigh.
“Can’t you two find a room, I need to concentrate, here.” Mickey was leaning against the swings, lightly strumming acoustic guitar.
“What does my relationship have to do with your concentration?” Jake said, obviously irritated.
“Who could possibly think properly with all that smacking going on?” Mickey shot back, with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Jake spoke up again emphasizing the sarcasm, “Well, if I can’t taste what really matters, at least pass me another beer.” Mick tossed him one from the case at the foot of the swings, then made the rounds, giving one to everybody.
“The moon is so beautiful tonight;” Amanda was staring up, mesmerized by the glowing globe. “I heard a story once about how the moon was the sun’s mistress. He was so entranced by her that he has spent all eternity chasing her around the world.” Her voice remained dreamy and Jake simply stared at her with an awestruck look on his face. After a few seconds Mickey and Alex burst out laughing breaking the reverie.
“There’s something weird over there,” Amanda said, pointing.
Alex looked up, “Weird? What do you mean weird?”
“I don’t know, it’s just glowing or something.” Everybody started looking in the direction Amanda indicated, and sure enough, there was a strange glow off in the distance.
“What do you think it is?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know,” said Amanda.
Mickey asked, “Do you think we should check it out?”
At that Amanda blanched, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It could be anything. A ghost, a UFO…” her voice trailed off.
“Listen to yourself, baby,” Jake reasoned. “You’re talking about ghosts and aliens. Those things don’t even exist. Whatever it is, it has to be something real, something solid. It’s nothing supernatural, so I say we check it out. There’s no harm in looking. Once we see it, our curiosity is satisfied and we can come back. Sound good?”
“I don’t know…”
“Aw come on. I’ll be there to protect you.” With that he puffed out his less than developed teen-aged chest, and Amanda couldn’t help smiling.
“Alright.”
Their goal was nearly a half a mile away in an abandoned shipping yard. The glow emanated from a door set in the middle of the yard. The doorway, framed in stone, led down, into the earth. The door sat alone; an ominous presence amidst the skeletons of the shipping business that once occupied this place. The eerie glow seeped from behind the door, like some unnatural light escaping through the cracks. Jake started to approach the door, but Amanda gasped and said, “Jake, no. What are you doing?”
“Chill out, baby girl, it’s just a door. I only want to know where it goes.” With that he reached for the latch, but before he could touch it, the door began to open. The light brightened as it opened, until the door reached its apex, and the light was almost too much to bear, then it faded to a faint glow that was just enough to allow the group to see. Jake peered inside to find a stairwell leading down. He could not see the bottom of the stairs, no matter how hard He tried. “Whoa.”
Mick pushed his way up to the doorway to have a look for himself. He let out a whistle and said, “Man, those look like they go on forever.”
“They can’t go on forever,” mumbled Alex.
“Well, have a look for yourself…” replied Jake.
From there they each took turns peering into the doorway. Then Jake started moving through the door. Amanda nearly had a panic attack shouting, “What are you doing!”
“How are we supposed to find out where it goes if we don’t go through?”
“I don’t care where it goes! For all I know it’s a straight shot to hell!”
“Relax, baby,” Jake cooed as he passionately kissed through her objections. When they parted he gently said, “We’ll just take a quick look, then we’ll leave, okay?” Amanda reluctantly nodded.
The stairs were simple stone that had been cut from the rock wall beneath them. To their left was a rock wall that resembled the stairs below. To their right was a sheer drop, guarded by an iron rail. The group could not see anything over the edge of the rail due to a dense fog covering the floor that obscured the view. Futilely, they continued to look over into the mist, searching for clues as to what the place was.
After what seemed like hours, Mickey said, “Maybe Amanda’s right. We’ve been walking down these stairs forever, and we’re no closer to the bottom. I’m ready to go.”
“Naw, man,” said Jake. “We’ve already come this far, we should at least see where we’ve come to…”
Amanda spoke up saying, “If we’re going to do this, instead of being stuck in an awkward, frightened silence, why don’t we talk about something to get our minds off of the surroundings? I have a subject: What is your innermost desire—what do you want most from life? I’ll go first. I just want to be with the person I love.” Then she smiled at Jake. While everyone else was rolling their eyes, Jake said, “Amen to that,” then kissed her.
Mickey broke the tension by bringing his desire to light, “I just want to be one with the music. It’s so hard to find the right notes to express how I feel. If I could be part of the experience, the music would flow through me. I wouldn’t have to find anything. The music would just…happen.”
“That sounds so poetic,” said Amanda. “What about you, Alex?”
