The Singer
By Amirah Datwani
IN A FOREST OF BEAUTIFUL GREEN TREES, GEORGIA WAS THE only person for miles around; or so she thought. Copper hair cascaded over her blue-clothed shoulders. Her face was a minefield of freckles.
There was just enough light to see, allowing her to continue her evening walk. Tonight was out of the ordinary, though.
Georgia watched as a silhouette materialised from far away. It was coming closer. Although it would have been wise to run in the situation, she couldn’t. Her feet felt rooted to the floor. Georgia couldn’t move away. It was such an ethereal sight. A silhouette of a boy about her height against a fading sunset: as he got closer, his features came into view. Curly brown hair perfectly complimented his pale skin, and his golden eyes reminded Georgia of springtime. He wore a grey tank top, blue shorts, and black running shoes.
“Hello,” he said. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I was just…taking a walk,” she stammered.
They stared into each other’s eyes.
“Your eyes are gorgeous.” He smiled. “They shine brighter than these stars.”
She looked up at the night sky. The stars were big, bright, and beautiful, almost blinding.
“Okay, you’re lying,” Georgia laughed.
“I’d never lie to you.”
“You just met me!”
“I’d never lie to anyone.”
They smiled awkwardly at each other. She checked her silvery blue metal watch, hoping it wasn’t her curfew yet. The time hadn’t changed since the last time she’d looked at her watch. Perfect. Now she had an excuse if she was late. She didn’t know what it was about this guy, but she didn’t want to leave.
“Well, I have to go. My mom will kill me if I’m out any longer.” He looked into Georgia’s electric blue eyes.
“I should go too.”
“I can give you a ride if you want.”
“I’d love that,” she said, not realizing that she was already subconsciously walking with him. Georgia said, “I didn’t get your name.”
“Blue.”
“That’s an interesting name.”
“Yeah. My parents wanted something authentic, whatever that means.”
“You could always go by your last name.”
“My last name is Jade.”
Georgia laughed.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“So your name is Blue Jade.”
“Mhm.”
“Damn,” she said. “At least you’re not named after a state. Like, Georgia? Seriously? I can’t even go by my last name, because Jameson would be a horrible name to go by.”
“I’ve met people named Georgia before,” Blue said. “How many Blues have you met?”
“Good point.”
They reached the truck. It had a very obvious colour palette, blue and green. Blue Jade lived up to his name. A strange hissing sound swelled as he placed his hands on the steering wheel.
“Looks like my truck broke down again.”
“Again?”
“It’s really old. It was my great-great grandfather’s.”
“You sound like a walking movie clichè.”
“And you’re the beautiful main character.”
He couldn’t make it any more obvious. He liked her.
“Wait. It’s working now.”
“That was…dramatic.”
He drove, the truck clunking every few metres.
“I’m not sure if you’re a bad driver, or this truck is crap.”
“It’s both. Wait, where do you live? I can’t drop you off if I don’t know where you live!”
Georgia whispered it to him.
Blue asked, “Why are you whispering?”
“You’d rather not know. It’s disturbing.”
“Okay then.”
He went strangely fast after that, which meant the truck was even clunkier than usual.
“Well, bye,” Blue said, stopping outside her house.
“Bye.”
Georgia stepped out of the truck, which slowly drove away. She stood outside her house, pausing for a moment. She lived in this. The neighbours' small house, peeling with brown paint, was better than this. It would have looked stunning, except for the fact that it was an unflattering bottle green colour. Yes, the entire thing.
Her parents spent a ridiculous amount of money on it. She thought it was because they didn’t know what to do with their large fortune. It almost ruined her favourite colour for her. Almost. But the front door was such a pleasant shade, a beautiful leafy green, the reason green remained her favourite colour. Georgia sighed, placing her white hand on the glistening doorknob. As she opened the door, she instantly knew something was wrong. The house was completely dark.
“Mom? Dad? Clemence?”
Her finger hit the light switch quickly. Georgia ran from room to room, and let out a relieved sigh as she saw her sister lying in her bed, reading a book in the light of the lamp. A Little Life. Why was her sister reading depressing contemporary fiction, her least favourite genre?
“Right, what’s going on? And why are you reading A Little Life?”
“Mom’s in the hospital.”
“What?”
“Well, Dad didn’t say that but I could tell. He’s a really bad actor and an even worse liar.”
“For what?”
“In Dad’s words, ‘Your mother fell off a cliff, but she’s fine!’” Clemence rolled her eyes.
“He said that?”
“He said that, and that’s why I’m reading depressing books. It’s therapeutic.”
Georgia could faintly hear sad indie music. “So this is you...coping with it? Why are you acting like she’s dead?”
“Because with her in the hospital, Dad will be the one who is taking care of us. And that means we have to do everything ourselves, not to mention that realistically, she is going to die.”
Georgia did not want to believe that. But for once, even she couldn’t come up with some elaborate explanation to convince herself otherwise.
So she did what she always did when she was downcast. She walked to her room, opened up her green-covered journal and began writing a song. And after forty minutes of hard work and looking things up on a thesaurus, Georgia had one. She looked down at her work. It was the most heart-wrenching thing she’d ever written. A few teardrops glistened on the page. She sang it under her breath.
Blue Life
I once had a dream you were cold and dead
Then I woke up and it wasn’t just in my head
And I ran to you
And I cried for you
When you died I did too
But when I think of you
I remember the sweet smile
Walking across the tile
And you always knew when I was lying, lying
I remember all the happy days
When you told me to use my brain
Hugged me the second I started crying
When I think of you with me
I remember it’s not gone
Tears, tears,
Fears, fears
The one I love has gone
Forever and ever
It used to mean better
But now all my thoughts of you are bittersweet
I’ll never forget you
But when I think of you
I remember the sweet smile
Walking across the tile
And you always knew when I was lying, lying
I remember all the happy days
When you told me to use my brain
Hugged me the second I started crying
When I think of you with me
I remember it’s not gone
It still pains me to think
The time I sing this to you
It’ll be at your funeral
The whole time I’ll know
You’ll never hear this
But when I think of you
I remember the sweet smile
Walking across the tile
And you always knew when I was lying, lying
I remember all the happy days
When you told me to use my brain
Hugged me the second I started crying
When I think of you with me
I remember it’s not gone
I once had a dream you were cold and dead
Then I woke up and it wasn’t just in my head
Georgia sighed. Clemence was right. Doing depressing things when you were sad was therapeutic. At least her mom wasn’t dead yet. Just as that thought entered her mind, she got a text.
Dad: You and Clemence need to come to the hospital NOW.