Follow Me
I was sitting on the corner of the street, watching the wheels spinning freely. I was waiting for the bus to come. Bored of the normal life I live. I was in a rut, a supreme case of melancholy. Every day, I wait for the bus to take me to school and go to my classes. I would sit for long hours as the teachers spoke for hours on end. I was sure today was no different. I seem to repeat the same day over in my head. I'm very lonely, not a friend in sight. I have no one to sit and talk to or to share some free time with. I was invisible. The world seems to move along without me. I watched the cars pass and people walk by around me as I stood there waiting for the bus. The only thing I would move was my eyes as different faces catches my eyes. I see the business man on his cell phone, the street gangsters with their boom-box blaring, and the hot dog vendor selling dogs to the tourist in town. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why I'm here.
Nothing seemed different from the day before, suddenly I heard a voice. Something different that broke my concentration from the world. The voice was very soft and angelic like. It was singing. I got up and begin to search for the voice. I went from block to block to find the mysterious voice and end up coming to dead ends or wrong turns. The more I ran the louder the voice grew. I was intrigued. I had to find the voice. My watch beeped. The voice was gone and I was late for school. Another time, another day.
The next day, I waited to see if I heard the voice. All I heard was the usual noise of the street. I was disappointed. I sat there waiting for the bus. Staring into the streets, watching the cars passed, I wonder if I was just imagining the voice, or if I accidently left my walk man on. Then I heard humming, it sounded like the voice. I turned my head to see a girl. She was wearing a blue tee with black shorts and wore a blue bandana. She had brown hair and blue eyes. She was cute. I stared at her for a second before she turned to me. I was nervous.
"Hello." She said in a soft voice.
"Hi." I said it quietly hoping she didn't hear me.
"I hope you don't mind me sitting here, do you?"
"It's a free country." She giggled. We sat there for five minutes, before I said anything.
"Were you humming?"
"Yeah."
"It's very nice."
"Thank you."
"Do you sing?"
"A little."
"This might be silly of me for asking but did you sing yesterday too?"
"Yes, I did. Did you hear it?"
"Yeah, I heard it here."
"Really? I guess I was heard farther than I thought. Did it bother you?"
"No, actually, I was trying to find you. It moved me."
"Really? Thank you. I'm Maya."
"Aaron. Nice to meet you."
"You really think I'm was good?"
"You were wonderful." We stared at each other eyes for a few minutes. Then she got up.
"Follow me."
"Huh? To Where?" She didn't say anything. She walk to the other corner. She giggled and winked as she turned the corner of the block. I got up and followed her. I turned the corner to find her already down the street and was waving at me to come along. I just followed her. She was way in front of me as I was trying to catch up. She gave me a few winks and giggles as she was playing follow the leader with me. She led me to the park. She went through the playground and ran to the community pool. She went through the fence and I followed. The pool had no people or life guards around. It was only me and her. She stared at me with a smile and gave a wink. I just smiled back. She jumped into the pool. When she surfaced, she called to me.
"Come on in!" I was hesitant. I didn't know what she was doing. I wanted to, but I didn't want to get wet, I didn't have a change of clothes. I just stood there. "Are you coming?" I was looking in her eyes, and I jumped. I surfaced and swam to her. We were just swimming in that one area, staring in each other eyes. She turned her head and began to sing. It was definitely her voice I heard yesterday. When she finished, we stared into each other eyes, and we kissed. I was happy again.
"Aaron?"
"Yeah?"
"You did realize you missed you bus right?"
"Yeah. I know."
"Okay then." I missed school that day, because I followed her. She set me free of the ties that bind.
The days dragged on. Nothing could top my experience that day in the pool. The angel who dragged me out of my rut, she gave me freedom from my responsibilities for the day. Now it's back to the grind of life. It has been ten days since I saw Maya. We haven't run into each other or spoken to each other since the day at the pool. However, the song she sang lived on. I play it all the time in my head. Her sweet melodic voice swept over me in a high unforgettable as the first. Every night I wondered if I will ever see her again.
"Saturday Morning", is there ever sweeter words. I'm sure there is, but I didn't want to know. I took my rollerblades and went out on the town. I figure the I take in the sights before the day leaves me behind to rot away a perfect day. It didn't seem to matter to any one but I feel invigorated and willing to venture into a more life-fullfilling moment. It's strange I never done it before, but there always a time for first. the day have gave me it's full wonder as I stood there enjoying the sights of the park. It was enthralling. I close my eyes to get the smell of the flowers in bloom, when I opened my eyes, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was Maya, she was riding her bike through the park far from where I was. I couldn't keep my eyes off her, In a split decision, I followed her. I kept my distance in case she didn't recognized me. She rode her bike to a business building. She locked up her bike and went in. I didn't know why. I waited for five minutes until I decide to get going. By that time. I heard someone screaming "Maya!" I saw Maya being followed by a young man in a business suit. The man seemed upset with Maya about something. I saw tears in her eyes. I figured they had a fight. Maya ignored the man, unlocked her bike and left. The man stood there, sighing angrily before he went back in. I followed Maya again.
I found her by the pool. Sitting at the entrance gate. She looked like she was alone. I debated with myself whether or not to approach her. 'I think she needed some alone time.' So I left. I made my way to the street outside the park, then a thought occurred. 'Maybe I should see her, she could use a friend right now.' I turned around and headed back. Thankfully Maya was still there. I took a deep breath and rolled to her.
