...if you were brave

[Chilimuffin]

whew... good thing I know your religious beliefs or I'd be hanging by my wrists here (I'll sell the info to any interested parties.. heh). As usual, D, it's good stuff, great stuff, in fact.

[Oz]

Indeed you are a bastard. Hey, I wouldnt have said it if you didnt. I LOVED this installment. I think it was the best so far. I really really REALLY liked the parenetheses, as I've already told you. *Anxiously awaiting more*

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"What about him? What are you doing with him?"
"What you should be doing with me..."

Proud family member of Jelymo, gollum, Kelly, Dano, Jaxom27, 5Cats, Fenix and others.

I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned

Arch-nemesis of Tea Woman

[Dano]

Sorry, this chapter is a continuation of the last part, and they actually are connected. It was just too long to post all at once. I crave your attention, and I can't get it if you're bored to tears. And awaaaaaay we go!

(Something flashed across her face right then. It started out as bemusement, but slowly downgraded to something that might have been jealousy, even sadness. I decided to simply put my head down and barrel ahead.)

So, I'm sitting there, alone, in a bar full of empty tables, and they decide to come over and sit with me. I'm in the corner, I've got a pretty bad view, and they sit down at my table. Both of them.

We introduce ourselves, "Hi my name's Tom." "Hi, we're Athena and Margaret." "Nice to meet you." "Likewise." On and on, just chitchat, small talk.

And then a while later, it hits me... "Wait, Athena? Like, Athena Healing Services?"

("Was it her?" she asked, suddenly very interested again, smiling and becoming animated. This was the Crystal I had been missing.)

So, we got to talking, and got to know about each other a bit, and by the end of the night, I was hooked. I met with her not too long after that, and I've been working with her off and on since then.

"What was it like?"

She leaned in, so close to me that I could smell her shampoo. This was why I had started in on this ramble in the first place. I could see it in her eyes, a hunger for some meaning in her life. And even though my particular way may not be what was right for her (just as Athena's way wasn't exactly right for me), I could hopefully get her to explore her options, fill the hole that was still bleeding.

"Well, it's a form of guided meditation..."

For the next 45 minutes or so, I sat while she asked questions and I answered them, not just about rebirthing, but my recent interest and study of Reiki and many other things. The conversation rose and fell, fast and boistrous, slow and subdued, always reaching, always searching. I felt like a teacher with a particularly bright and inquisitive student.

Gradually, I turned it back to her.

"So, what have you beend doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you 12-stepping or anything?"
"No, I spent some time in rehab, and now I'm just kinda going day-by-day."
"Is it enough?"

She let out a long sigh and slunk into her chair, looking at the floor.

"Not really, no. I mean... I don't know."

She sat there, staring at the floor, her hands nervously picking at a napkin, her eyes starting to water. I reached over and put my hand over hers again. She looked up and tried to smile, but it crumbled.

"Crys, I want you to know that I still care about you. I'm your friend, and any time you need me, let me know. I'll do whatever I can to help you, ok?"
"Yeah, I know..."
I swallowed hard. "I still love you. It's not like it was before, but it's still love."
"I know, I love you too Thoma..." her voice broke as she fought back tears.
"I know you do honey. Come on, let's get out of here, ok? Feel like seeing a movie?"

She straightened up and wiped her hand across her eyes. "Yeah, that would be great. Let's go see whatever's playing at the Dundee. It's close enough that we can walk."

Ok, question-answer time... Yes, I plan on this being an on-going thing, at least as long as I can keep thinking of things to say. I've got a few more chapters to go focusing on Thomas and Crystal, and then I'm going to go into the peripherry of their lives and populate it.

[Dano]

Sleeping, dreaming, ringing.

Ringing.

Ringing. Waking.

"Hello?"
"Thomas? I need to talk to you.."

My head was full of fog and sleep, my eyes glued to the rotary dial on my phone, reading and re-reading my own telephone number.

