a quick kiss

Chris drove his old Mazda over the cracked pavement of the country roads of Athens, California. It was early Spring, and the first green grass was appearing on the rolling hills. The morning sun was just over the horizon behind Chris, and it threw light through the cold air and over the rolling hills. Occasionally Chris would pass a dirt driveway which would invariably wind around to a house tucked somewhere behind a hill, out of view from the road.

Chris came to a familiar row of mailboxes and turned on to the dirt road. At the second driveway Chris turned into the driveway of a white house with green trim. He walked up and on to the deck in front of the house and knocked on the door. He stood for a moment, looking off into the little patch of forest behind the house. Chris was tall with long dark brown hair, that he kept pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a t-shirt, jeans and a corduroy jacket to protect him from the cool of early morning.

After just a few moments, a girl opened the door and came out, closing it behind her. She was not quite as tall as Chris, but not short. She had long, blonde hair which fell loosely around her shoulders. She wore a white tank-top and a skirt. Over her shoulder she had slung a purse and she held a school book against her chest. She stood up on her toes and gave Chris a quick kiss.

Chris chuckled. "Do you feel the temperature at all, Elli?"

"I'm fine Chris," Elli said, seriously.

"OK, OK, if you say so," replied Chris. "I'll give you my jacket if you get cold, though. I just don't want you to freeze."

"Thanks, Chris," Elli said with a wane smile. "I wont hesitate to ask if I get cold."

"May I?" Chris asked, indicating the book.

Now Elli laughed, her demeanor lightening visibly. "Sure, what do I care?" She handed him the book and smiled. Chris shifted to carry the book on his right side, and she took his left hand in hers. Together they made their way out to the parked car. Chris made it a point of parking so that the passenger side was always nearest the house, so that he could open the door for her. After she was safely in, he closed her door and made his way to the other side, getting in himself.

A stream gurgled and spat happily, spilling over rocks and rushing down little waterfalls in its path. Here it was surrounded by thick forest and there was a bank next to the river, as well as a little place where you could sit and dangle your feet into the water. The forest extended only a small way out from the stream, and its accessibility made kids come to play in the it, but usually only during the hottest parts of summer. Other than that peak time, the stream was almost always left abandoned.

Today in the middle of Spring, however, Elli sat with her legs submerged in the flowing water. She loved the forest and the rolling hills, and especially the little stream. Elli was still dressed up from a morning spent in town, and now she sat with her dress laid out about her while her feet were tugged on gently by the little stream. Currently her interest was drawn to a family of birds in a nearby tree. Some eggs had just hatched, and the mother bird was flying back and forth, feeding the young birds.

Growing at an angle out of the bank by the stream was a tree, one strong branch of which jutted out directly over the little stream. Silently, stealthily, Chris stole up to this tree. He had climbed it many times so that at this point he could scale it with ease. He struggled to silently scale up onto the sturdy bough this time, however, because he had to work one-handed; his other hand held a clod of dirt. His prey was still oblivious to his stealthy advances.

Slowly he pulled himself up onto the branch and inched out onto it, looking down. Below him, Elli sat at the lip of the stream with her feet hanging loosely in. With exaggerated meticulousness, Chris took aim at the small girl, and let fly his tiny payload. With a startled shriek the girl was on his feet and looking around madly -- Chris knew his aim had been good. Suddenly the girl's ferocious gaze fell upon Chris, and with that he was off and running.

Slowly they made their way to the high school, which sat at the outskirts of the tiny little town. Chris shut off the engine and they got out in tandem, walking up the concrete stairs to the area in front of the main building. Sitting on a bench to one side of the staircase, doing homework, was a boy of average height and weight with short, dirty-blond hair wearing a white button-up shirt and slacks.

"Hey Chris; Elli," the boy called.

"Hey Andy," Chris replied. "How are you this morning?"

"Not bad, not bad," Andy replied with a smile. "Got seven hours of sleep last night for the first time I can remember in high school."

