A Thank You

 

Thank you for all those BookRix members who help me improve my story and other stories I've written. It has been a wonderful experience being here on BookRix because of the amazing people who teach me more about writing.

  

Thank you also to the ones who is going to read the story I've written. I hope you'd like this story and enjoy reading it If there are any mistakes and suggestions you can tell me. I will really work into it and edit it again.

 Good day and Take care!

 

Sincerely,

Valerie Evening

Chapter One: The Answer

 

Katelyn can't remember the last smile she gave, the last laugh that escaped her lips and turned into a once familiar fit of giggles.

There is a secret that she leaves unspoken. That secret will let you know the reason her day is always full of sadness.    

It’s 7:30 am in the morning. She shrugged on her teal top, feeling the weight of another day on her shoulders as she shimmied her long white skirt up to her hips. She is ready to go to school.

There is no trace of wanting for her to open the door of her room.

Overwrought, she utters and makes a wish while closing her eyes hoping it will not repeat… the past days.

After saying her wish, she sighs and with the greatest regret, she forces herself to open the door.

As she goes down the stairs, which looks like it is in misery. With bravery, she faces the reality of life. Her mom and dad are fighting once again.

She tries to ignore every hurtful word they say to each other, but she can’t. Finally, she is outside the house. Katelyn feels more relieved than ever.

She goes in the school bus, and sits beside the window where she usually sits.

She takes her new looking iPod from her leather designed knapsack, and starts using her big, mauve colored headphones to listen to her favorite music that matches her unrevealed feelings.

She despises looking at people when they smile; she envies them, because she knows that it is impossible for her to even place a sincere smile on her lips.

She also dislikes hearing their cheerful conversations, and realizing how happy they are.

She tiredly looks at the seat right next to her. There is a feeling in her heart, the yearning of finding friends, but she is against with the world, because of her miserable life that she isolates herself from other people.

She turns her bitter eyes towards the window, and heavy hearted she sighs. This is her everyday routine in her life which gives her a lot of excruciating pain. Although, she has never voiced it out. She keeps everything deeply to herself.

She gathers all of her thoughts about those noteworthy times when love had not collapsed.

In the sixth grade, her mom and dad hugged her. She just came back from school.

Vince, her dad, kissed her on the forehead, “Katelyn, my beautiful daughter, how’s your day?”

She looked up, and with excitement narrated to him her wonderful day, “My scores in all of my tests today are all perfect!” she let out a pleasing laughter.

They clapped for her.

Addie, her mom, who have the most twinkling eyes told her, “Let’s celebrate we are going to buy you new clothes!”

Katelyn became very lively and hugged her parents thinking that her life is perfect. She can’t ask for anything more.

She jumped and squeakily shouted in intense happiness, “Yehey!”

Addie and Vince hold hands while they looked into each other’s eyes like their love will never end.

Remembering those times, makes Katelyn feel more crush inside.

Huge thorns are piercing her heart so deep and crucially that makes unbearable pain, which is constantly hurting her.

Without any trace of hope, she looks at the birds flying in a single direction in great harmony.

Slowly, she tightly closes her eyes, and earnestly makes a wish.

A guy is sitting in the side seat which is closest to the right window of the bus. It is also a one seat-row. He looks towards his left direction and sees Katelyn who is currently sitting in a two seated-row.

This is the second day he is on this bus. Since yesterday, he has observed Katelyn. She usually stares at the window with a mourning face. She also has this habit of closing her eyes that shows a very strong emotion.

She has terribly messy hair, unflattering jacket, and a crumpled uniform.

These traits make her very interesting to him.

With eagerness, he stands up, takes his bag while the bus is still moving.

She feels that someone is sitting next to her. She thought that it is just her imagination but after a while, she realizes that what she feels is true, when she sees a guy who is sitting beside her as she opens her eyes.

But I wonder is he the one... the person who can help me find true happiness?