"Can I sit here?"
"Aaron?"
"Yeah."
"I don't see what stopping you, it's still a free country." She said as she dried her tears. I sat next to her.
"Is everything all right?"
"No, it's not. My brother is being a jerk. I talked to him awhile ago about some place that wanted me to sing for them, but he felt I wasn't old enough to be there. He treats me like a kid sometimes It's annoying."
"I see." That explains the young man. It's her brother. "I have a mother to worry about, that's worst." She giggled a bit.
"Yeah, I guess." We sat there quiet for a minute. "Let's go somewhere."
"Where?"
"You decide." I sat there for a minute and thought about it. The an idea came out.
"Okay, follow me." I got up and bladed my way. Maya followed on her bike. We went downtown to the place I spotted many times on my town walk about. We arrived. "Here we are." It was a Sport-karaoke bar.
"Here?"
"Well, you can't sing at the place so I figured you might sing karaoke here." She gave me a hesitated glare for a second. Then she smiled.
"Okay, lets go." She locked her bike and I attached my blades to her bike and we went in.
The place was almost empty. Few people getting were listening to some drunk guy sing terribly on the stage. We saw him and couldn't help but laugh. We got a table next to the karaoke machine. Maya was looking through the song book for a song. I called the waitress to bring us a couple of colas. The guy finished and their was a light applause coming from his drunken friends. Maya had found her a song.
"Got one." She closed the book. and made her way to the stage. I cheered her on. She got on stage told the DJ what to play, adjusted the microphone, and stood and wait. The music played, took a deep breath and began her song.
As she sang, people in the place began to take notice. Their were amazed at her amazing singing ability. I sat there and watch as she sang. It was so natural for her. Soon people from outside were coming in to hear her. One by one, they walked through the doors to hear her sing. The house was almost pack as they wanted to hear her sing. Her eyes were closed to the whole song.When she sang the last note, the crowd cheered and she was surprised by the people in the building. She gave them a bow.
"Thank you. it's a pleasure singing to everyone." She waved as they applauded. She looked at me and smiled. She turn back to the audience. "Now, give it up for my friend, Aaron." I was shocked, she called me on stage. The audience cheered me on as I made my way to the stage. I turned to Maya.
"What are you doing?"
"Giving you the stage."
"I can't sing! I brought you here so you can sing."
"Come on, you come to a karaoke bar and expect not sing. You'll do fine."
"I don't even know what to sing."
"Think of you favorite song." My mind was blank, I was brought up by Maya to sing for a group of strangers. I didn't know what to do. Then I remembered a song I heard a lot when I was younger. It was a favorite. I was still nervous though. "Aaron, go for it, you might like it. Trust me." I looked into her eyes.
"Okay." I nodded. She clapped as she left the stage. I turn to the DJ to ask for the song. Luckily, he had it. The music played I took a deep breath, and sang.I was hearing my voice, I sounded pretty good. I seemed to have the right pitch but I wasn't sure. As I continued to sing the audience cheered and sang along. Maya cheered the loudest. The song ended, I still couldn't believe what I did. The audience cheered. they applauded as loud as they did with Maya. I actually had fun. I bowed to the audience and thanked them for their cheers. I returned to the table where Maya was waiting.
"That was amazing Aaron. You were great!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. You don't sing professionally do you?"
"No."
"No lessons?"
"No."
"Well for no lesson, you definitely have what it takes to sing."
"Thanks Maya." We sat there talking, drinking our colas for awhile, we didn't sing again that day but still felt excited after our songs. It got late, so we left with our bike and rollerblades. We didn't necessarily ride them, we just walked with them. We made it to the subway station where Maya took the train home.
"Aaron, I'm glad to see you again. I hope it doesn't take another ten days to meet again."
"It doesn't have to be, give me your number, or e-mail address. We can talk and hang out again." She looked down and sighed.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"My brother. He's a little over protective of me. If I ever get a phone call, it's 20 questions with him. He won't give me a chance to explain."
"Oh."
"Aaron, your awesome, we know that, but we can't have a relationship. It's just to complicated for me right now. I don't want you to have to carry my burden. My brother keeps me secluded when I want to be free. I can't give you hopes for something that can't exist. It's impossible. I'm sorry, Aaron." She turned to the train tracks as the train pulled up. The doors opened as she was about to step on. I grabbed her hand. She was shocked.
"Maya, nothing's impossible. We met for a reason, we like the same things, we sing, and we did thing that we never that we could do. You and I defy the impossible. We can be together. we can have a relationship. Believe me, the day I followed you is a day I will never forget. It taught to believe the impossible is possible. Maya, I am very glad we met. I don't ever want to you say that's it's impossible. Because for the few days I known you, you defy everything I believed in to be impossible."
We stared at each other for a minute or so. The train closed it's doors and sped off. The next train was coming through not stop. As we stood on that platform, I made my move. I kissed her. The roar of the train blew the wind throughout that platform and for that moment, we were high on love. We stopped the moment the train had passed. We looked each other with smiles. She embraced me in her arms. For the first time, I was in love.
"Maya?" I whispered to her.
"Yes Aaron?" She whispered back.
"You missed your train, you know."
She smiled and hugged me tight. "I know."