"Wow," Chris said mockingly, "I am impressed."

"I see you did it at the expense of your homework, though," Chris pointed out.

"What can I say. First things first, eh? I figured I could finish it this morning; I was wrong."

"Well, that's not a surprise," Chris said drolly, eliciting a little laugh from Elli.

Suddenly, Chris sensed someone come up behind him. "Hey, garce," said a female voice right behind him. "Why weren't you at school yesterday?"

"Don't you cuss at me in French, little girl," Chris said, spinning to glare in mock anger at his attacker. The girl was short with short dark hair; she wore a t-shirt and cut-off jean shorts. "Just remember this, Brandy: I can take you."

"Ha! C'mon, garce, bring it! Va te faire foutre!"

"Va jouer!" Chris replied in acid tones and a bad French accent. "Go play with yourself." Chris made a quick fake at Brandy's stomach, feigning an attempted poke, and the girl recoiled away from his hand.

"Ah ha! Think you're all that?" The girl threw a slow motion swing that caught Chris in the side. He acted out an overly-dramatic spin and fell toward the pavement.

"Agh! I'm hit!" he cried out in imaginary pain.

A tall, strawberry-blonde haired girl wearing a dark purple silk blouse and a black skirt came up behind the two high schoolers. "Children, children," she said mockingly, walking between the two to separate them, "don't make me force you to hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'."

In the background, Elli called out, "You tell 'em, Cathy!" and began to sing. "Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya..."

"Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?" Chris asked, leaning to one side to look past Cathy. "Do you even know any more of the song than that?"

Elli stuck out her tongue in response.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... so you say now, but just you wait!" Chris retorted in mock threat.

A shrill whistle cut through the air, and Andy feigned pain at the awful sound. "Ugh," he said in disgust, "there's the 'bell'."

"See ya, Andy," Chris said. "Have fun in PE!"

Andy growled under his breath and swung his backpack over his shoulders, making off for the locker rooms. As Chris turned around, Elli was just about to pass him on her way to math.

Chris reached out for her hand and gently turned her around, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Can't very well just go on without saying goodbye!" he exclaimed with a smile.

"No," she said weakly, with a nervous smile. "Of course not... see ya at brunch."

Elli pulled loose from Chris' clasped hand and walked briskly off. Chris furrowed his brow in thought, somewhat surprised by Elli's behavior. He shook off the feeling a best he could, and headed toward Chemistry.

Time passed, and again the shrill whistle sounded. For Chris, it was time for English. He hoisted his bag onto his back and trekked through the halls to the main doors and struck out across the cement to a separate, smaller building. He passed through its doors and entered another tiny universe of fluorescent lighting and tile floors. Making his way down the corridor, he passed by several sets of doors before he abruptly turned to the right and threw open the door to Mrs. Douglas' class.

On the right was a wall with a white board; past that the teacher's desk. A counter jutted out from the wall to his far left and the interim space was filled with desks. Chris was looking forward to being with Elli and Cathy in this class and as he entered he saw them huddled in the back of the room. People slowly streamed into the room, and some were sitting at their desks waiting. Most, however, stood clumped in groups of three or four, throughout the room, talking. Chris made his way around the groups to his desk and sat his bag down, then began walking toward the Elli and Cathy. As he drew near, the two stopped talking and seemed to grow self conscious.

"Hey honey," he said to Elli and moved hug her. Elli leaned back but hugged him weakly in return. Cathy's head moved restlessly around, desperately seeking something to look at. Eventually she gave up, and looked back at Elli, squirming. They broke the embrace and Chris leaned back.

"Hey Chris... I, um, don't feel too good right now..." Elli started.

"Oh! Sorry," Chris said in horrified shock. "I didn't realize. Geeze, sorry. Are you OK? What's wrong?"