It is destiny that his eyes met hers.     

Even he doesn’t say a word, she knows in her heart the answer. It can be seen in his eyes.

 

The Answer

"Then, his eyes meet hers. Even he doesn't say any word…she already knows the answer that can be seen in his eyes."

 

Chapter Two: Expressive Eyes

 
 
 Their eyes lock into each other for a moment. It's as if the sand of time just slows down… that is the feeling she has. She doesn’t even know him, and yet the feeling is magnificent and right.

The word, “mesmeric” comes up in Katelyn’s mind.

She notices his soft looking, fair hair.

Its golden strands look like it is made of pure diamonds because of its extraordinary, shining features.

She takes away her eyes from him, and focuses herself on the music, although she can’t ignore his strong presence no matter how hard she tries.

After a while, she hears someone calling her. She isn’t sure if there is, not until that person pats his warm fingertip on her shoulder.

She sets her eyes at the guy beside her, the same guy who wants to talk to her. He is saying something but she can’t hear it.

She hurriedly removes the headphones on her ears and tells him with her soothing voice, “Sorry, I don’t hear what you said because of my headphones.”

 The guy looks fixedly in her eyes. Kind of overwhelmed, she finds herself gazing at the intense magnificence of his light eyes that are sparkling behind his side bangs.

 

 “I said,” He stops and then repeats the word with a louder but calm voice, “Hi.”

She is surprised and speechless doubting that this is reality. “Oh,” after a few seconds of silence. She can see now that she isn’t dreaming at all. She replies, “Hi!”

“My name is Niall.” He says, with a warm voice.

“I’m Katelyn.” She says in a shyest tone.

Besides her unattractive grooming, Niall knows it can’t hide Katelyn’s expressive eyes which for him are the most eye-catching sights in the universe.

He is about to say something to her, but the bus finally reaches school. The last word he says to her before he goes down the bus is the exceptional, “Bye!”

Still, she can’t help herself to be overwhelmed by his actions. 

She answers him, “Bye!”

Going down the bus, she glanced at him for one last time, while he is busy fixing the things in his rocker styled bag pack.

After that they separate ways.

Before walking in the hallway is tiring, but now it’s somehow enjoyable, because finally someone gives an effort to be her friend.

At class, her mind keeps singing songs, while she keeps staring at the dull window to release her boredom. She isn’t listening to the teacher the whole time.

Throughout every subject she has, the only fun thing she does is to daydream until the class ends. 

The school bell rings, she turns her eyes over the wall clock, she feels alive once again, “Finally, it’s recess!” she whispers to herself.

She takes her leather knapsack with her and walks straight ahead to the canteen. She searches for any vacant seat. She keeps on roaming around the room until she finds the perfect spot, which is the empty seat that is beside the wall, it is also facing the crowd who are scattered everywhere.

Her eyes move around the whole canteen.

Then, she decides to watch every student who comes in the door.

She feels her heart flying over in her mind because Niall, ‘the guy she talked to in the bus’ just comes in.  When it is close enough so that their eyes will meet again, she bows down her head, and forces herself stare at her black shoes. She feels the non-stop fluttering of her heart when he hears him calling her name, “Katelyn!”

She nervously looks up and realizes that he is now standing right in front of her. She thought he wouldn’t see her in this huge crowd.

“Hi!” she says wonder-struck that she can even say a word in such a mentally and physically nervous state.

“It’s good to see you again.”  His voice sounds like the beautiful waves of the sea.

“It’s good to see you too.” She says feeling a ticklish feeling in her skin.

“So, how’s class?”

Her face turns serious and her forehead crumpled, “It’s really horrible, yours?”

His face’s reaction is opposite to hers. He looks happy, “It’s amazing! You must hate me now.”