"Who is this? What time is it?"
"It's Crystal. It's about 1 o'clock."
"What's up, are you ok?"

I walked over to the couch and sat down. Streetlamp softglow filtered in through my blinds and across the floor. I slowly got my bearings. Tuesday night, late, home, talking to Crystal."

"I just really need you to come out here and talk to me, please."

There was desperation in her voice, a very real fear that I was going to say "no". And underneath it, I was sure something was lurking, whatever it was that had set her off.

"Um, yeah, ok. Where do you live?"
"Do you remember how to get out to my parents' house?"
"Out in Elkhorn?"
"Yeah."

Man, at least a 30 minute drive. I sighed heavily and got up to find a pair of pants.

"Thomas? Are you still there?"
"Yeah, Crys, I'm right here."
"Are you coming?"
"Yeah, just give me about a half hour to get there. Won't your parents mind?"
"No, it should be fine. Just please hurry."
"Ok."
"Promise me you'll hurry."
"Yeah, no problem. I promise."

She hung up, and I set the phone down. The desperation in her voice was almost physical, like I could have held it in my hand. We had just said goodbye in the parking-lot of Goldberg's about three hours ago. What could have set her off?

I looked around, deciding against socks in favor of just shoes. I grabbed a tape to listen to in the car and dug my keys out of the bowl by the door. The cold night air greeted me like a ravenous lover, wrapping itself around me, letting me know that it owned me. The heavy flannel and jeans I had one didn't help my naked ankles or scalp, but I loped to my car and started my long drive to 196th and Pacific streets, to her parents' small horse ranch.

[Oz]

Gah! Dano, you are an evil man! I love the last paragraph, it's one of the best things that I've read recently. How long???

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"What about him? What are you doing with him?"
"What you should be doing with me..."

Proud family member of Jelymo, gollum, Kelly, Dano, Jaxom27, 5Cats, Fenix and others.

I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned

Arch-nemesis of Tea Woman

[Fénix]

Alright caught up now. I love down to earth stories that don't bore you. Great Job...and like I always say. I WANT MORE!!!!

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"I've had to spend the majority of my life vigilant against the thoughts and emotions of others pentrating my mind. But just this once, as the psychic dam begins to burst, I dont try to stop it... because the only emotion that comes crashing through the breakwall...
is hope.
It washes over everyone. Infectious... growing in strength...
Connecting us... uniting us... until suddenly...
strangers dont seem so strange anymore."
Jean Grey- X Men # 71

PROUD SLAVEBOY OF JELYMO

Enter Daredevil at Hero Realm

[Dano]

Past the malls.

Past the neighborhoods.

Past the go-go bars.

Past the gas stations.

Into the fields of Highway 6 we drove, in her car since mine had an overheating problem. I had my seat all the way back to accomodate my legs and I still felt cramped. The ceiling was low, and I had to lean my head to the left. All in all, much the same as the last time I'd been in it.

She had been sitting on the porch when I pulled up, bundled in the same coat and hat from earlier, and had run up to tell me we were taking her car. I parked and switched, and was greeted with a half-hearted smile and Sarah McLachlan blaring on the stereo. She pulled around the circular driveway and sped west, even further away from the heart of the city we called home.

At night you can drive along Highway 6 pretty much without incident, either of other motorists or even State Patrolmen. Although a main arterey at one time, it had been substantially ignored since I-80 had opened over 30 years ago. We rolled along, listening to what I found out was a mix tape and not talking. I figured I'd give her time, letting her gather her thoughts and words.

We were just past Ashland (where we had been forced to make our first stop of the night, as I needed to hit the restroom), and she suddenly turned down the radio and threw her cigarette out the window.

"I need you to drive, please."
"Sure. Pull over."

She pulled over and put the car in park, not moving. Her head slumped down, resting on her hands on the steering wheel. She took in a long shuddering breath and started crying. I gave her a second to wallow (which I've learned from my own experience is important) and then extended my arm to her neck, stroking her hair and whispering that things would be ok.

