The Song that Lived

Sue looked at the CDs in the CD tower next to her bed and sighed. She was so bored of all of them. Every single song was engraved in her memory from hearing it so many times. She wasn’t sure if she could stand listening to any of them again. But then what was she supposed to listen to? She needed some soothing background noise to go with her mood. Finally making up her mind, she went downstairs to her brother’s room to see if she could get him to lend her one of his CDs. Bracing herself, Sue knocked on his door. After getting a grunt from him to come in, she cautiously opened the door and slipped in.
“Daniel, can I ask a favor of you?” she asked cautiously. He nodded his head, and she went on. “Can I please borrow one of your CDs?” Daniel gave her a considering look, then motioned to his CD tower.
“As long as you promise not to do anything to it, then sure,” he said. “But remember, you owe me one now. Oh, and by the way, you can’t borrow the Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings CDs. Don’t even touch them. I don’t want any fingerprints to get on them.” Sue rolled her eyes at him and randomly chose a CD, then exited his room, making sure to close the door behind her. She really didn’t like asking favors of her brother because he always held it over her head and got her to do things for him. It was not nice.
As she made her way through the house back to her own bedroom, Sue looked at the CD that she pulled out. It was one that she had never seen before, but it looked as though it should be interesting. Not that she was going to be listening to it that much, anyway. She just needed some background noise to soothe her.
Sue lay down on her bed and started to listen to her brother’s CD as she picked up a book to read. She didn’t pay very much attention to the music, despite being rather curious about it. She heard it only as the soothing background noise that she was seeking. The book was much more interesting, and that was what her attention was focused on.
Sitting up suddenly, Sue dropped her book on the bed without a thought. She turned up the volume, listening carefully. She closed her eyes, and swayed gently from side to side in time with the music. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard, played almost entirely by some kind of flute.
Someone cleared his throat. Sue opened her eyes, and saw her brother standing in the doorway to her bedroom, eyebrows raised. She sighed and paused the CD.
“What do you want, Daniel?” she asked. “If it’s nothing important, then why don’t you just close my door and leave?”
Daniel stood there a moment longer, a mocking look on his face, then closed the door and left. Sue went to the beginning of the song, and she lay back on the pillows and closed her eyes. She allowed the music to soak into her soul, feeding it.
There was a knock on her door. She sighed and paused the CD again.
“Daniel, if that’s you, then go away,” she called angrily. “If it’s anyone else, then come in, but be quick about it.”
It was her sister Rachel. She opened the door and came in, crossing the room to go to the closet.
“I’m just borrowing all of your shirts,” she said. “I’ll give them back when I decide that I don’t need them anymore.” She took out every single one of Sue’s long-sleeved shirts and started to leave.
“Wait a minute,” said Sue, “you can’t take all of my shirts. What am I supposed to wear?”
“I’m only taking your long-sleeved shirts,” Rachel replied. “Besides, you can always borrow some of my shirts.”
Sighing, Sue once again lay back on her pillows, putting on her headphones as she did so. She went back to the beginning of the song and closed her eyes. She heard the beginning of the song for the third time that evening. It was exquisite, and she wanted to hear what the rest of it was like. Just as she was about to get past the part that she had already heard, there was another knock on the door. She sighed exasperatedly, stopped the CD, and took off her headphones.
“Come in,” she called, annoyed.
Sue’s mother walked in. She looked around the room, smiling at all the piles of books perched in various places. Walking over to a bookcase, she commenced systematically going through the books.
“Mom, what are you looking for?” asked Sue, rather impatiently.
“I’m looking for your collection of Isaac Asimov books,” she said. “I want to borrow a few of them.”
“Light brown bookcase, middle shelf,” said Sue. “And remember that if anything happens to them, I expect replacements.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said her mother. “But don’t worry - I wouldn’t allow anything to happen to your precious Asimov books.”
“Do you promise not to drop any of them into the bath?”
“Of course. None of them will even get the slightest bend or tear.”