Katelyn admires his funniest joke. “Lucky you…”

"Yeah, lucky me," he chuckled, his eyes flickering to hers for a moment, a shy smile creeping onto his lips, "Look, um, I should go." A growl from his stomach, loud enough for Katelyn to hear, made the tips of Niall's ears turn pink. Katelyn, surprising even herself, let out a little giggle. "I'm really craving a hamburger right now," he explained, his stomach letting out another gurgle. Ears still pink, he shrugged, and added, "What can I say? I really do love hamburgers."

She giggles admiring the cuteness of their simple conversation. “Okay.”

Niall leaves and fall in line. Katelyn watches his every footstep moving away from her.

In her mind,

“Dear Heart,

     It is still a mystery to me. These breathtaking feelings I am having. I know one by one… little by little… step by step on my way walking on this path, when I am already close enough, I will understand, and the mysteries beneath these steps will soon be answered.”

 By accident, a picture falls down on her bag. She picks it up and feels the coldness on her throat. The pain in her is burning in fiery. The picture is she and her parents having fun in those noteworthy times.

She finds her thoughts getting flashbacks about what happened at home. She is about to shed tears, but she controls it by holding with firmness the notebook in her hands. She often bows down her head and keeps her tearing up eyes distant from the people around her.

Every day she has to suffer hearing and seeing her parents fighting. She knows that soon they will divorce, and her heart will be ripped apart if that happens.

When she feels a lot better, she observes the students around her all of them are pleasant except her. She does not even enjoy eating her delicious food, because of this unsolved problem which is a daily basis in her life.

She envies those people who are happy and content in their lives. She whispers, “They are so lucky!”

She continues eating the strawberry flavored donut.

After she finishes eating, she goes out of the canteen and stays in the library; where only few people are there.

She pretends that she is reading, but in reality she is just doing that to waste time. She is there the whole recess.

The alarming bell rings, this means she has to go back to class.

While walking to class, she watches her footsteps touching the rough ground, and looks at her bracelet which says happiness.

She shook her head, not really agreeing to what it says.

When the school is finally over, she goes home. After she opens the door instead of seeing things going perfectly well in the house, she sees the opposite. Her mother is now sobbing while sitting on the floor. Katelyn approaches and hugs her.

But her mom angrily pushes her away, “Katelyn, please don’t hug me. I am not in the mood. Go to your room!”

When her mother coldly says that, she feels a vast tweak in her heart.

She puts her bag on the floor, and goes upstairs to her room.

She lays herself on the bed while releasing her big cries.

She takes her iPod and headphones in her bag, and listens to music.

As she is so attentive to the song, to ease her pain, she remembers her wish, whispers in the wind, talking to her heart.

“Dear Heart,

      Can you please stop the pain, remove the heartaches, heal the wounds, and make me feel hope to light my way through the darkness I am in. If you can hear me, please help me find true happiness.”

As tears slowly drips from her sorrowful, dark, ash eyes her mind shows some images of the guy with flaxen hair, the same guy who talked to her on the bus.

Her pain is alleviated because of him.

Thank you for giving me some light in the darkness I’m walking on. Even if the light will be gone tomorrow, at least today I can see it."

 

When she wastes a tear, the same time a meaningful wind swiftly walks in the curtains of the open window in Niall’s room. He is looking at the view outside when this expressive wind comes. He feels that the wind speaks to him and in his heart.

A sudden teardrop runs down his face and drops to the floor.

With close eyes, even he can’t hear the voice of the wind coming to his room, only he knows the answer.

“Wind, I can feel your sadness, and I hope I can make a way to change that sadness into happiness.”

 

Expressive Eyes

"Niall knows it can’t hide Katelyn’s expressive eyes which for him are the most eye-catching sights in the universe."

 

Imprint

Publication Date: 12-05-2012

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
This story is dedicated to all those people who are sad and out of hope. With this story, it will remind you that sometimes the smallest yet beautiful things in life are a big impact that wash away every sadness and hopelessness in your heart. All you got to do is just believe that true happiness can occur not only in dreams, but also in reality.