'Clouds in the Summer'
Dear Old Friend
Reading Music
I promise I stopped searching for you, and I promise I’m not trying to pull you back to me. You left me in the dust, and for good reason, but a string on my heart still hurts whenever I try to yank it. I refuse to believe in the burning necessity of closure, but I’ve found that gravity differs where the empty air feels so heavy.
I've made a predicament of my reputation. I’m confident that people have rehearsed and readied their counterclaims to about me. I can't sit inside a hot car while my old friends roast me. I’ve been thrust into a new life now, where the raindrops will knock against my window whenever this recurrent longing nags at my attention. I can assure you, I have changed from the last time you observed my failures.
I hope you keep this photograph from the day you called me at work. I said in the office, "Excuse me, I have to take this" and walked outside just to answer your call. You met me in the parking lot after my shift. We sat in your car. I mentioned I didn't like to get too far into my feelings. You said that could never be true since photography is a discipline for nostalgics. You started the car and asked me to show you my favorite roads through the desert. I wanted a photo of the highest point of the road I took to work. You drove up and down that road for me until it was too dark to see anything. I said I needed to stop trying to save such a perfect moment, and that’s when I captured these raindrops. This photo takes me right back to the inside of your car's rainy window. I see our montage of the happiest and saddest skipping flashbacks when I look at it. I think we wanted that day to last forever- I know I did.
I found myself compelled to write letters from my heart that I didn't end up wanting you to read. I couldn’t tell if they were really about you after a certain point. I couldn't bring myself to burn them, shred them, or watch the paper and ink disintegrate in water. They’re yours now. You might want to store them away, not to be opened for years, or, you might have an easier time getting rid of them.
The windshield wipers sing with the engine's hum. The mountainous road moves through the late July morning's storm system like a tidal wave frozen in time. The view behind her eyes holds a stale hope- a dream given back to the world as a lie of its own.
A 21st birthday party that exaggerated the unromantic will always remain their last memory of each other. She no longer had the time nor the will to contemplate his whereabouts. That was six years ago, but it felt like yesterday and like an entire lifetime had passed all at once.
Harmony had previously considered saying goodbye, but Oakley would not want her to stop over anyhow.
The red light waits like a projector replaying the times she turned around to re-experience the stretch of road. She would miss trying to convince people to trade the freeways for the byways.
The look in his grey-blue eyes when he finds the box on his doorstep is one Harmony is grateful to miss. She looked forward to her playlist narrating the scenic mystery along Highway 101 to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Watch "A quarrelsome playlist" as a movie on YouTube 🍿
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About the Creator
Starlight Tucker
Full Sail University | Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Drama/Romance | Science Fiction | Feature Articles
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By Power Media6 days ago in Art
Comments (27)
Beautifully written
This is great writing
that's amazing
Amazing
روعه
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... and my mind is just (boom) wide eye'ed at all the possibilities. thanks for the share an will never forget you being my 1st follower. thx Star!
Definitely a must read!
Clouds in the summer is a subtle and inviting niche tale that is almots a poem. Commendable.
This reminds me so much about a certain friend who was dear to me, never to hear from her again. And I can't push back the regret of losing her, or the thought of what I could have done better. Good job author, you made me teary eyed, that's a compliment.
Great writing!
Hi Starlight, good work! Enjoyed reading. Thanks for subscribing!
Hi Starlight, thank you for subscribing! Wow, what an introduction to your own work was this multimedia event, incorporating photography, music and film as well as prose. Where do I even start? Well, you yourself began with "Your Car's Rainy Window," and may I say first of all what an accomplished piece that is. I myself had to see your photo of the print on the wall to properly mark its superb balance, the proportion struck between the raindrops and the background, and how the deceptively haphazard arrangement actually captures a striking pattern within the frame. Sadly this image suffers a little when scrolled, so thank you for including the picture of it on a wall, where it can be appreciated whole as it should be! Your piano composition meanwhile is just superb. We feel the heaviness of the emotions you invoke in our heroine, but are also reminded this is part of life's refrain. While the above are perfect accompaniments to the story, it's surely your writing style above all that carries this poignant and sometimes painful tale. There's such a poetry to it, shades of Byron (particularly in the slightly sombre note of our narrator's reputation having suffered, which made me think of 'When we Two Parted') and beautiful notes of a bygone time - the postcard, the old road, and the unchanging natural world imagery of sea, clouds, stars and rain. The well-named Harmony, in pain though she may be, is beautiful in every cadence of her narrative voice. This was more than a story, but rather an unforgettable, immersive experience. Bravo!
Loved this! As someone who has had similar experiences, you do a great job of capturing what it feels like to be holding onto to a memory/memories.
This is such a beautiful, poetic and sensual story story of a heartbreak. It took me back to when I had similar experience. The music is beautiful, took, it feels like it's made of falling drops of rain.
very nice, good job
That was an amazing piece and surely a Vocal Top Story. The images and music complement your words brilliantly. One to read and revisit
This was an amazing!
Tell me THE METAPHOR of the two links embedded in THIS ARTICLE'S quote: "I CAN'T SIT INSIDE A HOT CAR WHILE MY OLD FRIENDS ROAST ME"
This was captivating, it reminded of old things I thought that were forgotten.
thanks keep supporting
brilliant work. keep it up
an incredibly breathtaking piece of work there.Kudos!
This was an incredibly touching and personal read. Brilliant work!
This is breathtaking. Well done!