Elli suddenly had a very pained expression. "Ohhhh," she groaned, "I feel ill to my stomach." She looked pleadingly up at Cathy who gave her a sympathetic, I-feel-your-pain expression in response.

"Well, do you want to go home? Should you go to the nurse?" Chris asked entreatingly.

"No, no... I'll be fine.... I just need to sit down, that's all," Elli said lamely. "Um, we should all sit down."

"Alright..." Chris said slowly, "but if you need anything just tell me."

"Yeah, uh, I will..." Elli said slowly, sitting down. Cathy took her seat beside Elli and Chris went to his seat near the opposite wall.

The ball bounded toward Chris, but he didn't even make a run at it; instead he watched it in disgust and bent down to pick it up as it came close enough.

"No!" Andy said emphatically. "I don't wanna play with no cheaters. I'll just take the ball and go somewhere else if you're gonna be a cheater!"

Chris' gaze followed the other boy's outstretched hand, and his eyes fell on a small group of girls huddled together. They were walking along, talking and giggling. One girl looked angry and she was talking louder than the others. Suddenly she broke away and ran from the tiny congregation; the other girls were laughing. The little girl ran straight toward where the two boys stood, though she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.

"Hey, it's Elli!" Andy exclaimed to Chris. "Whatsa matter?" he asked the girl as she came near, but the she ran right past them without looking up.

When the bell had rung to end English, Elli had gotten out in the throng of people and Chris hadn't gotten to say goodbye to her. Now Chris had suffered through a period of PE and was ready to eat lunch. He walked over the concrete slab that surrounded the school and across the street to a little cafe. It was off-beat enough to put-off most of the student body who flocked to the pizza and sandwich joints a few blocks away.

When Chris got there, he saw that Andy and Cathy had beat him to their normal table on the sidewalk. Chris threw his bag down against the wooden wall of the cafe and sat down at the table. Paul Simon music wafted out the open door of the cafe.

"Hey guys. Seen Elli? She wasn't feeling well earlier..." Chris trailed off.

"I haven't seen her since English," Cathy replied.

A girl in a white apron with her dark hair pulled back into a bun walked up to the table. "Hey guys," she said. "What'll ya have today? Should I wait for Brandy and Elli?"

"I'll have a raspberry Italian soda," Brandy said, walking up to the table and setting her bag down, "and Elli wont be coming down today."

"Alright," the waitress said, scribbling the order down on her little pad. "How about the rest of you?"

"I'll have a strawberry smoothy," Andy said.

"And I a blackberry-raspberry Italian soda," said Chris.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Cathy said politely.

"Got it," the waitress said, putting the pad and pen into a pocket on her apron. "They'll be out in a minute." And with that she disappeared inside the cafe.

When the waitress had gone, Chris turned to Brandy. "So why isn't Elli coming down?" he asked. "Is she OK?"

"What? Yeah, she's fine," Brandy said. "She had to stay and work on a history project is all."

"Ah, alright..." Chris said, but his puzzled expression betrayed his nervousness at Elli's odd behavior. He looked down at his hands contemplatively.

"Chris..." Andy said slowly, questioningly.

"What? Huh?" Chris said, looking up in surprise.

"Are you OK, man?" Andy said, worriedly.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Just thinking," Chris said, and looked at the distant horizon.

Chris and Andy sat talking at a picnic table. It was lunch, and the only table where they could sit and talk without being overheard was at the edge of the normal lunch area where the throng sat. Chris told Andy that he was going to get something to eat, and started his trek around the crowded overhang, heading in a roundabout way to the cafeteria line. As he was walking he saw a young girl resting her head on her hands. As he approached, Chris recognized her as Elli from elementary school. Her shoulders moved slightly, spasmodically, and Chris realized that she was crying.

Chris walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a soothing way. That did not seem to be the case, however, from her reaction. Her head shot up and her back straightened. For a second she searched around wildly for her assailant, and then she saw Chris.

