Broken Hearts Damaged Goods (17 page)

By

Jack Webber

T
here are a few times
in life when your past rears its ugly head in your life and threatens your
future.  Last night I confronted Brittany and told her that I no longer loved
her.  It seems that this morning, she was no so willing to let me go now that
her relationship with Steve is ending.

I don’t know if she was
honestly trying to get me back, or if she was trying to destroy what I had with
Liselle.  Either way, she decided to get rid of the Liselle problem by making
her think I was getting back with Brittany.  Liselle answered this declaration
of war by scratching her face off.

I’ve seen her face. 
It’s not pretty.  Brittany tried to apologize to me.  I guess once the
Brittany-Liselle battle happened, the Brittany-Steve relationship battle finally
happened.  That didn’t turn out so great for Brittany either.  Steve dumped
her.

Of all of the women
that Steve has dumped, his dumping of Brittany was probably the most cruel.  He
took a picture of her messed up face after she had been crying over him and
posted it on Facebook.  He then changed his status to say, “I don’t know who’s
the bigger bitch: Karma or my ex.”

I don’t know if it is
Karma or not, but it hasn’t been Brittany’s day.  And maybe I didn’t help her
any.  After we had talked everything out, the way we probably should have
before we actually broke up, I came back from the bathroom and found her naked
in the living room.

I’m not sure what naked
women in your living room usually say, but Brittany started with, “I’m sorry,
Jack, and I want to make it up to you.”

And I don’t know what
you usually do with a naked woman in your living room, but I found myself
caressing her like I used to do.

As she started to kiss
me, I started to fondle her breasts.  The next thing I knew, I had guided her
down to the sofa.  She looked at me longingly, in a way that I had never seen
her look at me before, as she slowly spread her legs and leaned back for
greater access.

I then stopped and
looked at her and said, “There is a part of me that would like to have sex with
you tonight.  But it’s the part of me that is a seventeen year old boy that had
been dreaming of this moment for the past four years.”

She tried to persuade
me that we could get back together.  Things could be the way they were, only
better.

“As much as the
seventeen year old me in would like that, there is another part of me that
wants to have sex with you now out of pure revenge.  I would do you and throw
you out on the streets before you even had time to dress.”

“I guess I have that
coming”, was all that she could say.

“No.  Being bitter over
you and what could have been will never help either one of us.  So I think you
should know that I’m not going to do anything with you that I know I will
regret later.”

She then tried to
convince me that if it was only the one time that we should follow our
passions.  That’s when I told her about my passion.

“I love Liselle.  An
uncertain future with her is more important to me than our past or my current
hatred of you.  I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

I watched her get
dressed.  As she got ready to leave, I could see the tears start to form in her
eyes as she said, “We should be planning our wedding right now.”

“That future was
destroyed a long time ago for me.  I’ve already mourned its loss and moved on.”

I kissed her on the
cheek and watched her walk away for the last time.

Oct. 29, 2010

I spent all day
yesterday expecting Jack to show up and to apologize.  About nine o’clock at
night, he knocked on the door, handed some stuff to Megan, and then left.  He
didn’t even ask to see me.

He left me a stupid
card that said, “Read this.  I will be waiting for you at the aquarium on
Saturday at eleven o’clock at night.  Dress appropriately.”

If he loves me, why
can’t he just say so?  All he has to do is come over, tell me that he is sorry,
maybe with a box of chocolates and some flowers, and tell me that he loves me. 
Instead he gives me something to read and a stupid package.

As far as I know, he is
still with Brittany.  And I refuse to do anything he wants me to do until he
comes over and officially apologizes.

In fact, I wouldn’t
even be reading what he wrote for me tonight as I go to bed, except that Megan
says I have to.  Apparently Jack has been texting her every hour to see if I
have read it yet.

I’ll be reading it just
for her.  It’s not going to change anything, though.

By

Jack
Webber and Hans Christian Andersen

F
ar out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as
the prettiest eyes, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep,
indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon
another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water
above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects.

We must not imagine that there is nothing at the
bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand. No, indeed; the most singular flowers
and plants grow there; the leaves and stems of which are so pliant, that the
slightest agitation of the water causes them to stir as if they had life.   Fishes,
both large and small, glide between the branches, as birds fly among the trees
here upon land. In the deepest spot of all, stands the castle of the Sea King.

Its walls are built of coral, and the long, gothic
windows are of the clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells, that open and
close as the water flows over them. Their appearance is very beautiful, for in
each lies a glittering pearl, which would be fit for the crown of a queen.

