The Wish

Alaric was always pleased by the autumn time. For some reason the season warmed his inner soul. He would often imagine being embraced by the soft coziness of the inside, while acknowledging the growing cold that intensified outside. This gave Alaric peace. However, with the summer having left, so too went Alaric's bright & sunny mood.

Most adults can flip a coin on wether or not they believe their child is ready to say goodbye to summer fun and hello to school along with their rules. Alaric, on the other hand, was always eagerly awaiting a fresh beginning. He never took school seriously. Since a boy, it’s as if Alaric's self awareness screamed into his consciousness “You’re a genius!”. His thirst for knowledge was sub par to put it lightly. Yet, this boy could learn at a pace that was almost unnatural.

For whatever reason, Alaric simply loathed the entire process of his child hood. He couldn’t make up his mind on what he detested more. Was it the neglect from other children? Or, maybe it could’ve been their inability to hide their subtle apathetic reaction to his inadvertent nonconformist personality. Who knows? However, Alaric was by no means boring. He could always bring humor to the table and would always tell a joke that brought laughter. The laughter sometimes came from how corny the joke was. This boy was also smooth and spoke to females of all ages with a subtle flirtatiousness that was openly admired. This caused him to collect a few nicknames such as Romeo or Pretty Boy. As funny and charming as he was, Alaric made sure these praises didn’t consume his personality. It was a kind of priority to him that he maintained being approachable to any and everyone, while maintaining his own unbiased persona of himself. There was literally nothing wrong with him socially. Alaric just didn’t fit in no matter how great the effort. He never let anyone notice. This all changed in the blink of an eye.

A new student! Mrs. Andrejko’s 6th grade class room was filled with excitement. The teacher went to welcome the student at the main office. As soon as she left the room, all spaces were filled by thoughts and anticipation being put forth vocally “Who could it be!?” “Is it a boy?” “I bet it's a girl.” Whispers turned to shouts of childlike excitement. It’s always nice to have a new student on a boring school day. Mrs. Andrejko returned.

Excitement turned into whispering and whispering turned into silence.

Alaric was towards the front of the classroom which was at least, fifteen feet from the entrance. This gave him a decent view of the doorway. This means he could see perfectly the person who he would come to value more than the very fabric of reality.

A giraffe could’ve entered through the door and Alaric would’ve been less confused. It was like a slow motion movie that had been sped up just enough for you to think about what you saw going on. In walks a girl. She strode in as if to make a statement. “I have an attitude” Alaric felt all the air displaced by her movement hit him rite in his gut. You know what they say. “When so and so is mean to you that means they like you” Well…

The next couple of days went by as normally as they could with the new student added to Mrs. Andrejko’s little family. The girl was very quiet and abundantly mysterious. All anyone could detect was that she had an affinity for black clothing. This girl had dark mysterious eyes and a dark mysterious mole by her mouth. Oh! and she also had a dark mysterious everything as far as Alaric was concerned. It had been days since this new student had joined the party and Alaric hadn’t heard her utter a single word. In fact, he was the only person in the room she didn’t speak to.

Suddenly, the normally well contained aloof demeanor of Alaric turned into that of a person who was unsure of exactly who he was. He didn’t care. Alaric sort of enjoyed going to school for some reason. He saw another opportunity to steal a heart. This heart however, was indeed too well protected. What was a young boy to do. Alaric recalled The girl in black saying her name once; upon induction into the class. It was the most unique name he had ever heard. The girls name starts with the letter X. Alaric couldn’t help but to mispronounce it. The first words he actually does recall her ever saying to him were “Ok. Let’s get something straight.” He waited there amongst the other kids waiting for what she had to say. She didn’t say a word after that.

Alaric was certain he was in love at that moment. The girl's voice was the most pleasant thing he had ever heard.

The days that ensued as the school year progressed were truly frustrating for Alaric. Here he was, more passionate than ever in his life. He was taking something seriously for once. He didn’t care to pester the girl with love notes or emotional declarative statements at that point. This isn’t because he didn’t want to or because he was incapable. It was because even after months of seeing X in school Alaric’s interactions with her were limited.

Alaric was forced to find other means to get what he wanted. At this point in life his priority was receiving a “hello” from the girl in all black. Although, like I said. Alaric’s sense of self was changing. He didn’t write her love letters not only because she wouldn’t communicate with him directly.

Also, because Alaric didn’t know or understand what it meant to believe or even think of those things. He just understood love to be entertainment that he would see on television. Alaric wasn’t sure of what or why he felt this way for X. Yet, he didn’t mind this feeling. The girl in black didn’t seem to mind bullying him either. Alaric would always find himself weaseling a word from her by speaking to her friends who she would address openly. This was his most affective method of speaking to her. Other times she would smile briefly, or make a smart remark about Alaric rather than to him. You can imagine the headaches poor Alaric endured.

There was a particular song that played in class one day during recreational time. It went something like: “..I’d catch a grenade for ya..” X responded all too timely to this by taking it as an opportunity to say “Yeah. I’d throw a grenade at Alaric.” Ouch. Alaric never knew what to make of X from then on, formally now. She was very funny in her manner of attack. Alaric understood now, that he was no longer the Spruce Goose because his goose was now cooked.

