Auclair

A Short Story By Ikkannii

        One sunny day at the start of July, I walked along the graveled path to the store. As I kept walking, I looked down to watch a yellow wildflower sway at the spot bordering the path and grass. I pulled out the money my mom gave me out of my left pocket, and I examined the bumpy patterns of the coins. I tucked all the money back in once the friction of the coin’s surfaces started to make my fingers sweaty.

        I arrived at the store and was greeted by the cashier standing under the AC unit. He used his uniform’s hat to fan himself off, as he repeatedly tugged on the buttons of his polo shirt. We greeted each other, and I went straight to several aisles and collected butter, shallots, tomatoes, lemons, spice packets, and soup cans. At least once a week, my mom sends me to the store to buy various items she needs for our meals. She would always give me extra money, for what would originally cover, as gratitude. I paid and left the store with the groceries for my mom and a bottle of soda for myself.

Drinking my chilly soda, I sat down on a bench near the entrance and softened in the shade. I glanced at the plastic bag of groceries next to me, and I looked out into the distance. Leaving the groceries and the soda bottle on the bench, I got up and walked into the field. I laid down on the ground after walking a lengthy distance from the store. Staring up at the sky, I noticed no clouds but only the blue stretch of the sky. I was reminded by the dark blue ocean. I laid out sprawled on the field for some time as the sun warmed me up.

        Hearing a thump of a pebble land on the ground next to me, a second pebble hit me in the head. I sat up in surprise and placed a hand on the spot I was hit at. I scanned the area around me, figuring out who threw those pebbles. I stood up and turned around at the tree a few feet away from me. A stranger was hiding behind the tree, and I called out to the stranger. The stranger didn’t respond. After the second time I called out, the stranger’s head peeked from behind the tree, and she revealed herself.

        “Sorry, did I hit you too hard?” she asked. She leaned back against the tree with a small grin on her face.

        “Hey,” I said.

        “Are you busy?” she asked, “Do you want to hang out? I doubt you’re busy since you're just laying here and watching the sky.”

        I didn’t know what to say to her. She spoke so fast, I couldn’t catch up and respond properly to what she said.

        “What’s your name?” she asked.

        “Jean.”

        “Jean?”

        “Yeah. Jean.”

        “I’m Valorie.”

        “Nice to meet you.” I scratched my head.

        Valorie nodded and smirked at me. She was the same age as me, but I didn’t recognize her. I wondered why she was hiding behind the tree, as it looked like it was just the two of us out here in the vast field.

        “What are you doing here?” I questioned.

        “What am I doing here?” she said, “what are you doing here, Jean? Did you get in trouble, and you’re hiding from your parents? I’m not.”

        “No, I was just at the store back there.” I pointed to the store in the distance.

        “What’d you get?”

        “My mom asked me to get some stuff.”

        “You’re, like, an errand boy? That’s cute,” she teased. My eyebrows raised at Valorie for calling me cute. I was so surprised that I had suddenly went quiet, too stunned to talk. She noticed my reaction and smiled.

        “I guess you have to go home now. Let’s meet up at the store tomorrow, ‘kay?” she suggested.

        I nodded and walked back to the store. Walking away, I turned around. She was still watching me, and when our eyes met, she grinned at me once more. We waved goodbye. Tossing away the soda bottle beaded with condensation, I picked up the groceries from the bench where I had left them and headed home.

        That night, I couldn’t stop thinking of Valorie. I sat on my bed and leaned back, my freshly-showered, wet hair resting against the wall. I looked across the room and towards the wooden cross on my shelf. Staring at the cross, I felt surreal about meeting Valorie.

A minute had passed by since the last time I had spoken to anybody my age. Because school was out for the summer, I was left alone. I never had strong enough friendships with any of my classmates to hangout during summer break. I was left alone most of the time by my peers. I preferred staying home and sleeping my days away, anyway. But I felt as if some good change was happening, like a pebble rippling my stagnant life. Should I even see her again? The thought of not showing up tomorrow made my heart beat fast.

        Valorie’s smile was addicting to see. I couldn’t stop thinking about her smile.

        Around midday, the same time I had gone to the store yesterday, I saw Valorie waiting at the same bench I had sat at. She saw me and got up, smiling already. Valorie’s smile was so warm. I couldn’t look at her without losing the ability to speak. She was wearing a floral sundress with her brown hair clipped up with a hair clip of a popular children's cartoon mascot. She was brighter than the sun.

        “What do you want to do today?” I asked.

        “Hmm, we can go to the library,” she suggested, “it’s so hot today. I wish we could cool off at the movie theater, but it burnt down to a crisp!” Frustrated, she reached her hands up to the ceiling.

        “When did the theater burn down?”

        “Oh, it burnt down four months ago. Did you not know?”

        “I guess I’m not updated with this town. I stay in my room too much.” I wondered where the two of us could go, but I said nothing when I couldn’t think of an idea.

        “Come on, let’s go to my house,” she said, “I assure you that boredom is nonexistent in my room.”