The Sea King had been a widower for many years, and
his aged mother kept house for him. She was a very wise woman, and exceedingly
proud of her high birth; on that account she wore twelve oysters on her tail;
while others, also of high rank, were only allowed to wear six. She was,
however, deserving of very great praise, especially for her care of the little
sea-princesses, her grand-daughters.

They were six beautiful children; but the youngest was
the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf,
and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like all the others, she had no
feet, and her body ended in a fish's tail.

All day long they played in the great halls of the
castle, or among the living flowers that grew out of the walls. The large amber
windows were open, and the fish swam in, just as the swallows fly into our houses
when we open the windows, excepting that the fishes swam up to the princesses,
ate out of their hands, and allowed themselves to be petted.

Outside the castle there was a beautiful garden, in which
grew bright red and dark blue flowers, and blossoms like flames of fire; the
fruit glittered like gold, and the leaves and stems waved to and fro
continually. The earth itself was the finest sand, but blue as the flame of
burning sulphur. Over everything lay a peculiar blue radiance, as if it were
surrounded by the air from above, through which the blue sky shone, instead of
the dark depths of the sea. In calm weather the sun could be seen, looking like
a purple flower, with the light streaming from the calyx.

Each of the young princesses had a little plot of
ground in the garden, where she might dig and plant as she pleased. One
arranged her flower-bed

into the form of a whale; another thought it better
to make hers like the figure of a little mermaid; but that of the youngest was round
like the sun, and contained flowers as red as his rays at sunset.

She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and
while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained
from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers,
like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue.

It was the representation of a handsome boy, carved
out of pure white stone, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea from a
wreck. She planted by the statue a rose-colored weeping willow. It grew splendidly,
and very soon hung its fresh branches over the statue, almost down to the blue
sands. The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches; it
seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to
kiss each other.

Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about
the world above the sea. She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of
the ships and of the towns, the people and the animals. To her it seemed most
wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land should have fragrance,
and not those below the sea; that the trees of the forest should be green; and
that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly, that it was quite a
pleasure to hear them. Her grandmother called the little birds fishes, or she
would not have understood her; for she had never seen birds.

"When you have reached your fifteenth
year," said the grand-mother, "you will have permission to rise up
out of the sea, to sit on the rocks in the moonlight, while the great ships are
sailing by; and then you will see both forests and towns."

In the following year, one of the sisters would be
fifteen: but as each was a year younger than the other, the youngest would have
to wait five years before her turn came to rise up from the bottom of the ocean,
and see the earth as we do. However, each promised to tell the others what she
saw on her first visit, and what she thought the most beautiful; for their
grandmother could not tell them enough; there were so many things on which they
wanted information. None of them longed so much for her turn to come as the
youngest, she who had the longest time to wait, and who was so quiet and
thoughtful.

Many nights she stood by the open window, looking up
through the dark blue water, and watching the fish as they splashed about with their
fins and tails. She could see the moon and stars shining faintly; but through
the water they looked larger than they do to our eyes. When something like a
black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale
swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that
a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands
towards the keel of their ship.

As soon as the eldest was fifteen, she was allowed
to rise to the surface of the ocean. When she came back, she had hundreds of things
to talk about; but the most beautiful, she said, was to lie in the moonlight,
on a sandbank, in the quiet sea, near the coast, and to gaze on a large town
nearby, where the lights were twinkling like hundreds of stars; to listen to
the sounds of the music, the noise of carriages, and the voices of human
beings, and then to hear the merry bells peal out from the church steeples; and
because she could not go near to all those wonderful things, she longed for
them more than ever. Oh, did not the youngest sister listen eagerly to all
these descriptions? And afterwards, when she stood at the open window looking
up through the dark blue water, she thought of the great city, with all its
bustle and noise, and even fancied she could hear the sound of the church
bells, down in the depths of the sea.

In another year the second sister received
permission to rise to the surface of the water, and to swim about where she pleased.
She rose just as the sun was setting, and this, she said, was the most beautiful
sight of all. The whole sky looked like gold, while violet and rose-colored
clouds, which she could not describe, floated over her; and, still more rapidly
than the clouds, flew a large flock of wild swans towards the setting sun,
looking like a long white veil across the sea. She also swam towards the sun;
but it sunk into the waves, and the rosy tints faded from the clouds and from
the sea.

The third sister's turn followed; she was the
boldest of them all, and she swam up a broad river that emptied itself into the
sea. On the banks she saw green hills covered with beautiful vines; palaces and
castles peeped out from amid the proud trees of the forest; she heard the birds
singing, and the rays of the sun were so powerful that she was obliged often to
dive down under the water to cool her burning face.