“All right,” said Sue, “ you can have them. Just remember to be very careful. Oh, and by the way, there’s a limit on how many books of mine you can have at once. Three books, and you can only have them for two weeks.” Sue’s mother nodded, chose three books, and left. Settling down once again, Sue put on her headphones and started the song over. Not a minute had passed when there was another knock on the door. She stopped the song for the fourth time that evening. Sue’s fists were clenched on her yellow sheets.
“What do you want?” she yelled crossly to the person on the other side of the door. Sue’s father opened the door cautiously, peered around the edge, then stepped into the room.
“Is everything all right?” he asked. “You sound upset. Was it something that I did?”
“Yes, I’m upset,” said Sue angrily, “and yes, it does have something to do with you. I am trying to listen to a very beautiful song, but I can’t. You guys keep on interrupting me every two minutes. Now, if you would kindly leave, I would really appreciate it.”
“Good night, then,” he said, looking slightly bewildered. He glanced around the small room, then left, closing the door quietly behind him. Sue got off her bed and crossed the room to her desk. She opened one of the drawers and took out a piece of paper, a marker, and some tape. She wrote DO NOT DISTURB in huge black letters on the paper. Looking at it, she thought that it wasn’t quite enough just to tell people not to disturb her; she had to give a punishment if they did. She therefore wrote, in slightly smaller black letters, IF YOU DO, YOU DIE beneath the original message. Smiling in satisfaction, she cut a piece of tape. Sue opened her door and taped it on, then shut her door and lay back down on her bed.
The now familiar play-button was pressed, and the exquisite song began once again. Sue shut her eyes and relaxed. She listened intently to the song. Her heart fell into rhythm with the music, as did her breathing. The song was so strong, so fierce, and yet so gentle. There was a sadness about it, too, as though the composer had nothing in life to look forward to, nothing happy to lift his spirits. Despite the sadness in it, the song carried her to a freedom that was far better than anything else. It released her, allowing her to soar up high above the stars, allowing her to fulfill her dreams.
The song ended, and Sue jerked out of her half-trance. She felt that she must listen to that song again. She went back to the beginning of it, and pressed the repeat button. That way, she would be able to listen to it nonstop, and feel that great sense of freedom for as long as she liked.
Closing her eyes, Sue completely relaxed her body. The song was so beautiful that she had tears running down her cheeks. She didn’t take any notice of them. She listened to the full song over and over again, enjoying it even more each time that it played. After listening to the song four times in a row, the CD player suddenly stopped. Sue tried and tried to get it to work, but it refused. She finally gave up and shoved it into a corner of her room, then got ready for bed. She had lost track of the time, and it was nearly midnight.
When she finally climbed into bed and turned off the light, Sue couldn’t sleep. The song was on her mind, keeping her awake despite her best efforts. The only CD player that she was allowed to use in the house was broken. She couldn’t listen to her new favorite song, one that touched her deeply. Finally, around 3 o’clock, she got up and turned on her desk lamp. She opened her closet and groped around in the back corner for a few moments before finding what she wanted. It was a small diary, given to her on her eighth birthday. Sue, not being one to pour her heart out to a little notebook that couldn’t care less, had never given it much thought.
Sitting down, she pulled out a pencil and the two keys that would open the small diary. She sighed as she opened it, flipping through the few used pages to a blank one. She picked up the pencil and put it on the paper. Where to start? She was at a complete loss for words. Finally finding some that were more or less appropriate, she began to write. Sue wrote and wrote, pouring out her feelings about the song. It was a seemingly never-ending diary entry, certainly longer than anything that she had ever done in the past. It took her a full two hours to articulate her feelings. What took her in so completely?
Sue continued to sit at the desk after she was done writing to think about everything and try to sort out her feelings. Eventually, her eyelids closed, and her head dropped onto her folded arms.
· · ·
A few hours later, Sue’s mother quietly knocked on the door, then slowly opened it. It was a little early to wake up on a Sunday morning, but she knew that Sue had to clean her room as well as write an essay for school. She smiled fondly at her daughter, wondering how she could sleep in such an uncomfortable position. It suggested that she had fallen asleep in the middle of doing something. She was about to leave when she saw the diary sticking out from under Sue’s arms. Making sure not to jostle her daughter, she pulled it out, then left the room, making sure not to make any noise as she closed the door.