Imagine working on group projects with these two. This happened all the time. Alaric grew comfortable being in love with a crazy goth girl who wouldn’t speak to him directly. Their relationship manifested into a kind of bitter friendship. The only thing he paid attention to was her. Not math, not science, not social studies, not anything. Actually, there was gym time. There was one particular class project, however; that involved birthdays. The children were assigned the task of writing down the birthday of each student in class to do a math exercise afterward. They would have to speak only directly to each student to find out. Alaric was getting the idea that the teacher may have been in on this joke too. He then decided to take this as an opportunity to speak with the girl in black.

Alaric took his time to make sure he retrieved enough birthdays as he could while trying not to appear overly eager to ask X the question, while also keenly paying attention to who was surrounding her for the best moment to ask. He walked up to her and before he could open his mouth, she handed him a note. His heart sank into his stomach. All manner of good things flooded his imagination. Alaric felt like he was ready to read the answer to a marriage proposal.

To his surprise, all that was on the paper was the birthday of X.

“what? Does she really not want to speak to me. What did I do?” Alaric was more upset than he had ever been in his life. He was feeling pressurized by being completely unable to even converse with who he openly acknowledged as the girl he “likes”. The rest of the year seemed just as mundane as it had been before. This time, Alaric was hurting. He believed himself to be under a particular kind of stressful adversity that no one should have to endure. He felt unloved. He would go on to feel this way for a long while.

It was June now and school was at an end. Alaric said goodbye to almost all of his peers and friends for the summer. That summer he made a bond with someone who would remain his friend for years to come. He wasn’t at all lonely. There were plenty of family gatherings and barbecues with all the fun you can imagine a boy with cousins can have. As much as Alaric liked the fun, it wouldn’t be unwise to guess what face he pictured as the night drew dark. The face we all know him to be thinking of filled his heart. He missed the girl in black... with all of the emotion he would allow himself to feel. Alaric didn’t understand how anything could take hold of him in such a way that it caused him to forget who he wanted to become. Alaric felt so powerfully in his soul that this distress was somehow good and bad, and he didn’t know what do do. He found himself alone wishing sometimes he would forget that he ever met the girl in black. Until…

One summer night, Alaric was enjoying himself on the island of Trinidad. His mother had thrown a very nice party for his grandmother. That evening Alaric’s grandmother had turned 50 years. Everyone was smiling and laughing. That evening Alaric realized he believed in peace. As the party settled into the later hours when everyone is fatigued from the food and dance, Alaric stepped outside to enjoy the island air alone. In Trinidad there isn’t as much light pollution in the mountains where the party was held. The stars were bright, bold & beautiful.

Casually, Alaric gazed into the night as if searching for something spectacular. He would often do this while he was there on the island. The stars were simply there to be seen. Then he saw it. It was as if Someone had sliced the sky with blade of gargantuan proportion. Alaric watched as the sky slowly stitched itself together. He quickly became aware that what he had seen was the famed “shooting star” “Quick! Quick!” He thought.

Rite before the after-scorch of the star disappeared, Alaric manifested all of the good will he could muster and combined it with every bit of love he could pull from himself. From his heart, through his soul and out of his mouth he spoke. Xiomara.

Time had passed and Alaric was back in The U.S. There was still a good amount of time before school started again. Alaric enjoyed plenty of time out doors; playing basketball, riding bikes, swimming. He was expecting the girl in black any day now to just walk into his life. That didn’t happen, not at all.

Instead he took initiative to search for her phone number or some kind of media. All he managed to retrieve from one of her friends was her (KiK). This was decent, seeing as she would respond every couple of hours or days in brief words. Then, not at all. Alaric was now again facing the strange reality of unrequited love at first sight. “What kind of torment?”

Alaric carried this weight for some time. The heartbreak didn’t make him stronger. “This story isn’t like that. Sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to. That is a reality many of us have to face.” “Alaric! That's the third time I’ve tried to get your attention. Hold this bag I'm going to change your sister." Alaric and his family were in the mall. “She made a mess on her shirt.” Alaric was often stuck in his negative thoughts. It was as if he was always preparing himself for the worst news. He didn’t like this about himself. “Sigh, I have to stop doing that.” He put the bag on his back and walked into the jewelry store not too far from his sister’s stroller. Alaric was fortunate to always have been given jewelry by his family. He went to the side of the store with earrings and bracelets. Alaric wondered if getting his ear pierced would be too dramatic for the girl in black. He had been wanting to for a while now. The students in his school had name plates or studs. He wondered if showing off a bit would get him some attention.

There was a salesman showing a necklace to a woman & her husband on the other side of the display table. The woman openly expressed her shock at the price of the piece. Alaric smiled and put his hands in his pocket to show that he was not interested, just in case the salesman felt like trying to show Alaric something that he couldn’t afford.

Just as the couple exited the store, the very same thing Alaric was trying to avoid, happened. The salesman walked over and asked if he could help in any way. Alaric answered “n’ um, pardon me” He pulled out a piece of paper that read: “August 21”. A lightbulb went off in Alaric’s head. “Sorry, would you mind telling me the birthstone for August.” “Sure” The Salesman replied. “The stone for the month of August is called the Peridot” “What do those look like” Alaric asked. The man gestured towards the case. “We actually have these here that are just what you’re looking for. And they happen to be on sale.” Alaric didn’t hear a word after. It was to him as if the whole world went silent. There, in the case were a pair of pear shaped earrings the same color as the very star he wished upon. “...I hope she likes me"

Said Alaric.