"Oh, Chris..." she said weakly, bringing her hand up to her face to wipe away tears and fix some stray hair. "I didn't hear you coming. I--I thought you were someone else, maybe..."

Elli smiled a little at his lack of social grace but stifled back another sob. "Yeah," she said, "yeah, I'm OK, really. I really shouldn't let silly stuff get to me, ya know?" Elli was speaking to him now as though he were an old friend and not an acquaintance from elementary school. "But I do," she finished with a sigh.

He smiled. It had been a small elementary school and maybe it was hard not to be comfortable with someone you had been around that much. "Yeah, I know. You don't want to let it get to you, but it does. Not much you can do about it, I guess. Talking can help, though, and I'm here to listen if you want." Chris smiled at her. He had always had a little bit of a crush on Elli, and he would love the chance to expand their relationship.

"Thanks, Chris," she said, returning his smile. She seemed a little better now; she wasn't suppressing sobs anymore. "Thanks a lot. Maybe I will. Right now I think I just wanna think.... Just wanna try to figure out what's going on, ya know? Thanks, though... it's really nice of you."

"Sure," Chris said. He was a little crestfallen at losing the chance to have a talk with her, but he knew that she must be going through a rough time and she had sounded really sincere. Not one to surrender the battle completely, Chris bent to hug her, and she hugged him back without reserve. "I hope you feel better," he said.

Elli lay stretched out on her bed, talking on the phone. "I don't know what to do, Cathy," Elli was saying. "It's not really as easy as you'd make it out to be."

From the receiver came Cathy's answer. "But do you really have a choice? I mean, if you're not happy, you shouldn't make yourself go through this."

Elli's response was almost panicked. "I don't want to hurt his feelings, though! I mean, how will he react?"

"Face it, Elli, this isn't the first time he'll have gotten dumped, an---"

"Actually, it will be."

"And, as I was saying, it wont be the last time he'll get dumped, either."

"I know that, Cathy! But that doesn't mean it wont hurt him."

"What can I say? You know what you have to do, Elli. I've reassured you as much as I can, but nothing will make it feel good. You just have got to know that it has to be done. Then, you just have to do that."

"Words, Cathy. Words are cheap."

"Yeah, I know that, but that's really all I can give you. Go to sleep and gather your strength. You just gotta do it. Do it tomorrow. Do it in the morning... or after English."

"I dunno... I'll see. But you're right, I'm tired. I'm going to sleep now. Good night, Cathy. ...Thanks."

"I know this is hard, Elli... but it'll be OK. Get some sleep; I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya." Elli set the phone back in its cradle on her bedside table and rolled over. Tears started to form at the edge of her clenched eyes, but she resisted the urge to just break down and cry with all her might. Finally a deep and silent sleep consumed her tired, worn out body. Chris once again stood on the porch of Elli's house and knocked on her door. A few moments passed and he didn't hear anything from inside. He knocked again and a muffled "just a second," came from inside. After another moment Elli's mother stood in the doorway.

"Oh, Chris," she said, somewhat surprised. "Didn't Elli tell you? She went into school with Brandy today. They left just a few minutes ago."

Chris was startled. "She did? No, she didn't call me. Oh, err, well, OK... thanks. Um, see ya later." And with that Chris turned and walked back to his car, an expression of confusion on his face.

Chris thought about Elli all the way to school. Why hadn't she called him? Why was she acting so strangely? Why Brandy? Brandy doesn't even drive by Elli's house, normally... Andy does though. Yet she chose to get a ride with Brandy. She couldn't have just flagged her down, she must have called her. But why? And why not call him to tell him?

Chris pulled into the school parking lot and walked up the steps slowly, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind exactly what he would see. In a huddle by the bushes Elli, Cathy and Brandy stood in a secretive huddle while Andy looked on, straining to hear the discussion but pretending to read a book. Chris walked over and sat down next to Andy. Cathy pointed to him, whispering something, but she was out of earshot.

