Sparkle
by Kat
Saturday night's plans were completely
ruined in Jessie's mind. An unexpected love turned into a fiasco
and now she was alone. Jess was so upset she basically broke
down on the phone with Russell, explaining to him what had
happened and that she wouldn't be there tonight. He tried to
come over and give her his support, but she just wanted to be a
mess without anyone seeing her. Of course he understood and
wished her better days full of sunshine and love and hung up.
Right as she was about to turn in and become a couch potato,
eating whatever carton of ice cream lied in the freezer, vegging
and drowning her sorrows in some sappy TV movie, Eli came to her
rescue of self despair.
"Okay, stop what you're doing. I
can't see you like this anymore Jess, it's breaking my heart
seeing you cry. You're coming with me," Eli proclaimed as he
lightly marched up the stairs to Jess's attic room.
"Oh,
Eli, I just can't." Jessie's tears wouldn't stop running, like cascades of water down a rapid waterfall. She was falling apart
and it was killing her. Not because she was breaking down, but
that she could have probably avoided the whole thing, or so she
tried to convince herself.
"Well, if you don't want to go
out, that's understandable." Eli then approached his sister
giving her a gentle wrap around hug. After a few moments of
embracing, he went over to her stereo and fiddled with the knob.
Finally feeling satisfied with what he had found, he reached
over and turned the volume on full.
Eli quickly ran over to
where Jessie's crumbled self was standing, grabbed her hand,
along with a curling iron and a hairbrush, handing the iron over
to his little sis.
As soon as Jessie heard the thunderstorm
in the background, then the music, she knew exactly what it was.
A smile simply arose across her face.
"Listen to the
rhythm of the falling rain, tell me just what a fool I've been.
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain, and let me be
alone again," Eli belted in his best oldie's impersonation, making sure of trying to at least get a laugh out of Jess. He
could only assume it was Katie in which she had been sobbing
over. Eli was Jessie's rock as far as family members were
concerned. While everybody else just kind of accepted it only to
her face, Eli was always there for her for support and guidance.
He would do whatever he could to help Jessie have as little pain
in her life as possible.
"Oh Eli, you're too much!" She
laughed, smiled, and quickly joined in, wrapping one of her arms
around her brother as they sang and danced along to the rest of
the song.
Together in an amazing harmony, they sang, "Now the
only girl I've ever loved has gone away, looking for a brand new
start! But little does she know that when she left that day,
along with her she took my heart.
Rain, please tell me,
now does that seem fair, for her to steal my heart away when she
don't care? I can't love another, when my heart's somewhere far
away.
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, telling me
just what a fool I've been. I wish that it would go and let me
cry in vain, and let me be alone again.
Rain, won't you
tell her that I love her so?
Rain in her heart and let the love we know start to
grow.
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, telling me
just what a fool
I've been. I wish that it would go and let me
cry in vain, and let
me be alone again.
Oh listen to the
falling rain. Pitter patter pitter patter, Oh,
listen, listen to
the falling rain
Pitter patter pitter patter, Oh, listen, listen
to the falling rain.
Pitter patter pitter patter."
The
song faded out, but the laughter and bond between the two
remained the same, if not got stronger.
"Well Sis, I'm
glad I could help cheer you up, even though I know this isn't
exactly what you need to feel better. I have to go to work, but
if you need me, don't hesitate to call my cell, ok?" Even though
he wouldn't admit it to any of his guy friends, his sister was his world. Love was not his best friend either and it seemed as though everyone around him couldn't seem to hold on to it, which
was not helpful in making him believe in it. Jessie helped him
realize that even if they hadn't found love yet, it would come
to them when they were ready for it. Overprotective and fatherly
were two very good words to describe Eli when it came to his
little sister.
"Thanks Eli. That meant everything to me," she
let out a sad sigh. "You're right, it wasn't exactly what I
needed, but damn did it help!" She made a huge grin on her face
and gave Eli a big bear hug or as big of a hug she could
give.
"No problem sis, I'm here for you. Always. But I really
got to go now. Later." He hustled down the stairs and out the
door. Jessie, now slightly more content with everything and a
little more level-headed, she lied down on her bed, brought out
her journal and began writing in it.
The journal was
basically filled with poems of what she was feeling at a
particular time in her life. Over the past year, she had filled three five-subject notebooks. Now on her fourth, she was almost halfway through. Like an unforeseen notion, the words just
flowed out of her body and onto the paper. After she was done,
she was quite satisfied.
" `Enough' by Jess
Sammler
I'm strong enough to live my life without you in
it
But trust me love, I just can't do it
You're in my soul and
everyday I seem to love you more
So please don't walk away and
leave me at the door
Since the day our sweet eyes met
I
knew my heart's goal was set
My life was given new meaning
And
you've got to be believing
I'm tough enough to move on with
my life without you in it
But trust me hun, I just can't do
it
You're the first thing I think about when I wake up
And I
just can't seem to give you up
Maybe you've been having
doubts
And through all the silence and the shouts
I guess I'll
have to make you see
Just how much you mean to me
Maybe
now you'll finally make up your mind
Maybe your heart won't be
too kind
But in the end, you need to know
I loved you then as
I love you now & I'll never let you go."
She closed the
book and laid it on the stand by her bed. With dimmed lights,
she drifted off into a comforting sleep, listening to the rhythm
of the now falling rain.