        After walking across town, we arrived at Valorie’s house. We walked into her room full of culture. A tall bookshelf stood on one side of the room. One level had a row of 1800s Spanish romantic novels. The level below had several thick English glossaries and European poetry. Another side of the room had a wooden desk littered with landscape drawings and empty bottles ranging from size, color, and shape. All the bottles had their labels wiped clean off. I picked up a bottle, and I recognized its shape as a local soda popular among young school children. Next to her bed, a small boombox played classical music. Posters of pop-stars and sheet music of jazz standards decorated the white walls. I studied each sheet music to see if I would recognize any from when I played the piano during elementary school.

        “Do you play an instrument?” I asked.

        “No, but I like to learn and appreciate,” Valorie replied, “do you?”

        “I used to play piano until the lady-instructor moved to the city. I never got another instructor since,” I explained.

        “What was she like?”

        "What was my piano teacher like?”

        “Tell me more about her.”

        “Why do you want to know?”

        Valorie sat on her bed. Her bed had quilted sheets with floral patterns. She had a lot of pillows, all the same size and white color. I sat next to her and tried to recall my old piano instructor.

        “Her name is Laurie Auclair. She’s a friend of my late relative, and she taught me how to play the piano during summer breaks. She lived alone in a house near the shore, isolated from the town or any other house. The house was nice, though, I get if she didn’t want to be surrounded by people. I remember seeing old photos of her and her husband and kids. I never saw any of them in person when I was there for lessons. Best guess is her husband died and her kids grew up and moved out.”

        “What else?”

        “I don’t remember anything else. My mom once invited her to our house for dinner, but she cancelled at the last minute.” I saw Valorie frown like she was disappointed.

        “That’s not it!” she exclaimed, “that’s just a thin line of information about her.”

        I didn’t know how to respond. What else could I say? Silence started to fill up the room until Valorie inhaled and poured out the moment’s passion from her heart.

        “How did her hair flow when there would be a breeze, or shine when sunlight shone down onto her? Was gladness carved between her smile lines, like, how her face’s skin remembered each moment she grinned in her life?” she explained.

        She made me think about Mrs. Auclair in different ways. I was never close to her. I never disliked her. She never interested me when I was younger, though. Her role in my life was simply a piano instructor. I showed up for piano lessons because my mom told me to. I never regarded the piano with any passion, only as a task.

        “As I think about it, every time I walked up to her house for a lesson, she would be outside to meet me,” I added, “she would be staring out into the water.”

        I repositioned myself on her bed and placed my head onto her lap. Listening to the boombox which played a piano piece, I closed my eyes and thought about Mrs. Auclair.

        “I remember the path that led up to her house. Each step on the grains of sand would make a sound, and I would always pick up pebbles to toss into the water…”

        I opened my eyes and looked up at Valorie. She was looking out the window intently like she was thinking. I felt sorry when I couldn’t think of anything else about Mrs. Auclair. I wondered why Mrs. Auclair mattered so much to Valorie.

        “Hey,” I said, “do you know Mrs. Auclair?”

        “No. I do not.”

        “Then, why do you care so much about her?”

        “She left our town.”

        “What’s the big deal about leaving town?” I squinted. “It was better for her to leave this stupid town.”

        “Don’t say that!”

        Valorie got upset and slapped the sides of my head. I sat up and turned to her, placing my hands on my ears.

        “Stop hurting me!” I hissed.

        “You need to stop hurting me, too!” Valorie exclaimed. I looked at her in surprise and worry.

“How did I hurt you?” I questioned.

        “With the way you talk about our town,” she said, “you’re just like the city people.”

        “How am I like the city people?

        Valorie let out a heavy sigh and laid down next to me on her bed. After a moment of thought, she sat back up.

        “Listen, my dad has been telling me about our town. He says more and more people move out of our town every year. People here say it’s nothing special. My dad took a business trip to the city a month ago. When he went out to a bar with some city people he had worked with, the people there told him that everybody should leave our ‘dying’ town or else we’ll die with it. The city people said we’re just in the way and don’t contribute to anything good.” Valorie explained.

        “What is there to do here?” I asked.

        “Honestly, I don’t know but there is something special about our town. I just know it. Us townsfolk living here have such unique personalities and skills that make our town better than the city. People in the city constantly say that living there will make you the greatest. The city will only make us lose ourselves. It’s insulting to hear about how ‘horrible’ our town is. I want to spend my life here, nowhere else. I like it here, but I don’t want everybody to leave me.”

        Valorie buried herself into her knees. I couldn’t stand to see her so upset. I picked my brain for anything to help reassure her, but I thought of nothing.

“I think you should go,” Valorie said.

Valorie got up from the bed. I followed her out of her room and to the front door of her house. I stood outside the door, as she was behind me holding the door knob.

“Thanks for coming,” she said.