Going into her own bedroom, Sue’s mother went to the beginning of the diary. She skimmed the various entries, being rather uninterested in the early ones. After reading for several minutes, she came upon the entry that Sue had made earlier that morning. She read it carefully, and began to cry. It was so beautiful, how Sue had described it, that it was almost impossible not to cry.
She took the diary and went back into her youngest child’s room. Just that once, she decided to let her daughter sleep late, even though she had work to do. Slipping the small book back under Sue’s arms, she kissed her forehead and left the room.
· · ·
Sue woke up around noon that day, not having fallen asleep until after 5 a.m. She got up carefully and groaned. Her muscles protested at every move. She promised them that if they would stop hurting, she would never sleep in that position again. They still hurt her, but she decided never to sleep like that again anyway.
Sue glanced over at her desk. Her diary looked so small and insignificant, like a tiny speck of dust. She closed and locked it, and then shoved it into a back corner of her messiest desk drawer. She didn’t want anyone to know that her heart could be poured out in such a way. It made her feel somehow vulnerable. She put one key in her window and the other one on a chain around her neck.
Not wanting to be ridiculed by her brother for sleeping late, she quickly came up with something to tell him if he asked. Sue then threw on some clothes, ran a brush through her hair, and went downstairs to eat lunch.
Her brother was sitting in front of the television, eating honey-barbecue pretzels. He looked up at Sue, then made a show of looking at his watch and putting a surprised expression on his face.
“Hey, sleepy head,” he said, “you finally decided to wake up.”
Sue scowled at him and said, “I’ve been awake for a long time. I just wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t come downstairs.”
“And what were you doing all holed up in your room?” he asked maliciously.
“Writing,” she said. Turning on her heel, Sue went into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and looked through it for any leftovers. There were a few, and she put them on the counter. Sue opened the cabinet to get out a plate and a cup, and was rather unsurprised when she didn’t find any. There wasn’t any clean silverware, either. Searching the stacks of dirty dishes, she finally came across what she needed and pulled it out so that she could wash it.
After serving herself some food, Sue sat down at the kitchen table to eat. She picked up the newspaper. Nothing too interesting was going on in the world. She quickly finished her meal, then went back upstairs to her bedroom, glaring at her brother as she passed the doorway to the living room.
Sue sat on her bed, looking around her small room. Her books were all out of order. People took books, and then stuck them back in a different place. Getting up, she started to go through one stack of books after another, trying to straighten them out. She had forgotten that some of these books even existed. When she was about to put back a few stacks of books that she had finished going through, something caught her eye. There was a fairly small paperback book wedged into a dark back corner of the shelf. Picking it up, she looked it over. It was definitely not one that she recognized. Brushing off a layer of dust, Sue read the title: Short Stories for Those with Short Time.
The name of the author was torn off of the cover and the title page was torn out of the book. She sat down on her bed and started reading the book. There were short stories, poems, and jokes. Everything was well written, and Sue thought that it was an excellent book.
After looking for the author’s name for another moment or two, Sue decided to ask her mother if she knew who the author of the book was. After a five-minute search, she finally found her mother in the basement sorting laundry.
“Mom,” she said, “do you happen to know who wrote this book?”
“What book, Sue?” asked her mother, not looking up. Sue thrust the book under her mother’s nose. Her mother took it, an odd expression on her face. “Where did you find this, Sue?” she asked.
“It was in a corner of my bookcase, sort of wedged in so that it couldn’t be seen,” said Sue. “Now, do you know who wrote it? Whoever it is happens to be a very talented writer. It’s an extraordinary book.”
“As a matter of fact, I do know who wrote it. I haven’t seen this book in years. Well, since there were only two existing copies, and one was destroyed in a flood and I lost the other, it’s really not very surprising. I tore the name of the author off of the cover because I didn’t want anyone to know who wrote it. It wasn’t for the public to read, anyways.”
“Mother, who wrote it?” asked Sue impatiently.
“Me,” said her mother, blushing. She was looking at the floor.
Sue stood still for a moment, stunned. “You wrote it?”