"Hey Andy, what's going on?"

"I dunno," Andy said in wonder. "They just kinda... congregated. They didn't even say anything. Elli and Brandy came in together and then Cathy just kinda went over to them without so much as a word to me. I thought maybe you could shed some light on it for me, like why Elli and Brandy came in together."

"Ah yes," Chris replied. "The social patterns of the elusive and mysterious 'girlius personius'. We may never understand them totally. And no, I don't know why Elli came in with Brandy. I'm getting kind of nervous, actually..." Chris trailed off.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it," Andy said with a laugh. "Girls are just like that. I remember watching them in third grade, running around and acting out their own little soap operas. They still act that way far, far too often. 'Mature faster than men' my arse."

Chris gave a nervous little laugh. "Yeah... I dunno," he said weakly.

The shrill bell whistled and the three girls quickly broke up and disappeared into the writhing throng of students. Chris looked at Andy and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Andy returned the expression but shrugged his shoulders to indicate resignation to the peculiarities of girls. What the---? Chris was saying, and Andy was replying, I don't know, and I don't think I or anyone else ever will.

Chris wandered around his new campus -- the high school campus -- with a vague look of awe on his face. Hundreds of people were milling about; it was the largest school he had been to yet. As he looked across the mass of people, he saw groups form and dissolve. Acquaintances would move together into groups and then fall apart again in search of closer friends, while those lucky enough to find their close friends stayed balled up together. Sometimes a small group of friends would grow into a large group, and then new subgroups would form and break away.

Chris wasn't unpopular, per se, but he didn't have a whole lot of close friends. In fact, he only had a few. Andy, Cathy and Brandy were about it as far as close friends went for Chris. He and Andy had been friends for years, but he had always been drawn to female friends more than male friends for some reason.

He kept scanning the throng, hoping to find a familiar face. He peered into the crowd, turning his head in all directions, and finally his gaze was greeted by the sight of Brandy standing near the corner of a building waving to him. He made his way over to where she stood and found Andy there also, as well as another girl who he instantly recognized as Elli.

Knowing Andy would forgive him, he walked first over to the two girls. Brandy had been gesturing to Chris and talking to Elli, but the conversation was brought to a rapid conclusion as he entered earshot of their whispers.

"Oh, I'm alright," Chris replied. "Not altogether too happy about being back at school, but at least it'll be a new experience," he said with a smile.

In English, Elli came in late and shot out the door as soon as the bell rang; she wasn't in there a second longer than she absolutely had to be. Chris didn't even get a word in, though she did flash him a smile across the room, and he was vaguely reassured. After PE he took a shower, and ended up getting down to the cafe a few minutes later. Andy sat with a strawberry smoothy in his hand, while the girls stood huddled up once again a little way away from the table. The previous wordless conversation of raised eyebrows and shrugged shoulders was repeated, and, assured that Andy had no new information, Chris sat down.

"It is weird, though, isn't it?" he said to Andy, appending to their previously mute exchange.

"Yes, yes it is," Andy agreed.

"Whatcha gonna get today, Chris?" the waitress said, coming out from the door of the little building.

"Uh, nothing right now, thanks," Chris said uncertainly. "I think I've lost my appetite." His stomach was in a knot. He was was worried about Elli. Graceland drifted out from the open door and Chris grimaced at the lyrics; "And I see that loosing love is like a window in your heart/ Everybody sees your blown apart...." Chris wondered ruefully why they couldn't be playing something like Late in the Evening or something else entirely, like the incomprehensible lyrics of Sweet Hitch-Hiker.

Running out of pleasant things to contemplate, Chris moved his gaze to parallel Andy's at the small group of girls. When Brandy noticed that Chris was watching them, she whispered something forcefully into Elli's ear and pushed her firmly toward the table.

Elli stumbled slightly and stopped to glare back at Brandy and Cathy, but they had found some minutia on the menu in the window of the cafe to hold their rapt attention. Looking back at Chris, Elli smiled lamely and walked up to him.

