Prophecy
Forgotten

I’d finished my homework from earlier in the day and my laundry was already hanging on the line.

I’d even managed to wash my school bag. That was how bored I was. With nothing else to do, I took up my archery gear and headed outside.

I ran my fingers along the darkened wood of the bow. The golden accents seemed to glow more brilliantly than usual in the sunlight. It wasn’t my intention to bring it to Kingston, but my mother had suggested that I should continue practicing my archery. She’d given me a few blunt arrows along with the others to use during my practice sessions.

I nocked an arrow in place and took at the target, which was placed a hundred yards from my current position.

Twang, twang, twang.

I’d already shot out all the arrows in my quiver. Doing everything double-time seemed to present more of a challenge than regular time.

Alex said that I shouldn’t showboat my skills in front of a crowd, but no one was watching now. It was about time I tested out myself. I didn’t know the true extent of how far I could move within a single step. I placed one foot behind me and leaned back slightly. I took another step forward, and then leaped. I’d never been to space, but this must be how all the astronauts felt as they floated around.

“Summer, what the hell are you doing?” I heard Caleb call from behind me. I lost my concentration for a fraction of a second.

“Crosses!” I now regretted the amount of energy I’d put in one bound as I’d missed my landing and was hurdling towards a clump of banana trees. This was going to get sticky. Literally.

Two of the trees bent and snapped as I crash-landed. Uncle Frank was not going to be pleased. I carefully stood up, trying as much as possible to avoid the sticky sap that oozed out of the damaged stems. But it was too late for the front of my yellow tee, which already had some of the colourless goo sliming down it. It would leave a nasty stain when it dried.

“Crosses,” I whispered as I tried straightening the two trees, but every time I did, they fell back to the ground.

I heard a loud outburst of laughter coming from behind me. When I turned to look, Caleb was already rolling on the ground.

“That was not funny,” I said sullenly as I jumped down from the garden wall. “It was your fault that I lost my focus, you know.” he looked up at me but continued with the hysterics.

I walked over to the canvas target I’d set up and pulled the lodged arrows from it and placed them back into my hip quiver. I then walked back to my prior shooting distance and nocked two arrows in place. My anger had caused me to want to experiment; I tilted my bow towards him and drew the string back. I sighed heavily and then refocused my aim back to the target. I would probably enjoy shooting him, but I knew that I would probably regret it afterwards.

“Summer, do you think that using two arrows at the same time is wise?” he said moving towards me. I didn’t answer and applied a significant amount of drawing weight on the string.

I was kinda shocked this morning, when I noticed that he was actually wearing shorts and a shirt. Susan must be coming over later. I released the arrows and watched as they oscillated towards the target. Both hit the canvas, but none marked the centre ring.

“Impressive, but have you ever tried shooting at anything other than a stack of hay?” he said standing beside me.

“No, not really. I accidentally shot mom once, accidentally.” I added as he had given me a frightened glance.

“Really,” he paused briefly. I was about to take aim again. “Can I have a try?” he said outstretching his hand.

“Oh, okay.’’ I said handing him the nocked bow. He turned around slowly as if scanning the area. He then stopped and smiled puckishly.

I followed his gaze over to a huge green lizard, which was sitting lazily on one of the upper limbs of the mango tree. “You’re not . . . you’re not going to shoot the lizard?” his grin widened as he took aim. “You can’t do that.”

“Why not?” I didn’t answer. He pulled back on the bowstring. “Geez, the string’s stiff.” he complained before released the missile. “Shit!” bellowed Caleb and he flashed his hand wildly and then brought it up to his mouth, as the string had stung his unprotected arm.

“Karma,” I smiled. He frowned and walked over to the mango tree and I followed close behind. I picked up the arrow and checked the tip. It was fine. Caleb then started rummaging around in the fallen leaves to see if the lizard had been hit.

“Here it is,” he said stooping down. I came and looked over his shoulder at the lifeless lizard.

“You killed it,” I said softly as I stooped beside him. I didn’t like reptiles in general, but I felt sorry for the thing. I noticed that its skin had turned from green to brownish-black.

“Oh, come on Summer, it’s just a stupid lizard.” he then grabbed a twig and started pushing it around.

“Caleb, leave lizard alone.” he looked at me incredulously, and then pushed the thing towards me. “Quit playing around . . . Caleb!” I screeched.

“Oh Summer’s afraid of a little dead lizard.” he joked.

“Its’ not dead,” I pointed at the lizard who had started moving by itself. Caleb dropped the stick and pulled back suddenly, knocking me to the ground. The reptile flipped over to its legs and then surged towards me. “Frick!” I sprang up, pushed Caleb out of the way, and then showered a few tongues of fire on the reptile. A few of the dried leaves had caught on fire but I quickly stamped them out with my feet.