“Yes, when I was around your age. I won a writing contest. The prize was that you would get two copies of your book published for free, and more copies for a reduced price. I just stuck with the two copies, because I didn’t think that my work was all that great. I used to love writing, you know. When I got into college, I didn’t have enough time for it, so I just stopped writing.”
“Mom, you really should have gotten this published and sold in bookstores,” said Sue. “I mean, it’s a great book. You could sell millions! It’s the best book that I’ve read in years.”
“But I don’t want to be rich or famous or anything. I just want to live a nice, peaceful life in a quiet neighborhood. Now, you had better keep this quiet, or I’ll ground you for the rest of your life. Understood?” A smile touched her lips as she said this.
“Yes ma’am,” said Sue, saluting. “It will be kept quiet.” She saluted again and left.
· · ·
Later that day, Sue got a phone call from her friend Sarah. She was inviting Sue to a party at her house that Friday evening. After double-checking with her parents and promising them that her schoolwork would be done beforehand, Sue said that she could go.
It was already late afternoon, so Sue started writing the essay that she had to hand in the next morning. It wasn’t an especially interesting topic that she had to write on, so it took her several hours. She took a break in the middle to eat dinner, and then got back to work. As she printed the paper up at 10:30 that night, she rejoiced. Sue knew that her teacher would love it – it was well thought out, well argued, and well explained. Aside from the topic (why students need to be given more homework each night), it was a perfect paper. It was very hard for Sue to make a convincing argument.
Sue didn’t have any trouble falling asleep that night, despite the fact that she had been awake for less than twelve hours. Her dreams were troubling, though. In one dream, she was lying down on a bed, and she could see fluorescent lights rushing by above her. People’s heads bobbed by on either side, not looking at her. She tried to talk to them, but no sound came out. She tried to move, but none of her limbs responded. She screamed a silent scream, and the dream faded out as her alarm clock went off and pulled her out of her troubled sleep.
Sue was very grumpy all of that day, and friends and family members avoided her. Even the teachers gave her a wide berth in the hallways at school. Every time she let her mind wander, she found herself thinking about her dream. Sue wished that she could know what, if anything, her dream meant. There was something about it that made it seem to be a familiar scene to her, but she knew that she had never been in a situation from which she would have memories like those.
Sue went home from school that afternoon in a very bad mood. She had taken two tests that day, but her mind had been elsewhere. She didn’t think that she did very well on them. Sue couldn’t even remember what it was that she had been tested on. She went straight to her room and stayed there, not even leaving to eat any dinner. After briefly considering pulling out her diary again, she changed into pajamas and got into her bed. It was a bit early to go to sleep, but Sue didn’t care. She hoped that sleep would rid her of her disturbing thoughts.
Sue was not disappointed the next morning. She hadn’t had any dreams whatsoever, and she felt refreshed from her long sleep. When she went downstairs to eat breakfast, her parents were tense, until they saw that she was in a much better mood than she had been the day before. As Sue came into the kitchen, she hugged and kissed each of her parents, and she even smiled at her brother and sister. She was in a better mood than she had been in a long time.
At school, Tali, Sue’s closest friend, asked her why she was so chipper. “I feel good,” replied Sue. “I don’t know why I’m in such a good mood. Do I need a reason?” Tali smiled and shook her head as they continued on to their next class, American History.
As Tali and Sue took their seats in the back of the classroom, their teacher, Mr. Coleman, started to speak.
“All right, class, settle down,” he said. “We’re going to do something fun tomorrow.” Sue looked up from the book that she had already opened up under her desk. “We’re going to see how your geography skills are. We are going to have a class geography bee.” The entire class groaned. Sue looked at Tali and made a face. Geography was not one of her better subjects. Tali just shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her doodle. She didn’t have any trouble with geography.
Mr. Coleman went on. “You’ve got this entire class period to study and ask questions. Come prepared tomorrow to be tested on your knowledge.” The class groaned. No matter how fun Mr. Coleman said it would be, everyone knew that it would be long, drawn-out, and boring.
When the bell finally rang at the end of class, everyone let out a sigh of relief and jumped out of their seats. Mr. Coleman called after them to remember to study hard. Many students rolled their eyes and kept on walking, while two or three others stayed behind and stuck out their tongues at Mr. Coleman’s back. Tali and Sue walked down the hall in silence.