"Hey Chris..." she started, looking down at her feet. "Um, I left something History, would you come with me to go get it?" She looked up at him imploringly.

Chris was surprised at the look on her face. "Why, sure. It's not a big deal..." he trailed off, but the knot in his stomach was tightening.

Elli looked out into nothing and started off swiftly, leaving Chris to have to take several big strides to come up alongside here. "Um, Chris..." she began slowly, eyes now focused solidly on the ground in front of her. Chris didn't respond. "Um, well, I didn't really just want you to come get my History stuff for me. Actually, I don't have any stuff to get." She stopped, but didn't look at his face. Her gaze flitted between his feet and the distant treed hillsides and her hands, which she was wringing nervously. Still Chris remained silent.

"See it's just that, um, well, I've been thinking about you and me..."

Chris gasped for air. It was if something had happened to him and all the oxygen had suddenly left his chest. His stomach churned. He knew what was coming; he knew it had been coming, somewhere in the back of his mind.

"...and well, I kinda think that maybe..."

Chris knew his fate was sealed. He didn't close his eyes, but inside he did. Inside he closed his eyes and dropped to the his knees pain.

"...it's just that I kinda liked it better when we were just friends, ya know?" Elli finished and looked up at him nervously, imploringly, wanting some relief from guilt.

Chris' soul collapsed limply to the ground, in a semi fetal position. Half his mind was shut down in grief. The conscious, rational part made him almost smile, in part to comfort Elli. He knew that this had been coming. Somewhere there was irony.

"Yeah, I know," he said shortly. He knew that if he tried to talk much he'd break down.

"I'm sorry, Chris, it's just---"

"It's OK." He writhed and cried, inside. The conscious part didn't do it, but it knew what was happening. And it knew that it was right that it should be that way. It was right that Chris should cry inside. But it also said said, "We must keep up our appearances! We're in high school now!" and Chris made no outward physical movement.

Chris started slowly back to the cafe, as though in a trance. His outward self stared forward, emotionless, but already his inner self was starting to break through. He closed his eyes.

"Chris?" Sitting at his chair in the cafe, Andy saw Chris close his eyes and saw Elli look on anxiously. What was happening? "Chris?" he called again, louder this time.

Chris walked a little further but gave no response. He stood on the sidewalk in front of the cafe now, his face blank of emotion. "I'm gonna go walk around," he said in a monotone voice.

"Chris, are you OK? What happened?"

"Nothing," Chris said, and walked down the street, turning down at the corner so that he could no longer be seen from the cafe.

The girls crowded around Elli. "Did you do it?" they asked, as one. "Did you do it?" The girls tried to coerce Elli to a location farther from Andy, but she did not move.

Andy looked at them scornfully. "What? What? What did you do?" he demanded, becoming angry and afraid for his friend.

Elli closed her eyes and baited her breath to stop the sudden impulse to cry. She successfully held it off, though just barely. Through clenched teeth and with eyes held tight shut she said, "Nothing."

Chris drove his new -- "new" in the "used" sense -- Mazda around and between the hills of Athens. The sun had not yet reached its zenith, so driving was comfortable for Chris; and on the way back the sun would be behind him again. He hadn't exactly planned it that way, per se, but it was a good thing, because Chris still wasn't too comfortable behind the wheel. He was only but a sophomore yet, and his license was a very recent acquirement. He was especially glad he had it this Saturday, because having it meant that he could go on a date with Elli without needing his parents to drive them around and eavesdrop on their conversations.