“Hey, what’s happening out here?” asked Aunt Liz bursting through the back door. “Is something burning . . . what happened to the banana trees? Caleb? Summer?”

“Why is it that when there is trouble, my name is the first name to be called?” he jostled.

“Will one of you explain what happened out here?” she folded her arms and waited.

“Well, er . . . practice kinda got a little dicey,” I said rubbing my neck nervously.

“What’s that smell . . . it smells like somebody is barbequing chicken or is it beef?”

“Try lizard,” said Caleb erupting into another fit of laughter. I bit the inside of my cheeks to prevent my smile from showing.

My aunt smiled. “What are the two of you really up to?”

“I allowed Caleb to use my bow, he saw a lizard and shot at it. It fell and we thought that it was dead, when he’d only stunned it, since the arrow was blunt. He started playing around with it and then it kinda woke up then rushed after me, and I . . . I sorta toasted it.” I gushed.

“Sometimes I forget that the two of you are eighteen because of your antics.” she smiled. I breathed out in relief. I looked at Caleb. He also seemed relieved that we weren’t chewed out. “I’m going back inside, just make sure that the fire is out, we don’t want it spreading over to the neighbours’. Not everyone has fireproof housing.” she then walked back to the door.

“Glad that one was averted,” he breathed heavily and walked over to me. “Can I borrow your bow again?” he said outstretching his arm.

“Hell no!” I said clutching the bow closer to me.

“Oh come on Summer, don’t tell me that you are still bitter from our little lizard incident, I only stunned the thing. You were the one who killed it.”

“Not from a lack of trying,” I grumbled. “Besides isn’t Susan coming over later and you have some freshening up to do if you want to keep the girl.” I then walked over to the circular canvas.

“Are you trying to tell me that I smell?” he grinned.

I stopped and turned to him. “No . . . I’m trying to tell you that you stink.” I replied brashly and then smiled.

“You aren’t exactly a garden of roses either.” he muttered.

“No, I’m more like orange blossoms in morning air.” I twirled flippantly and hopped over to the target because I knew that I’d won this round.

“Whatever, I’m going inside.” I didn’t answer but continued pulling down the target.

It was probably time for me to go inside too. Thorn would be picking me up later. We decided that we were going to have dinner together. It wasn’t like he had anything to make up for, since yesterday was amazing. I wore a permanent blush for most of the day.

At the beginning of each of my classes, I was surprised with a box of chocolates, a teddy bear and, a red, white and pink rose, all coming from an ‘anonymous donor.’

I’d only kept one of the chocolates for myself. I shared the other three among my friends and basically anyone who wanted candy. I also made my own anonymous contributions. I’d sent him a card and chocolates and paid two persons from the choir to sing their rendition of a song I’d selected from the movie Grease. I knew that he must have loved the attention it drew to him.

I packed my shooting gear in the storeroom upstairs and then returned outside to take my clothes off the lines. They were dry by now and I didn’t want the night’s dew to start falling on them causing them to become cold. I cleared everything from off the line, except my school bag, which was still a bit damp.

My alarm sounded, reminding me that it was time for me to start getting ready. Thorn would be here in about an hour to pick me up for our date. I closed my Chemistry book and sat up. I had a test coming up, but despite my efforts to concentrate, I found myself having to read and re-read the same paragraph as nothing seemed to be registering in my brain. At one instance, I’d hovered over the same page for about twenty minutes.

I grabbed my towel and rag which hung over one of my closet doors and hopped off to the bathroom. I heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner whirring in another room. That sound was strange and unfamiliar coming from this side of the house, as Caleb NEVER cleaned.

I decided not to bother him, as I was sure he’d had enough of my teasing for the day and was probably all wound up about his date.

I used my hand to clean the mirror, which was all fogged up from the hot water bath I’d taken. I stared back at the girl with the curious mix of green-brown eyes. I breathed heavily, and the shoulders of the girl rose and fell back into place the same time mine did. I cocked my head to one side and then to the other, and she mimicked the motion.

I studied my face in the mirror. This wasn’t the real me, but it was what everyone saw everyday. I liked my eyes. The shape, I thought suited my face and the colour was rare, different and I loved that about them. My nose wasn’t too bad either, not too big or too pinched, and had the right amount of curve. It was my lips that I’d always had a problem with, they just didn’t seem to fit. They were too...pouty? I bit them in slightly to make them look smaller, but wearing them like that didn’t seem to fit my face either. I released them and moved on.

I dropped the towel, which was securely wrapped, around my body and I studied my naked image in the mirror. It wasn’t frightening or repulsive, some may even say stunning. I wasn’t sure. I wonder if when the time comes if it . . . if I would be... enough?