“Well,” said Sue, “there goes my good mood. A geography bee. Why did he have to pick a geography bee, of all things?”
“Oh, come on,” said Tali. “It won’t be that bad. If you want, I’ll help you study tonight. That is, if you help me study for that math test that we have on Thursday.”
“It’s a deal. Come over to my house right after school today. And don’t forget to bring your math book.”
“Sure thing. Listen, geography really isn’t that hard.”
“Yeah, right,” said Sue. “I gotta go get something from my locker. I’ll meet you in the locker room for gym.” Sue said the last over her shoulder as she turned down a side corridor. Tali waved, and the crowd of students going to their various classes soon separated them.
· · ·
That afternoon the two friends helped each other with math and geography. They ended up talking about other things after around an hour of actual work, so they didn’t get a lot done.
“So, what do you think of that guy that just moved in down the block?” Tali asked Sue.
“His nose is too long,” Sue replied. “He seems to be a pretty nice guy, though. If you want, I’ll walk with you a little later so that you can see him. Every day at exactly five-thirty, he goes out front to take care of the flower garden.”
“He has a flower garden? What kind of flowers?”
“How would I know what kind of flowers he has? That’s not what I pay attention to.” They talked this way for two more hours, until Tali said that she had to go home. Sue sighed and showed her to the door. She didn’t often have time to just sit and chat with her friends, and it was nice that she had been able to that afternoon (not that she should have been talking, of course).
Sue slept deeply again that night, and she had no recollection of her dreams in the morning. She woke up in a good mood, but as soon as she realized that the geography bee was later that day, she felt a sense of dread. The little bit of geography that she had learned the day before was nowhere near enough to be able to answer more than one or two questions.
The classes before History went by entirely too quickly for Sue’s liking. When she walked into Mr. Coleman’s class, it seemed as though she had gotten to school just ten minutes before. She took her seat slowly and looked around the room. Only one or two other people seemed to dread it as much as she. For the most part, though, everyone was excited about the geography bee.
“Okay, class,” Mr. Coleman said. “Sit down. We don’t want to waste any time today. Let’s see…we’ll start in the back corner. That would be you, Sue.” Sue looked up and almost started to cry. Why did she have to be first? It was not fair. “On which river is the city of Winnipeg situated? A, Red River, B, Assiniboine River, or C, both.”
Sweat began to break out on Sue’s face. She didn’t know where Winnipeg was, much less what river it was built upon. After thinking hard for a moment, she decided to randomly guess. “The Assiniboine River?” she asked, hoping that, by some miracle, she was correct.
“I’m sorry, Sue. The answer was C, both rivers.” Sue sunk down as far as she could into her chair. She was hoping that the teacher would forget about her and skip her turn, but he remembered. Sue answered incorrectly the second time, the third time, the fourth time….
Sue had felt as if the class would never end, but it did eventually end. Suspecting that Mr. Coleman might want to speak to her about her lack of geography skills, she hid herself in the crowd of people trying to exit the classroom and walked very quickly down the hallway. Tali caught up to her just as she was about to turn a corner.
“I got all the questions right! I might manage to get a B+ this semester. That is, if he counts today as part of the grade. I hope that he does!”
Sue looked at the ground. “I hope that he doesn’t count this little geography bee of his as part of the grade. I got every single question wrong. Who would know what rivers ran through Winnipeg? I had never even heard of them. And then how am I supposed to know where the largest amounts of blueberries are grown each year? I should’ve stayed home today. That way, I wouldn’t have had to be embarrassed in front of the entire class and made to feel like an idiot.”
“Oh, come on, Sue,” said Tali. “You are not an idiot. You’re just not good at geography. You shouldn’t feel bad about it. Everybody has trouble with something. I have trouble with math. Your brother has trouble with English. My sister has trouble with science.”
“I bet that guy down the block doesn’t have trouble with anything,” said Sue, still unhappy. “Except maybe his back. All that bending over to take care of his flowers.” The friends walked on in silence. As they reached their next class, Sue said, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But that still doesn’t change the fact that I did miserably in History.” Tali shook her head and smiled, then patted Sue on the shoulder and took her seat. Sue rolled her eyes at Tali and took her seat just as the bell rang. She felt a lot better.