She looked up and I could see the bottom of the barrel reflected in them. She pulled up her sleeves and showed me track scars. I took her hands and held them.

"They itch so bad sometimes... I just want to shoot so it'll stop... Anything, I don't care... Crank, junk, fucking anything just so it'll stop."

I looked her in the eye and put one hand on her cheek. "I'm glad you called me Crys. That showed a lot of strength, I'm proud of you."

She cried out and collapsed against me, pressing her face so hard into my chest that I could feel the tears through my shirt, her hands clawing my neck like she was out for blood. I held her close, kissing her head, whispering to her like a mother with a baby.

"Please, Tommy, make it stop itching..."
"I can't Crys, you know that. It just has to stop on it's own."
"I was so close to calling him tonight... I had the phone in my hand..."
"I'm glad you called me instead."
"...I didn't call you right away... I just..."
"Ssshhh... don't worry about it, you called me, and that's what's important."

She kept crying, for a long time, long enough for the tape to stop and auto-reverse to the other side. The noise startled her back, and she sat up. I dried her cheeks with my sleeve and asked her if she wanted me to drive home. She shook her head.

"I want you to drive, but not home. Can we go out to Lincoln and then turn around?"
"Sure, no problem."

We switched seats and I drove on to Lincoln, about another 20 minutes. I decided to drive through town a little and then hop on Highway 375 back into Omaha, since it would give us time and different scenerey. Not that there was much of a difference in Nebraska at 3am, but I still did it.

She sat with her head leaning against the window, looking out at the fields and occasional balding trees and lonely houses. Gradually, she drifted off to sleep. I popped her tape out and slide mine in, adjusting the volume so as to not disturb her as we drove home.

I stopped in Bellevue for gas and a soda. She was awake and smiling when I got back into the car.

"King Crimson?"
"Hey, I like King Crimson."
"Jerry liked King Crimson."
"Jerry had pretty good taste."
"Jerry was an asshole."
"Hey, I was the one he threw the hammer at, not you."

We laughed for a second, and then her face softened.

"I don't deserve you."
"Oh sure you do, everyone deserves me."
"I'm serious Thomas."
"Oh stop, I'm no better than anyone else."

She dismissed me with a wave and I allowed myself a moment of torture before I let her off the hook.

"Well, I do what I can."
She smiled softly and whispered, "You do it well."

We drove on through town back to her house, and I managed to back her car into the driveway so it wasn't blocking my own. We both got out, and she walked with me to my car. When we got there, I turned around to say goodbye and she jumped up and hugged me tight. I hugged her back, leaning pretty far down to accomodate our size difference.

I pulled back after a while, but she wouldn't let me. Instead, one hand moved to my neck and she kissed me, softly, on the lips. I was surprised, but will admit to not breaking the kiss. We lingered that way for a second, and then she parted. Still holding each other, I managed to find my voice.

"Um, Crys, as much as I enjoyed that, I don't think that we should..."
"I know, I just figured you deserved more than a hug. Besides, I missed kissing you."

She planted another one on my cheek and whispered, "Thanks, I love you."
"I love you too Crys."

She turned around and ran back to the house, trying to evade the cold. I laughed softly to myself and got in the car to drive home.

End part one. There's more coming, I'm really liking Thomas and his world, and I've already populated it with a few other people that I feel need introducing.

[This message has been edited by Dano (edited September 29, 2000).]

[Miral]

Well yesterday I printed this story to catch the part I had missed..and here I come back to see more?! God, you amaze me Dano...how'd you get so good?

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~Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.~ T.E.Lawrence
~These posts are for entertainment purposes only. Thank you.~ by D.A.N.
~Murder one I didn't know what I did
I figured it out by murder two
Murder three I stopped feeling ashamed
This is me I'm going for you~ by: dwim