Chris slowed the car. He knew that her driveway was around here somewhere, but he wasn't sure exactly where. His eyes began to search all the driveways as he came across them, reading the names, the addresses, and the mailboxes that lined the road in clusters. Finally he found it: "1984 La Tortuga Blvd., Athens, 95368 --- Home of Phyllis, Barry, Elli and James McAllister"

Chris turned into the little dirt driveway and drove down out of view of the main road. He followed the winding little road for about half a mile, and finally came to her house. He cut the engine and brought down the sun visor for a last check of his hair in the little mirror. He deemed himself suitable, and got out of the car, making his way up the little steps to her porch.

He was wearing slacks with a dark green shirt (tucked in, no less) and a corduroy jacket. He gave his jacket a last little tug and knocked on the door. After a second the door opened and Chris' breath was taken away. The most beautiful woman in the world stood there, before him, smiling. Elli wore here hair up in a little bun, a purple top with spaghetti straps, a black cloth jacket and a short skirt. Chris opened his mouth and tried to say something, but only air escaped. Elli smiled.

"H--hi Elli," he replied haltingly. "Wow... you really look great. I, uh, I got you some flowers--" Chris suddenly realized he had left her flowers sitting on the passenger seat in the car. "Just a sec!" he cried out over his shoulder as he bounded off the porch and to the car. Elli watched his frantic struggle with delight and bemusement. He opened the passenger side door and stuck his head in, coming out a second later with a bouquet of flowers. He bounded back toward the porch, reaching Elli out of breath.

"(Gasp) Here, Elli. (Gasp) I got these (Pant) for you. I (Breath) hope you like them." He quickly offered up the flowers in an attempt to minimize his chances of doing something stupid again.

Elli smiled and took the flowers. "Awww," she said admiringly, "they're beautiful Chris. Thank you so much!" She hugged him, intentionally catching him by surprise. He quickly tried to regain his composure enough to reciprocate the hug.

Elli disengaged and took a little step back, looking at him. "You look very handsome tonight, Chris," she said, taking his hand in hers.

"You're beautiful, Elli," he said, and brought her hand up to his mouth, giving it a little kiss. He lowered her hand and looked at her, smiling. She smiled back. Hand in hand, they walked to his car.

The little stream continued to gurgle. It spun and splashed and whirled and fell and it never knew where it was going. It just kept going.

Chris had taken out a few mailboxes in his drive up, but had otherwise gotten home without incident. He was drunk beyond taking good and bad, safe and dangerous into consideration. He just wanted to get to the stream. The stream where he and Elli had lay together watching the stars through the trees that night over two years ago; their first date. He desperately struggled, grappling to keep ahold of that one memory. That was all that he could think about.

Would the stream be full? Had it rained? It was spring... or was it still winter? Chris couldn't remember. He continued on.

His parents hadn't come out when he had pulled up to the house. They had no reason to be concerned. He kept thinking about Elli but trying not to think of her the way she was now. His mind reeled and searched for... something. Maybe she would think about it and decide she was wrong. Maybe it was a joke. A joke. And all he had to do was go back and talk to her, and she'd say "it was just a joke," and they'd laugh and everything would be OK.

He lurched haltingly over the dense underbrush, stumbling and catching himself on a tree every now and then. He tried to aim straight for the stream, but his feet wouldn't do it. Or were they? Sometimes he couldn't tell. It was a big stream bank, he reasoned; he'd get there.

There is was: the bank, the tree, the stream. He fell forward, propping himself up with his hands resting on the trunk of the crooked tree. His stomach heaved once; twice. He wiped off his mouth on his sleeve. His head pounded. Slowly, he pulled himself out onto the great bough that jutted out over the stream and looked down into swirling green mist.

Bam... bam... bam. His head throbbed, and he groaned. His eyes rolled slightly up into his head and he lost his sense of balance and direction. He blacked out. Slowly at first, then more quickly, his body slid off the tree and dropped down into the stream. He hit with a splash and a dull thud as his body struck the bottom of the shallow stream bed. He came up and coughed out of reflex, spewing out water. He groaned once and then grew quiet. His body drifted limply to the bank where it caught on the bank and stuck, the water of the stream flowing over him.