I couldn’t muster the words to cheer her up. Her statement about the city and this town confused me: Where do I belong in the world? Do I stay away from the city at all costs? I would stay in this town if I weren’t sickly bored of everything. Maybe I can change my mind for Valorie. I didn’t know how to properly communicate. I handled the conversation with Valorie horribly because I never had any proper interactions with my classmates. I blamed them and myself for never giving me any chances to live properly.

Walking down the graveled path to my house, I passed by the same store from yesterday. I sat on the bench outside the store because I didn’t want to go home just yet. This bench led me to the field where I met Valorie and where she waited for me today. Looking at the field, I noticed the sky turned dark and gray which covered up the entire sky. The wind grew stronger and colder.

When I got up to leave, I realized the only thing I needed to do with Valorie all of a sudden. I ran from the store and to Valorie’s house. I prepared the things I needed to say to her. I needed to see her again, I couldn’t stop now, and I was not giving up the moment. A sudden passion filled me. I desired to experience it with Valorie.

As I ran, I started to feel faint rain drops on my arm. Rain was approaching as I got to the doorsteps of Valorie’s house. I knocked on the door rapidly. Valorie answered with an emotionless face. Her eye brows widened when she saw me all of a sudden.

“Valorie,” I huffed.

“Jean?”

“Valorie,” I said, “I need to remember Mrs. Auclair. Please. I need you to come with me.”

Valorie nodded and we ran together, Valorie following behind me.

Valorie and I followed a path that led away from the town and towards Mrs. Auclair’s secluded house. I noticed everything to be the same as it was years ago.

Rain poured heavily, and Valorie and I stood under a tree to catch our breaths and to shelter from the rain.

“Jean, please. Where are we going?” Valorie said.

“We’re going to Mrs. Auclair’s house.”

“I don’t want to do this anymore, can we just go home?”

“No. We can’t turn back now. You made me question where I belong in this world. I don’t know if I want to stay or leave this town. I’ve been unsure about so many things, and it’s annoying. I’ve always been stuck trying to find answers to questions I can't understand alone. I have never felt any passion about anything except for right now. I feel alive. I feel as if I have something and someone to live for. Please, Valorie. I need you to see this with me.”

        Valorie stared at me silently. My heart beat faster and faster. Her frown turned into the familiar, warm smile followed by laughter.

        “Do you mind getting soaked by rain?” Valorie asked.

        “I don’t mind.”

        Valorie walked away from the tree’s cover and let the rain pour down on her. I followed her and stood next to her, as we got rained on. Valorie and I continued to run down the path in the storm until we saw Mrs. Auclair’s house in the distance. Her house was fully run down after years of abandonment. I saw the house’s windows boarded up and much of the wooden exterior destroyed.

        We stopped running, and, for a moment, we watched the house from afar. It sat on the sand with the ocean to the right. The waves turned into a dark gray. Valorie walked a few steps forward before turning back to me. Looking at my hand, she reached out to hold my hand. As she started to lead me, I remained quiet. The grass on the sides of the path eventually turned into sand.

To our far right, the waves crashed violently against the shore. The rain around us continued to pour violently. It was like the world wanted Valorie and me to stop. Valorie was like a siren, as she led me to the house. Holding hands, she led me to the front of the house, a few feet away from the porch steps.

        “Do you remember anything yet?” Valorie asked. I didn’t answer, only studying the ruined house. Valorie took the silence as a sign to keep going further. We entered Mrs. Auclair’s abandoned house and looked around. Valorie smirked, as she looked me up and down.

        “You’re soaking,” she said.

        I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and wrung the water out of it. Valorie watched, and we laughed. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Her smile was sweeter, though. I was relieved to see her happier than before. Standing in Mrs. Auclair’s abandoned house, we were both glad. We came to this eager feeling of euphoria together.

        I heard cracking coming from the ceiling. The ceiling collapsed on us. Both Valorie and I fell to the floor as large amounts of debris and wet wood landed on our heads, burying both of us in a pile. Rain water leaked through the hole in the ceiling.

        “Valorie.” I coughed.

        I wiped the dust from my face. Getting up, a stinging pain came from my back and neck. My arms were covered in scratches and dust. I started to dig up pieces of wood scraps to uncover Valorie. She sat up and wrapped her arms around my shoulders to try standing up. Rearranging to lock our arms together, we walked out of the crumbling house as she leaned on me.

        As the storm settled, Valorie and I sat next to each other at the shore of the beach. The waves began to steady and the clouds began to part. Our bodies grew tired and sat injured after running across town and from the collapsed roof. We were exhausted, but we held on to our consciousness because we weren't calling it quits just yet.

        “Are you ashamed?” Valorie asked. I didn’t respond to her.

        “Do you want to try remembering?” She asked.

        I laid back on the sand and closed my eyes, feeling the soft wind, smelling the sea water, and listening to the waves crash as I remembered Laurie Auclair.

        “Mrs. Auclair was sweet. She was always smiling so softly. She was tender. Her eyes never lied and always listened. She must’ve watched her loved ones, like her children, come and go, the same way she had watched the waves. I remember her house was littered with all sorts of knickknacks… from her sister. She has a sister who loves to travel around the world. And Mrs. