You and I Will Meet Again

An Original Songfic

By: Stella McCoy

NOTE: The song "You and I will meet again" belongs solely to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and may be found on their album "Into the Great Wide Open". I do not own the people portrayed, as this is a true story. The plot belongs to those portrayed, as it is a part of their life. Further notes follow at the bottom.
 

It began a long time ago. I was three years old, living in a neighborhood where no children lived. Then the new neighbors moved in next door...

You and I will meet again
When we're least expecting it

Fate smiled on me that day. Two boys moved in, not much older than myself. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Finally, I had playmates. I played with them constantly, and the three of us were never far from each other.

Somewhere in some far off place
I will recognize your face

We'd play in the backyard, jump on the trampoline, have mega water fights, and build snow forts. We'd play in the creek, play a huge game of hide and go seek (we called it "Fugitive on the Run"), and make prank calls to whoever wasn't with us. :) We invented games, executed them, and made a club in the deep recesses of their backyard near the creek: Fort Sport.

I won't say goodbye my friend
For you and I will meet again

Fort Sport was the best club I ever participated in. I admit it was similar to playing army, but we didn't play that way. We were spies, on a mission of one sort or another. We all had a code name, and we'd roam the neighborhood on our bikes. And we'd play sports: Frisbee, basketball, and baseball.

I heard you singing to no one
I saw you dancing all alone

Looking on back on it, it was a rather strange situation. Two boys playing with a girl younger than themselves, and the girl playing games that boys would traditionally play. But I never minded. To three lonely children, it didn't matter that I was a girl. I was happy playing with "the boys", as I called them. But we'd met because we were all lonely children, who'd see each other playing by themselves. We became best friends.

One day you belonged to me
Next day I just wouldn't know

Seven years ago, disaster struck. My family grew too big for our small house and made plans to move. I was heartbroken. We bought a house across town and moved in a few months' time. Though we still live in the same city, I haven't seen them since shortly after I moved.

Someday all the rules will bend
And you and I will meet again

I fell into what I recently discovered to be depression. You don't think about nine-year-olds getting depressed, but it's true. It took me nearly a year to adapt to my new neighborhood, though I met some of my closest friends after I moved in. The neighborhood children flocked to my trampoline, and I always felt as though they'd rather somebody else had moved in, for the most part.

I've got a feeling
I've got a feeling so strong
Maybe someday our paths will cross

I still think back on those years. I've always wondered about them, how they are and what they've been doing. The oldest would be in college, the other a senior in high school. It makes the wound worse when I realize that we lost contact because we didn't do to the same schools. I never see them anywhere, not at a grocery store or a gas station. It's as though they've disappeared off the face of the Earth.

A red-winged hawk is circling
The blacktop stretches out for days

I know you can't change the past, although I wish with all my heart that you could. I wouldn't have given up my younger siblings to keep our old house, but I would've kept in touch. I tried...

How could I get so close to you
And still feel so far away?

My family brings home news about them, occasionally. How they've seen their parents at the mall, and our moms are friendly, but I never see them. I went to their house one day, but no one was home.

I hear a voice come on the wind
Sayin' you and I will meet again

Is it wrong to hope for something that may never come true? I've been wishing since I was nine years old to be their friend again. But the irony could choke a horse. Missed opportunities and bad timing tell the latter half of the story perfectly. Eden could describe the first half concisely.

I don't know how, I don't know when
But you and I will meet again

Oh the irony. But one shouldn't dwell on the past. We'll meet again, somewhere and someday.

As I said before, this is a true story. Every time I tell this tale, everyone tells me that we'll meet again. I dearly hope so. Reviews are greatly appreciated. :)