Chapter Fourteen
1190 Words
S H A Y
Was there ever a time where you felt lost, no matter how familiar a scene was? But no matter how much it closes in you, you can't help but love the feeling, because you know it's highly unlikely? That was the exact feeling I had when I dreamt about my ex-wife and when we were still perfectly fine.
We had been at our house to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary and she was lying on my lap as I sang a lullaby to her. She was slowly drifting to sleep but as hard as it was, she kept her eyes open. Like I would somehow disapparate from the world of she blinked.
She had this amused smile on her face as she looked up at me. "What are you looking at?" She squinted her eyes a bit like she saw me being suspicious.
"My beautiful wife." I smiled, kissing her forehead.
She gave me a huge smile and she reached up for my face. Apparently, she loved doing that. She cupped my face and stroked my cheek with her thumb.
"I love you so much, Shannon. I know I'm not perfect and I know I have a gazillion flaws, you still stuck up for me." She beamed.
"Remember when we first met? That day in the playground?" I smirked.
"How could I forget? Contrary to popular belief, we actually met before we saw each other on set."
So a dream within a dream, we were remembering what it was like on that day.
I was just a lanky fifteen year old with acne in my face. We were on a little field trip because dad's work made him go to Los Angeles for a meeting with his foreign co-workers so I made my mom drop me off at a playground I saw while we were driving to our hotel. I went closer to a group of younger kids. They were probably around eight to ten and they were bullying a chubby girl with blonde pigtails and glazed blue eyes.
Her lips were shaped into a cute pout while she stared at her hollow ice cream cone in disappointment.
"Meanies!" She shouted in a cute voice.
"Who you gonna call, Barbie? Your wittle brother?" The ten year old guy taunted.
She stuck her bottom lip out and a wave of pity overwhelmed me. Sheesh, I'm Canadian for crissake, I shouldn't see red. But I did. I pity the adorable girl too much.
"Hey, meanies! Step away from her or I'll call your parents!" I shouted at them with a glare.
At the sound of my mature and teenage voice, they looked at each other in fear and scurried away. The blonde girl dropped her cone and angrily wiped her tears by using the back of her arm. Now that I think about it, the actions feel familiar.
I walked over to her and knelt in front of her, a few inches away from the pink and white goop that I think was molten ice cream under the California sun. "Hey, don't cry." I soothed in a soft tone.
I lifted her chin and she looked up at me with a pout, her blue eyes gleaming because of the unshed tears close to falling. "They made me drop my ice cream." She whimpered.
"We'll get you a new one." I smiled.
"Really?" She beamed hopefully. But after a moment, her smile faltered and she gave me a frown. "Mom said I shouldn't go with strangers."
"Will it help if we knew each other's names?"
She nodded.
"My name's Shannon. But my mom calls me Shay." I smiled.
She broke into a grin. "My name is Sasha and I'm eight years old!"
I chuckled as I snapped awake and smiled down on my wife. "It was one of the weirdest days in my life. Never would I have imagine that five years later and we'd see each other again."
She pouted. "You got me a mango and a chocolate in a cup."
I raised my arms up in defense. "You never mentioned that you wanted a specific flavor."
"It was pretty obvious that I wanted a strawberry-vanilla in a wafer cone." She rolled her eyes.
"Hey, you seem fine with what I got you." I retorted.
"Yeah, because I was being polite." She snickered.
"You could've told me that you wanted something else and still be polite."
She sighed. "Point taken. That combo is a nightmare though."
"Okay, moving on, do you remember our first date?" I asked dreamily.
"Sure. We were with Troian, Ashley and Lucy, sharing a single bucket of popcorn." She laughed. "It was a disaster."
It was a taping day but our work was all done and took care of. That day was also the day I'll have my first date with Sasha so I was super stoked.
But the catch? I wasn't supposed to be seen with Sasha as it will ruin my publicity stunt with Lindsey Shaw.
So Lucy had this wonderful idea where we should include them - Troian, Ashley and Lucy- to our date at the movies so people wouldn't think any of it. Sasha thought it was a great idea but I thought it was horrible. I was planning on sharing a single bucket of popcorn so our hands would touch. I even made sure of it that I went the extra mile by paying the guy in the Snacks booth in advance so when Sasha buys popcorn, he acts like they just ran out and give her a single one.
Well, it didn't work out so well.
So here we are, sitting on the move theater watching High School Musical 3 with Ashley between me and Sasha and Troian next to her, sharing the one bucket of popcorn we had.
I nodded solemnly. "Yeah, it was a disaster."
We both laughed but then the atmosphere got more serious and she looked up at me with expectant eyes. "Can you sing a song for me?"
"Our song? Never Stop by Safetysuit?" I asked.
She shook her head. "I want something else. The one you were singing in the shower earlier."
"Ah. Lonely Lullaby." I smiled softly and began to sing.
"Symphony of silver tears,Sing to me, and sooth the ring in my ears,Overcast these gloomy nights wear on,But I'm holding fast, 'cause it's darkest just before the dawn,
I sang my princess fast asleep,'Cause she was my dream come true,Oh, Ann Marie, believe me, I loved you,
But now those lonely lullabies,Just dampen my tired eyes, Because I can't forget you,Because I can't forget you."
"I love you Shay." She smiled up at me.
"And I love you too."
I panted as I sat up in my bed with sweat running down my forehead. I awoke to reality and my reality was sleeping naked next to Katie. I hugged the blankets tighter around me as I sobbed, knowing that this nightmare is too real to be true.
But it was.
I wasn't next to Sasha. And that was more than enough to haunt me for the rest of my life.
- Writer