“I just want to be left alone.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Amanda stared at Alex disbelievingly for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and turned back around. “Hey, that mist is a lot closer now, we can almost touch it. That means we’re nearly to the bottom.”
Sure enough a few minutes later Jake tripped, nearly falling over as the staircase ended abruptly in the midst of the dense fog. Amanda steadied herself by grabbing hold of Jake’s jacket. Everyone else used the wall and the rail to steady their way.
At first the fog was so dense they couldn’t see anything at all. The air was completely still, with no breeze moving through to lift the fog, yet it was still cool and damp. It smelled like earth and rock, without the usual odor of decay that normally accompanies damp places.
As the group began to move forward, faint shapes started to form out of the mist. Indistinct, unformed shapes came drifting through the mist toward them. Amanda let out a slight, terrified screech, and grabbed ahold of Jake’s arm. For once, Jake had nothing reassuring to say to her. Instead he said, “You know, I think I’ve seen enough. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps, and I’m out of here.”
“I’m with Jake,” Mickey said.
“Where are the stairs?” Jake asked.
“What do mean?” Mickey asked.
“The stairs, you moron! They were right here! A whole staircase can’t just…vanish!”
“It’s the mist. You’re probably just confused about where they were.” Mickey said.
Suddenly the mist began to dissipate. There were no stairs. There were no walls. Just an endless cavern with the occasional natural pillar. They all stood there for a few moments staring in awe until Amanda said, “Where’s Alex?”
“Alex!…Alex!” The only response was the echo of their own voices. The cavern seemed to stretch on forever. The strange light was still emanating from right around the base of where the stairs had vanished from, but everything else was drenched in complete darkness.
Amanda started to panic. “What is happening? Alex is gone, the stairs are gone, we are trapped in here, and we don’t even know where here is…”
Jake tried to comfort her by holding her and saying, “I know, baby, you were right…”
“Damn straight I was right, but you let your ego…”
“It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is now,” Mickey broke in, “We’re all up shit creek and we have to find a way down stream.” Amanda said nothing, but crossed her arms and pouted.
“Did you hear that?” Mickey asked.
“Hear what?” Jake replied.
“Listen…”
They all strained to hear what Mickey was referring to. A faint, strange, and eerie melody was emanating from somewhere deep in that dark chamber. Mickey started walking toward the sound as if he was drawn to it. Shocked and scared Amanda asked, “What are you doing?”
“We have to get out of this place…we’re not going to do that standing here.”
“We don’t know where that music is coming from or who is creating it!”
“Maybe not, but we do know that standing here isn’t helping us.”
As the trio inched forward, the eerie music became gradually louder until a faint glow was visible deep in the cavern. Amanda gasped. “This is like a nightmare! That light, the stairs, the fog, this music, now you guys are going to want to go ‘check out’ that light! That’s exactly why we’re trapped here in the first place!” With that she collapsed to the floor in hysterical tears. This time there was no snarky retort; Mickey just continued toward the eerie light and music while Jake stayed behind to try to comfort Amanda.
The closer Mickey came to the light, the louder the music got…and the more hypnotized he became. As he approached the light, he saw an opening in the side of the cavern wall. Mickey started into the glowing room and felt the overwhelming presence of the music. It was like music itself lived in this room. He brought the guitar that was slung across his back into playing position and tried to bring his music into harmony with the room, but something was wrong. He could hear the music. He could feel the music. He could sense the music all around him, but he couldn’t quite become the music. He couldn’t bring himself into perfect harmony with the beautiful melody that surrounded him.
The more he tried to play his guitar, the worse it sounded, and the more frustrated Micky got. Finally he decided to stop trying and just let the music fill him and guide him. The subtle nuances of the music filled every crevice of Mickey’s body until he understood the music like he had never understood it before. He finally was aware.
As Amanda sniffed back her tears she realized that the strange light in the distance had faded, and the eerie music was gone. “Jake, where’s Mickey?”
“Don’t worry, babe, they went ahead without us. We’ll catch up. You catch your breath.”
Amanda had a bad feeling and started calling out, “Mickey!…Mickey!” All she heard was her own voice echoing around the the cavern. “Jake, there is something evil in here, I know it.”
“I can feel it, too. As long as we’re together, we can make it through.”
“Jake, just promise me you will never leave me.”
“Amanda, I will be with you forever.” He reached out and enveloped her in a tender, endless embrace. They had finally become one.
Alex saw everything from his perch amidst the mist. As he watched he remembered their conversation on the stairs and saw this place for what it was. Everyone had gotten their wish. Jake and Amanda will be together forever. Mickey will forever be one with the music, and he, Alex, will forever be alone.
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