True Destiny

Soleil

“Everything is happening just a little bit too fast, Chita.” I gasped out, releasing hoarse breaths, and jerkily releasing the irritating grip he held on my wrist. My body lost all its energy to stand, and I collapsed down on my knees, Chita leaning down with me to lighten the pain of the fall.

As soon as I woke up that morning on Chita’s bed, Chita was scrambling around the room as if he was rushing to go somewhere. When he saw I was awake, he yelled, “Get ready!” and stared at me urgently. Since I was in his room and had no means to get ready as I normally would, he just threw me a random t-shirt that drooped lazily over my shoulders as well as some gym shorts, and as soon as I was done pulling the shirt over my chest, he grabbed me and we started running. It was the crack of dawn, and there was only a scattered amount of people roaming the halls of the school: teachers who were reluctant to get to work, and glassy-eyed students who regularly ate breakfast in the café. And also crazy teenagers who woke up so early just to run around aimlessly. That was us, by the way. “This is the best time to go.” Chita whispered to me. “There are less people out and no one will notice that you’re gone.” I had no idea what he was talking about, until my mind relieved itself of its morning disorientation. I remembered what Chita had told me the night before. He was going to take me to see Serge. I had no idea how, but this crazy kid was going to lead me to Serge.

“Where are we going anyway?” I asked him, my voice still soft and hoarse. My breathing had calmed down, though. I didn’t get any form of nourishment before Chita forced me to run with him for what seemed like hours of heavy cardio exercise. He hadn’t explained anything at all either. So, I was starved and confused, which is not a very great combination. Letting out a deep sigh, he sat down beside me, his body finally feeling the pain that mine was going through from this morning.

“I told you,” he whispered. “We’re going to see Serge.” No kidding.

“Duh,” I stuck my tongue at him mockingly. “That’s what you told me last night, but how? Where the hell are you taking me?”

“Look around you, Leila. Don’t you recognize this place?” He asked, striking me an annoyingly cheerful grin. I let out an exasperated breath, and looked around as he suggested. We were in a very dimly lit area, walls surrounding us on three sides. I could hardly see down the corridor we probably had ran through to get here, and when I turned to look at the other side, there was nothing but a plain, gray wall. We had hit a dead end. I knew one thing though; we were in some area of the junior high school. The depressing, bleak hallways of the school seemed too familiar.

I stared back at Chita suspiciously.

“No, I don’t recognize this place at all Chita.” He let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s good, that’s good.” He mumbled quietly under his breath.

“How is that good? I don’t know where we are!” I yelled as loud as I could. Chita quickly clasped a hand roughly over my mouth, holding the forefinger on his other hand to his lips, signaling me to be quiet. He leaned closer to me, whispering in my ear.

“We’re not supposed to know about this place, Leila. No one is; besides Guy and Christine. There are no cameras or guards monitoring this area, but we could be heard if we just yelled as loud as you did, understand?” He asked, glaring. I nodded my head, and he released his grip on my mouth, finally letting me breathe. As soon as I got air circulating back into my lungs, I stood up and walked towards the wall that blocked us from going any further, feeling it with one hand. Chita came up beside me.

“Why is this place such a secret?” I asked him. Chita’s gaze turned intense, his always mischievous grin forming on the sides of his lips.

“Just stand back and watch.” I did as he forcefully told. Once Chita was in of his crazy modes, there was no stopping what he was doing, and it was best to stay as far away from him as possible. I braced myself for whatever was going to happen next.

When I stepped far enough away to Chita’s approval, he commenced his odd work. He moved his fingers over the blank wall in weird motions, at the same time mumbling something under his breath. That same intense gaze was glued to his eyeballs.

What the heck was he doing?

As soon as I thought that in my head, something strange happened. I heard a small beep, as if Chita triggered something, and a few seconds after that tone a holographic image materialized itself out of the air in front of him. It looked similar to a computer keyboard, except there were unfamiliar markings on the glowing, neon-green square outlines rather than the Latin alphabet that I was knowledgeable about. It may have been the Greek alphabet, because I noticed the similar alpha and beta markings that were common knowledge to most high school students. They were the only letters that I could recognize, everything else looked like strange markings.

“Chita, what-?” He hushed before I could ask anything else. Oh well, it was best to leave Chita alone and concentrated when it came to these things. And I mean these things as in things that no average-minded person should come across in their lifetime.

He started typing on the holographic image - which was not an image at all, it was an actual keyboard someone could type on - in front of him with confidence, punching the letters in as fast as he would any other computer. As he touched a holographic key, that same key would show up rectangular box above the keyboard. I stood there, dazed, watching Chita as he tried to encode a cryptic message with a futuristic keyboard.

That’s how it looked to me at least.

