The Boardwalk Muse
I followed the ancient, rickety boardwalk through the rows of corn that went to the ends of my Earth. The early summertime dew had a perfume of light magic that hung in the air like the fireflies that danced in and out of my vision. Pounding against the decrepit boards, my bare feet were getting tired from the running I was doing, but I couldn 't stop now. John was waiting for me near the ocean at the end of the lane, our little spot.
Nothing more than a puny fishing hole, our "ocean" was a special muse no one knew about except me and John. Wandering home after school one day, I was fourteen and he was fifteen when we first found it. Through the years, this shelter of sorts became the regular meeting place for me and John when our home lives became too much to bear. Soon, the fishing hole became an ocean to us, a place that was vast and took us to far away lands within the other person. Ever since then, we 've snuck off from our lives to meet each other and sail across the ocean to a new world. A world ruled by me and John. Through our imaginations and each other, we made the ocean at the end of the lane, a muse that protected John and I from the world around us. After fifteen minutes of running I finally reached my destination, but John wasn 't anywhere to be found. I guessed he just hadn 't shown up yet. Five minutes pass and I began to get worried. No matter what, he 's never late... Then, someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me up! I turned around and landed a mighty punch on the tree trunk of a left arm that was John 's. I could tell they were his simply from his touch. "I bet you thought I wouldn 't show!" He said with that devilish, crooked grin that was reserved for when he talked to me. "I knew you 'd show, but I figured Constable Joe had you moving boxes or something, like he always has you do." I said, trying to hide my slight panic that something HAD happened. Coming from a broken home where Jack Daniels was king, John 's dad used to beat him and his sister until John turned sixteen and fought back. The abuse still continues, but after John nearly beat him to death he stopped hitting them. His dad, when especially drunk, will talk about killing John because he is "a thorn" in his side. It never bothered John, but it scares me senseless on nights when the anxiety comes. At the edge of our ocean, we sat down and let the waves lap up against our dirty feet while the full moon rose above the grove of willow and oak trees that lined the area; fireflies lit up the trees a bright …show more content…
Marry me?" John finally let out after a long cone of silence, filled with the symphony of crickets, frogs, and cicadas, "I 'm finally eighteen and I 'm ready to get out of here. I have a little money saved up and a map to anywhere you want to go. I just want to be with you. I 'm tired of sneaking out here to see you. I want you to be mine and only mine. I love you, Jen, and I can 't stand another day without you. I 've been thinking about this ever since we found this place way back when. Let 's get married right here and be gone in the morning!" Exclaimed John, talking faster and faster. A smile spreading across his face the more he thought about what he was saying.
I was stunned. My emotions seemed to project onto the symphony of insects and reptiles because their volume seemed to increase and become even more dissonant than they already were. Terrified, elated, shocked, and everything in between, I suddenly burst into tears. All my life my mother told me no one would want to marry me, that no one would love me. For the longest time, I believed her. Now, she was wrong; and when I wasn 't there cooking breakfast for her tomorrow, she would know. The cycle in which she was determined I would be stuck, was finally
I followed the ancient, rickety boardwalk through the rows of corn that went to the ends of my Earth. The early summertime dew had a perfume of light magic that hung in the air like the fireflies that danced in and out of my vision. Pounding against the decrepit boards, my bare feet were getting tired from the running I was doing, but I couldn 't stop now. John was waiting for me near the ocean at the end of the lane, our little spot.
Nothing more than a puny fishing hole, our "ocean" was a special muse no one knew about except me and John. Wandering home after school one day, I was fourteen and he was fifteen when we first found it. Through the years, this shelter of sorts became the regular meeting place for me and John when our home lives became too much to bear. Soon, the fishing hole became an ocean to us, a place that was vast and took us to far away lands within the other person. Ever since then, we 've snuck off from our lives to meet each other and sail across the ocean to a new world. A world ruled by me and John. Through our imaginations and each other, we made the ocean at the end of the lane, a muse that protected John and I from the world around us. After fifteen minutes of running I finally reached my destination, but John wasn 't anywhere to be found. I guessed he just hadn 't shown up yet. Five minutes pass and I began to get worried. No matter what, he 's never late... Then, someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me up! I turned around and landed a mighty punch on the tree trunk of a left arm that was John 's. I could tell they were his simply from his touch. "I bet you thought I wouldn 't show!" He said with that devilish, crooked grin that was reserved for when he talked to me. "I knew you 'd show, but I figured Constable Joe had you moving boxes or something, like he always has you do." I said, trying to hide my slight panic that something HAD happened. Coming from a broken home where Jack Daniels was king, John 's dad used to beat him and his sister until John turned sixteen and fought back. The abuse still continues, but after John nearly beat him to death he stopped hitting them. His dad, when especially drunk, will talk about killing John because he is "a thorn" in his side. It never bothered John, but it scares me senseless on nights when the anxiety comes. At the edge of our ocean, we sat down and let the waves lap up against our dirty feet while the full moon rose above the grove of willow and oak trees that lined the area; fireflies lit up the trees a bright …show more content…
Marry me?" John finally let out after a long cone of silence, filled with the symphony of crickets, frogs, and cicadas, "I 'm finally eighteen and I 'm ready to get out of here. I have a little money saved up and a map to anywhere you want to go. I just want to be with you. I 'm tired of sneaking out here to see you. I want you to be mine and only mine. I love you, Jen, and I can 't stand another day without you. I 've been thinking about this ever since we found this place way back when. Let 's get married right here and be gone in the morning!" Exclaimed John, talking faster and faster. A smile spreading across his face the more he thought about what he was saying.
I was stunned. My emotions seemed to project onto the symphony of insects and reptiles because their volume seemed to increase and become even more dissonant than they already were. Terrified, elated, shocked, and everything in between, I suddenly burst into tears. All my life my mother told me no one would want to marry me, that no one would love me. For the longest time, I believed her. Now, she was wrong; and when I wasn 't there cooking breakfast for her tomorrow, she would know. The cycle in which she was determined I would be stuck, was finally