I heard I slight knock on the door and I hurriedly draped the towel around myself. “Summer, hurry up with the bathroom.” said Caleb still knocking impatiently on the door.

“I’m coming,” I replied exasperatedly as I picked up all the clothes I’d peeled off from the floor. I bundled them in one arm and used the other to open the door. Caleb was still standing there with one fist raised, ready to knock again.

“It’s about time you got out.” he huffed.

“Ja ja,” I said waving past him and over hurried to my room. I was all jazzed up about tonight; an argument with Caleb would put a damper on my mood.

I sneezed as I put on the last dab of powder on my nose. I grimaced at the image in the mirror. The huge amount of makeup I’d caked on my face, made me look like a drag queen. “Frick,” I murmured and then grabbed my wet rag from the bed and wiped clean the mess I’d created from my face.

“That’s better, natural does it,” I said more appeased at my cleaner look. I dabbed on some lip-gloss and smoothed my dress down.

I hoped Thorn would like it. It was his favourite colour. I’d spotted the light blue dress last week while coming home from school, in a small boutique down the road and decided to buy it using the pocket money I’d saved.

I still hadn’t gotten over the habit of only spending half of my lunch money, and saving the rest for some ‘rainy day’. Such behaviour had become routine after years of thinking that we were destitute, although I’d found out a few months ago that mom was loaded. I guess that old habits die hard. That and the fact that I liked feeling independent, and not always having to bother anyone for money.

I looked at my cell phone anxiously. Where was Thorn? He was late. I wondered if something had happened. No, nothing happened. A guy can be late sometimes, he was only human. No, he wasn’t human and he was never late.

. . . Relax Summer he’s fine, he’ll be here.

I paced nervously back and forth across the room until my heels had plowed a clear path through the carpet. I heard a car pull up into the driveway. I rushed to the window and stuck my head outside. My face sank, as I saw that it was only Caleb and Susan.

I pulled away slowly from the window and plopped down on my bed. I tapped my fingers rhythmically on the covers and idly stared around the room. Where was he? I grabbed my phone, which was way across on the other side of the bed, and deftly punched in his number. I clicked my knees together as I waited for him to pick up.

“Hello . . .” I heard his voice answer on the line.

“Thorn, thank God, is everything alright? Where . . .” My voice trailed off.

“Hello. Hello, you have reached my voice mail. I’m probably busy, so please leave your name or number and I will call you back as soon as I get this message.” There was a small beep at the end of the recording.

I hung up the phone and then pressed redial. “Come on Thorn, please pick up.” The phone went straight to voicemail. I snapped the phone shut and threw it across the room. “Frick, what am I doing?” I sprang up and caught the phone just before it hit the wall. I pushed it open and then gently shut my silver slider. It would have been a shame to destroy such a neat phone and how would Thorn call me back if I’d smashed it against the wall.

I returned to sit on my bed and rested my head against the headboard. Everything is fine and he will be here. He will call me back. I’ll just wait. I sighed deeply.

The first rays of the sun filtered through the windows. The cold morning air caused me to snap my eyes open reflexively. I slid out of bed quickly but had to sit down as a sharp throb pounded against my temples.

I pulled the pins out of my hair and gently massaged my scalp. I felt instant relief as blood seemed to start flowing again to the area. I vaguely remembered the events that unfolded last night. I could recall hearing giggling coming from Caleb’s room at one point and I heard when a car drove out, that was all.

I unbuckled the straps of my silver heels and threw them close to the closet. I padded across to the switch and turned off the light, which had burned right throughout the night. I walked over to my dresser and stared at myself in the mirror. I unfastened the silver necklace he’d given to me on my birthday last year and put it in my jewellery box along with my earrings. I felt silly now getting all dressed up for nothing.

He was a no-show.

I stripped off the blue dress and flung it into a corner. I drew on a pair of faded brown shorts and a white T-shirt. I took up my cell phone and marched quietly out of the room. I pushed open the glass door and stepped out on the balcony.

I looked at the screen. No missed calls. I held on to the rail, then drew back angrily, and watched as the phone sailed over the lawn and past the electricity lines, travelling further down the hill.

I walked over to the furthest corner of the balcony and leaned against the wall. I gripped the rails tightly, it hurt a bit, as my knuckles seemed as if they were about to tear through my thinly stretched skin, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything or anybody and I was not going to cry.

The rims of my eyes stung and my throat burned. I’d forgotten my resolve and could no longer contain my anguish. I loosened my grip and allowed my feet to slide slowly away from the wall, until I sat on the cold tiles. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face between them.

He’d forgotten our date. He’d forgotten me.