Chita typed it one last letter, I think it was a gamma as that it one of the other three letters of the Greek alphabet that I knew, and the holograph instantly disappeared. I ran up besides Chita, looking up at him, worriedly. Maybe something had gone wrong, and that made the holograph vanish.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Yeah.” He answered, sweat churning down his brow as if he was waiting for something to happen.

A small beep that was slightly louder in volume than the first one subtly invaded the awkward silence. Chita jumped up and smiled. Apparently, that was the confirmation he needed. He grabbed me by the shoulders, and pushed me back towards the wall – really brusquely, I may add – and pushed his face close towards mine, an urgent look in his eyes.

“Listen Leila,” he whispered to me, an imperative tone in his voice. “I’m not going to explain all the details of what’s going to happen in the next minute or so and how this is all happening, because I only have a little time. In a few moments, you’ll be teleported to a garden in Paris, specifically a very bushy area that surrounds the garden. It’s called the Jardins du Soleil, and it’s a tourist hotspot. Once you end up in the bushes, you’ll see a trail in front of you. Make sure there is no one coming on either side of the trail, it may take awhile, and once you see an opening run onto the trail and then start walking like you know the city, okay? You got it?” I nodded quickly, running his instructions repeatedly in my mind. If the atmosphere didn’t seem so insistent, I would’ve been really surprised that there was a teleportation device hidden within the school, but I’m horrible at thinking and absorbing information about multiple things at one time, so I just focused on what Chita was telling me.

He shifted one of his hands to a pocket on his jeans, and pulled out a folded piece of paper, placing it into the palm of my right hand and curling my fingers over it.

“This will tell you everything you need to do, and where you need to go. Be sure to be back at the spot you land in by 7 o’clock PMor else I won’t be able to get you back. I figure I can cover for you for only that long.”

Another beep appeared out of nowhere, then another beep, and then another, and then the succession of the beeps started hastening. Chita pulled away from me, and stared at me with a smile.

“Have a safe trip, Leila.”

I didn’t have the chance to say anything back.

In one blink, I found myself wrestling with some bushes around me that seemed to come out of nowhere. I stopped struggling a few seconds later.

Chita wasn’t in front me anymore.

I felt a chilly breeze graze my cheek.

I wasn’t inside the school. Unless I was in one of those outdoor gardens that I saw from the balcony near my room, I was not anywhere near the school.

Slowly, I pushed my head up towards the sky to creep my eyes up over the bushes.

I was on the outskirts of a breathtaking garden with little, colorful flowers that spread all throughout, and a bunch of them surrounding an interesting sculpture that was about a few dozen feet ahead of me. The sky above me was a purplish-blue, as it was still early in the morning, and the sun was hiding over a hillside that I saw straight ahead of me. I looked around and saw a small dirt trail in front of me, not seeing anyone walking around, probably because it was too early for anyone to be out at this time, and it was chilly outside as well. Only some crazy girl who discovered the use of teleportation would be out at this time.

Remembering what Chita instructed me to do; I jumped out of the bushes at the sight of no people around me and started walking as casually as I could down the path.

But, as I kept on walking, I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks.

It was probably many miles away from me, and it would probably take me a day’s hike to reach it, but plainly in my sight was one of France’s greatest sights; something that I could only dream of seeing in my lifetime.

The Eiffel Tower.
I was staring straight at the Eiffel Tower.

No, I was definitely not in the school anymore.

A huge smile released itself from my lips.

I was finally outside of the school, finally in the real world that every fortunate child gets to grow up. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was nothing like I ever imagined.

I was free. Even if it was just until 7 o’clock PM.

Realizing finally that I had a paper tightly curled up in my hand, I decided I should finally look at it since Chita said it would tell me what to do. I was expecting some directions on how to navigate around Paris towards Serge’s home, but instead of seeing a detailed list of instructions I saw something extremely different. On the note, in Chita’s childish, messy handwriting were three words.

Just look around.

Chita

A cute smiley face was drawn besides his note. Just look around? What did that mean?

I lifted my head up from the note, and examined my surroundings, but didn’t see anything peculiar.

That is, until my eyes grazed over the sculpture that lay in the middle of the garden, surrounded by tiny sunflowers.

The sculpture was very beautiful. It must have been a Renaissance form of art as it portrayed a nude, young man with bushy, curly hair. The young man was sitting down on the pedestal, one of his legs crossed resting the foot under the other leg’s thigh, and one of his arms was lifted up towards his face, his fingers and thumb scratching his chin as if in a thinking position. I was as puzzled as the man portrayed in the sculpture, but as soon as I walked closer towards it and focused my sight on the sculpture, I finally realized the importance of Chita’s note.

There was a young man sitting on the same pedestal of the sculpture, positioning his body parts the same way, except this man was staring straight towards me. I couldn’t believe I had missed him when I looked around the garden before. I walked even closer to him in an attempt to examine his appearance more vividly. He had about the same hair as the sculpture as well, dirty blonde, curly bangs covering his forehead, the rest of his bouncy curls stretching down behind his ears. His soft, blue eyes matched the awakening sky above him, and his smile – oh, his smile – it was a sight to die for.

