To Be By Your Side 3:

Catch Me If You Can

: Welcome to my short story series, "To Be By Your Side." These stories are based off of my own ideas however they draw inspiration from the painting series called "To Be By Your Side" by Shel Yang. Her art can be found on her Deviantart page. There beautiful and very inspiring to me. In turn she said she based them off of local children's books. I have never read those stories, I don't even know the names. Finally, respectively drawing from her designs, the characters of Haruka and Fuyuki belong to me.

The tablecloths were still damp, but they would be dry soon with all the wind blowing, Haruka looked to Fuyuki, he was still hanging as distantly as he could. They hadn't spoken to each other in years, still she knew there was something within her that understood him, even if he couldn't understand himself. The wind tossed them sheets tough the air as it flew over the top of the school. Most of the time the roof was off limits after school hours, but they had been asked specifically to hang the table clothes to dry for tomorrows school festival. The air smelt of cool linen and she could faintly hear the music coming from his headphones. Its seemed lately he had his CD player every where he went now. He barely spoke to anyone anymore. Halfheartedly she checked the sheets from the earlier laundry load. They were still damp but nearly dry. They would be ready to fold by the time they were done hanging the last lines.

She heard him exhale as he turned away, heading back for the basket to move to another clothesline. Whatever had come over fuyuki had changed him. Now a days he was so distant, even if you were standing right in front of him he wouldn't look at you. In a way she had become more distant too, more like her namesake. They had once been neighbors, there mothers once best friends. She had even been named after him in a sense. Still whatever friendship they had once had, had faded in the past years. She wished that it hadn't, but she felt helpless to stop it. Kids yelled far below them as they sped for the schools, hurrying to catch there trains, or the bus, rushing to get home. Soon they would be all alone in the building. But even with her there she knew that he always felt alone.

He turned to her for a moment when he new she wasn't looking, but quickly retreated to his task. She couldn't now. still the image of her looking out beyond the sheets haunted him. She couldn't know. After all it had been years ago, and they had grown. It was too late now. The sheets hummed and swayed with the chilling air that blew between them. The light reflected off them creating a world upon the school roof. Someplace cold, bright, a place almost empty. They both knew they were alone now, they were all alone. The turquoise sky melted to the clouds above them as they finished heir work. Neither of them spoke, neither of them looked to each other. Any connection they had was slowly dying and being swept away by the gale.

His music stopped, the CD ended, slowed and came to a rest. Still he gave it no notice, he just shifted his focus from the music to the rustling of the sheets and her footsteps on the concrete. The chain link fence that surrounded the building rattled with the wind, and he lost himself to the music of the emptiness. Eyes turned down he walked to the door leading inside the school. He was done. There was nothing to be said, and slowly the door clicked to a close. She heard it shut behind her. Now she was truly alone. Left with noting but linen, concrete, metal and wind. Wasn't there something she could do? She had to do something. The wind flew to the sky, it was empty too.