· · ·
The next day, Thursday, passed fairly quickly. Mr. Coleman told Sue at the beginning of class that he wanted to talk to her after class, but she managed to evade him again. It gave her a great sense of freedom whenever she managed to elude a teacher that wanted to talk to her with whom she didn’t wish to speak.
Sue got together with Tali again that afternoon, this time at Tali’s house. They tutored each other once again, but this time they were very serious. Sue had done poorly on the geography bee, and Tali had done about the same on the math test. They managed to get off topic only once, and then only for ten minutes. Before Sue headed home, she arranged to get a ride with Tali to the party at Sarah’s house the next night. She felt that she had learned a lot that afternoon, and she also felt that she had taught a lot.
That night, Sue had some disturbing dreams again. This time, the dream started out with Sue having tea with an octopus in the octopus’s garden. Everything was going fine until Sue realized that she was underwater and couldn’t breathe. She struggled desperately to get to the surface, but she never seemed to be able to reach it, no matter how hard she tried. The dream ended with her on her back, fluorescent lights streaming above her. Heads bobbed above her, oblivious to her attempts to talk. She screamed a silent scream….
Sue woke up in a sweat and looked over at her clock. Even though it was only five-thirty in the morning, she decided to get up and get dressed. She would have loved to go back to sleep, but she wasn’t willing to risk having that horrid dream again. Flipping through a magazine that she had found on her bedroom floor, Sue wondered why she had had the same dream again. She was not very happy about it. It had caused her to lose an hour of sleep.
The school day was slow and boring due to Sue’s anticipation of the party that night. Many people were going, and Sue knew that it would be fun. She managed to evade Mr. Coleman yet again, and she patted herself on the back for it. He was not an easy teacher to elude. He often chased after his victims until he found them, and then chewed them out for not coming to him when he requested it of them. When the bell signaling the end of school finally rang at two forty-five, Sue was immensely happy. She rushed home to prepare for the party. After showering, she got dressed in clothing appropriate for the occasion. It took her nearly two hours to put on her make-up and do her hair, but she did eventually finish. She then went downstairs to wait to be picked up.
Daniel was in front of the television, watching a movie. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“To a party at Sarah’s house,” she replied icily.
“Boring,” said Daniel. “See you later.” There was a honk outside. Sue looked out the window and saw that it was Tali. She yelled a quick “good-bye” to her parents as she ran out the door.
“Hey, Tali,” she said as she climbed into the car.
“Hey, Sue,” replied Tali. “Ready to have some fun?” Sue smiled and buckled her seatbelt. They rode to Sarah’s house in silence, arriving there just a few minutes after the party had started.
“Hi there,” said Sarah as they walked in. “I’m glad to see you. The food is in the living room, the dancing is in the former dining room, and the beer is in the kitchen. I hope that you have a nice time!”
As she walked away to greet other guests, Sue asked Tali how Sarah had managed to get beer when she was only sixteen years old. Tali’s thought was that she had gotten her older brother to buy it. He was twenty-three.
The two girls went into the living room to have some dinner before socializing. They slid into over-stuffed armchairs with two slices of pizza each and started to eat. Sue was lost in thought and didn’t realize that Tali was talking to her until she shook her shoulder.
“Sue, are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sue answered. “I was just thinking about how Sarah got beer. Her parents are out of town – that’s probably why she’s having the party now. They would never allow her to have a party and serve beer. If the cops find out about this, we could all be arrested. I’m thinking that maybe we should go home. I don’t really feel comfortable here.”
“You’re such a party pooper,” Tali replied. “Come on. The cops won’t find out, her parents won’t find out, and everything will be all right. You don’t have to go anywhere near the kitchen, and I won’t either. I have to drive us home. Now cheer up and have some fun.”
“I suppose you’re right,” agreed Sue cautiously. “Let’s go see what everyone else is doing.” They went across the hall to the dining room. There were three boom boxes placed around the room all blaring the same music. The two girls went into the crowd of dancers, and soon lost sight of each other.