Something I would die for, anyways.

To any passerby, even though there weren’t any this early in the morning, this guy could’ve been a successful model with his intense, good looks, but even though I hadn’t seen him since he was 13 I knew exactly who he was.

He was still the little boy I’d always known and longed for, just extremely grown up and looking like he had a comfortable journey through puberty.

I started running towards him, tears gliding out my eyes behind me like little flies, my body straining to run in the uncomfortable sandals I was wearing. Hey, it was either the sandals that tore through my feet all of the day before, or one of Chita’s large, bulky sneakers, and I bet the sneakers would’ve been tougher to run through a field of flowers.

I accidentally tripped over an unseen rock and landed viciously down on my knees , blue bruises probably forming on them, but I didn’t care. The boy I only dreamed of seeing for the past five years was sitting picture perfectly right in front of me. I didn’t mind if I had to fight through a pack of ferocious, wild boars to see him, I would get to him at any cost of physical harm. Call me crazy. But, before I could pull myself back up on my feet, firm hands grasped my shoulders.

“Leila, are you okay?” The young man asked me, his voice ringing beautifully in my ears. I looked up at him and met his gaze with my moistened eyes. I noticed his eyes were shimmering with oncoming tears as well.

“Serge, it’s really you?” I croaked, not answering his question, then lifting my hands up to glide them over his beautiful curls. They felt so soft and smooth, so perfect, and they shined in so many different hues of blondes and browns, shimmering even more wondrously in the oncoming sunlight. This is kind of off topic, but I had never seen more perfect hair.

Serge smiled at me and touched his forehead against mine, his fingers now combing through my hair, tears silently trailing down his cheeks. His skin felt so coolly refreshing against mine.

“You really have grown up sexy, princess.” He whispered huskily into my ear. I choked a laugh, remembering the letter Serge wrote.

“So have you.” He positioned his lips towards my cheek, and pressed them lovingly against it, catching some of my tears. My heart jumped up as his lips travelled towards my ear, kissing my earlobe gently. He pulled back, his hands now on the back of my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the sun slowly rising over the hill it was hiding under, showering its light rays over the vast field around me, causing Serge’s hair and eyes to shine even brighter than before if that was possible. Serge pulled back, again touching his forehead to mine.

“Is this a good time to kiss, princess?” He asked me, referring back to the last conversation we had when he attempted to kiss me, but I rejected him. I flashed him the cheeriest smile I could, and nodded. This was long due. He smiled back at me. Closing his eyes, he was diving in slowly to rest his lips on mine, but I couldn’t stand the anticipation, and just delved right in. I could feel the blood in my veins instantly grow in temperature, the light hairs on my arms standing up as Serge’s hands pushed through my hair and caressed my back.

It was probably the most magical moment in my life.

The sun was rising beautifully over us. The breeze was starting to warm up. Me and Serge were in a beautiful garden of colorful flowers, sharing a passionate kiss. I wasn’t in the school anymore; I was in Paris, one of the most romantic cities on Earth. And I couldn’t be happier.

Oh yeah, and I got to spend the rest of the day with Serge, my most favorite person.

After the kiss ended, and we pulled our lips away from each other, dizziness started to overcome my brain. The world was spinning around me, and I couldn’t support myself up anymore. My head towered down towards the ground, but Serge caught my limp body in his arms, holding me close and caressing my cheek.

“Didn’t eat anything this morning, did you princess?” Serge asked me mockingly. I shook my head, smiling at the warmth of his embrace, causing him to chuckle under his breath. “You have a tendency to skip breakfast when you’re excited.”

“Or when I’m dragged by your crazy brother extremely early in the morning.” I added. Serge laughed again.

“Let’s get you something to eat, I’ll take you back to my house.” I nodded, not objecting. Serge directed one of his arms towards my legs and the other around my back, and easily stood up onto his feet, lifting me along with him. Even though I hated to be the typical damsel in distress, I didn’t mind being carried by Serge. I hadn't seen him for years and was not going to let my ego get the better of me. I raveled my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder, trying to will myself not to sleep. He touched the back of my head comfortingly. “You can sleep, princess.” He chuckled. “I know you’re tired, you were never a morning person.” I nodded thankfully. Taking one last look at the rising sun above me, the wondrous garden around me, and the face of the handsome man that was carrying me to probably the most delicious breakfast I will ever have, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep in his arms.

I dreamed of nothing but him.

No dark, shadowy figures, just my shining prince.

--------

Daisy's Note: This chapter seems a little rushed to me, but I hope you all like it. Leila finally reunites with Serge, yay! Any reviews will be greatly appreciated and look forward to the next chapter! :)