In a narrow creek she found a whole troop of little
human children, quite naked, and sporting about in the water; she wanted to
play with them, but they fled in a great fright; and then a little black animal
came to the water; it was a dog, but she did not know that, for she had never
before seen one. This animal barked at her so terribly that she became
frightened, and rushed back to the open sea. But she said she should never
forget the beautiful forest, the green hills, and the pretty little children
who could swim in the water, although they had not fish's tails.

The fourth sister was more timid; she remained in
the midst of the sea, but she said it was quite as beautiful there as nearer
the land. She could see for so many miles around her, and the sky above looked
like a bell of glass. She had seen the ships, but at such a great distance that
they looked like sea-gulls. The dolphins sported in the waves, and the great
whales spouted water from their nostrils till it seemed as if a hundred
fountains were playing in every direction.

The fifth sister's birthday occurred in the winter;
so when her turn came, she saw what the others had not seen the first time they
went up. The sea looked quite green, and large icebergs were floating about,
each like a pearl, she said, but larger and loftier than the churches built by
men. They were of the most singular shapes, and glittered like diamonds. She
had seated herself upon one of the largest, and let the wind play with her long
hair, and she remarked that all the ships sailed by rapidly, and steered as far
away as they could from the iceberg, as if they were afraid of it.

Towards evening, as the sun went down, dark clouds
covered the sky, the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, and the red
light glowed on the icebergs as they rocked and tossed on the heaving sea. On
all the ships the sails were reefed with fear and trembling, while she sat calmly
on the floating iceberg, watching the blue lightning, as it darted its forked
flashes into the sea.

When first the sisters had permission to rise to the
surface, they were each delighted with the new and beautiful sights they saw;
but now, as grown-up girls, they could go when they pleased, and they had
become indifferent about it. They wished themselves back again in the water,
and after a month had passed they said it was much more beautiful down below,
and pleasanter to be at home.

Yet often, in the evening hours, the five sisters
would twine their arms round each other, and rise to the surface, in a row.
They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and before the
approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam
before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of
the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom. But
the sailors could not understand the song, they took it for the howling of the
storm. And these things were never to be beautiful for them; for if the ship
sank, the men were drowned, and their dead bodies alone reached the palace of
the Sea King.

When the sisters rose, arm-in-arm, through the water
in this way, their youngest sister would stand quite alone, looking after them,
ready to cry, only that the mermaids have no tears, and therefore they suffer
more. "Oh, were I but fifteen years old," said she: "I know that
I shall love the world up there, and all the people who live in it."

At last she reached her fifteenth year. "Well,
now, you are grown up," said the old dowager, her grandmother; "so
you must let me adorn you like your other sisters;" and she placed a
wreath of white lilies in her hair, and every flower leaf was half a pearl.
Then the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail
of the princess to show her high rank.

"But they hurt me so," said the little
mermaid.

"Pride must suffer pain," replied the old
lady. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur, and laid
aside the heavy wreath! The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her
much better, but she could not help herself: so she said, "Farewell,"
and rose as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water. The sun had just
set as she raised her head above the waves; but the clouds were tinted with
crimson and gold, and through the glimmering twilight beamed the evening star
in all its beauty. The sea was calm, and the air mild and fresh. A large ship,
with three masts, lay becalmed on the water, with only one sail set; for not a
breeze stiffed, and the sailors sat idle on deck or amongst the rigging. There
was music and song on board; and, as darkness came on, a hundred colored
lanterns were lighted, as if the flags of all nations waved in the air.

The little mermaid swam close to the cabin windows;
and now and then, as the waves lifted her up, she could look in through clear
glass window-panes, and see a number of well-dressed people within. Among them
was a young prince, the most beautiful of all, with large black eyes; he was
sixteen years of age, and his birthday was being kept with much rejoicing. The
sailors were dancing on deck, but when the prince came out of the cabin, more
than a hundred rockets rose in the air, making it as bright as day.

The little mermaid was so startled that she dived
under water; and when she again stretched out her head, it appeared as if all
the stars of heaven were falling around her, she had never seen such fireworks
before. Great suns spurted fire about, splendid fireflies flew into the blue
air, and everything was reflected in the clear, calm sea beneath. The ship itself
was so brightly illuminated that all the people, and even the smallest rope,
could be distinctly and plainly seen. And how handsome the young prince looked,
as he pressed the hands of all present and smiled at them, while the music
resounded through the clear night air.

It was very late; yet the little mermaid could not
take her eyes from the ship, or from the beautiful prince. The colored lanterns
had been extinguished, no more rockets rose in the air, and the cannon had
ceased firing; but the sea became restless, and a moaning, grumbling sound
could be heard beneath the waves: still the little mermaid remained by the
cabin window, rocking up and down on the water, which enabled her to look in.