· · ·
A few hours later, Sue was dead tired – in part because of her early start that morning - and had a horrible headache. She decided to find Tali so that she could go home and get some sleep. Tali was nowhere to be seen in the living room or dining room. She wasn’t in the bathroom, either. Sue finally gathered up her courage and went to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Tali, acting like a drunken idiot.
“Tali,” said Sue, “it’s time to go home and get some rest.”
“Sue,” she said, “how nice to see you. You wanna go home? You really are a party pooper. I’m having a great time. But I s’pose that if you insist, we can go home.” She stood up and headed toward the door, wavering slightly. As they were about to leave, Sarah saw them and came over.
“Leaving already?” she asked.
“It was a wonderful party, Sarah,” said Sue, “but I’m really tired, and I’m also not feeling well. I’ll see you next week when school starts.” She opened the door and motioned Tali out before her, wanting to get away from that house as quickly as possible.
“Tali,” she said, turning to face her older friend, “have you been drinking? You were in the kitchen with thirteen empty glasses in front of you, acting like an idiot.”
“Sue, I gave you my word that I wouldn’t drink. Do you think that I went back on it?” Tali had a hurt look on her face. “I never go back on my word. I had two or three cups of soda, but no beer. All those cups in front of me were from other people. I thought that you trusted me not to drink. Besides, I wasn’t acting like an idiot.”
Sue eyed her friend suspiciously, but then decided to believe her. There wasn’t much else that she could do. She sighed and went down the sidewalk to where the car was parked. If Sue had been old enough to drive, she would have. Unfortunately, she was only fifteen, and hadn’t the faintest idea of how to drive a car.
They got out of the parking space without incident, and Sue breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Tali’s telling the truth, she thought to herself, maybe she really didn’t have anything but a soda or two.
Five or ten minutes into the long ride home, Tali struck up a conversation. “So,” she said, “how’re things going at home? The last you told me, you were having some trouble getting along with your father.”
“Yeah,” Sue replied, “we worked that out. Well, mostly. He still doesn’t seem to be able to trust me with anything. He still treats me like a baby. I suppose that that’s because I’m his youngest kid, and he wants to keep me his little baby forever.”
“Sounds tough. I s’pose that that’s one of the advantages to being a middle child. My parents never seem to care what I do. They’re all obsessed with my oldest brother and my youngest sister. I feel like being a middle child means being an invisible child.” Tali sighed with self-pity. Sue couldn’t blame her for feeling how she did. She would probably have felt the same way if she was put into Tali’s place.
The trip went on uneventfully, and Sue relaxed. Tali’s driving was fine. Sue had obviously overreacted. Tali had never betrayed her trust before, why should she have now? The two girls chatted a little bit about clothing and shoes and hairstyles, then fell into silence once again.
Sue was just dropping off to sleep when bright headlights blinded her for and instant. She looked up. Her mind, slowed by sleepiness, couldn’t comprehend what her eyes were seeing – an SUV, in the same lane as them, but facing the wrong direction. Sue’s mind caught up to her eyes, and she looked at Tali in horror. Tali also had a look of horror on her face, and she spun the wheel as far as she could in an attempt to avoid hitting the SUV. Sue’s body tensed, and she screamed just before their little car hit the light pole with the front end, and was hit by the SUV in the back. The car went spinning across the street, and as it did so, Sue hit her head and blacked out.
· · ·
Sue opened her eyes. White-hot pain rushed through her entire body. The sky above was dark. The only illumination was from flashing lights of various colors, which were all around. There were people rushing about her, putting needles in her arms, lifting her up onto a backboard. She was brought into an ambulance. A young man looked down at her and said something, but she couldn’t understand him. There was a vague thought somewhere in the back of her head that he was a very handsome young man, but those thoughts fled from the pain. He repeated himself, but Sue blacked out before finding out what he was trying to say.
· · ·
There were voices, speaking softly. Sue strained to hear them. The voices were familiar, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She thought back to what had happened, and decided that she must be in the hospital. She tried to open her eyelids, but they felt like stone. She rested for a few moments and tried again, harder this time. After a few more tries, she finally got them open. Her vision was blurry at first, but when she was able to focus, she saw all sorts of tubes and machinery around the bed that she was lying on.
Her mother glanced over at her and saw that she was awake. She and her husband rushed over to Sue’s bed. Her mother picked up her hand, smiling at her through some tears. Her father patted her arm affectionately.
“Sue, how are you feeling?” asked her mother. “We’ve been so worried about you. I’m glad that you finally woke up. Your friends brought you flowers, but they’ve all died by now. Are you feeling all right?”
“It hurts,” Sue replied weakly. Then, realizing what her mother had said about the flowers, she asked, “How long has it been?”
Her parents looked at one another and said, “It’s been three weeks.”
Sue lay back on her pillows. “Three weeks? I was out for three weeks?” Tears began to leak out of her eyes, and she started crying, until she felt the intense pain that resulted. “It hurts,” she said.
“Don’t cry,” said her father. “Crying will just make it worse. You were hurt very badly. Probably any movement will be very painful. Tali’s car didn’t have airbags. Even with airbags, you would have been hurt pretty badly.”
Sue gathered up what little strength she had to speak. “Whose fault was it? Did Tali do it, or was it the guy in the SUV?”
“Sue, Tali’s blood alcohol level was just above the legal limit, but the other driver’s was a lot above the legal limit. It appears that he’s the one that caused the crash.”
“Can I see Tali? Is she all right?” Sue asked anxiously.
“Tali was hurt very badly. When the car hit the light pole, she was thrown through the windshield and went headfirst onto the pavement. She was hurt too badly for the doctors to save her. She died shortly after the crash.” Sue started crying again, despite the pain that it caused her. Inside, she felt as though she should have done something to help save Tali, but she knew that she couldn’t have.
“Sue, there was nothing you could have done,” said her father. “Now just rest. Everything will be all right. You’ll be fine.” He gently wiped away her tears.
Sue never knew it, but her father lied.
· · ·
A few hours later, Sue’s mother, still at her bedside, became alert. Something had changed. She looked at Sue, and saw that she was no longer breathing. A doctor who was passing by Sue’s room saw what was happening and went in to try to revive her. Another doctor was called in as well, but there was nothing to be done. Sue’s heart had stopped, and could not be restarted. The doctors noted the time of death and started to disconnect everything from her body.
Sue’s mother sank down into a chair, crying softly, and her father sagged against the wall, shaking his head in disbelief. Their youngest and most beloved child was gone forever. The doctors each said a few kind words to them before leaving the room. When a passing doctor looked in a few minutes later, he saw the two of them holding each other, desperately trying to find comfort.
· · ·
One week later, Sue’s mother went to a publisher to see about getting her book published. She dedicated it to Sue. Her daughter had made it very clear that she wanted that book published, and Sue’s mother looked on that as a sort of last request. Later on that day, she ventured into Sue’s room for the first time since her death. She looked at the stacks of books, the piles of clean and dirty laundry, the unmade bed. She opened one of the desk drawers and started to go through it. She found old school papers, old birthday presents, and various odds and ends that Sue had collected over the years.
She had finished going through everything and was about to put it all back when she saw the small diary wedged into the back corner. She picked it up. Using the key that she had found on a chain around her daughter’s neck, she opened one of the two locks. She then searched the entire room for the other key, before sitting down to think about where a teenager might hide a key. She noticed that it was getting a bit warm and stuffy in the room, so she opened a window. As she stepped away, a glint of metal inside the window caught her eye. She reached for it, and found herself holding the second key to her daughter’s diary. Thinking to herself that it was an ingenious place to hide a key, she opened the second lock. She flipped to the latest entry and read through it three times. A tear rolled down her cheek.
She went downstairs to Daniel’s room and knocked on the door. After getting a sad “come in,” she opened the door and went straight to his CD tower. She took out a CD and left, picking up a CD player on her way back upstairs. She lay down on Sue’s bed and put the CD into the player and the headphones onto her head. She went to the correct track and put it on repeat. Closing her eyes, she leaned back and listened. The song was even more beautiful than Sue had described it.
As she lay back on Sue’s pillows, tears streamed freely down her face, and she let herself go to soar up above the stars.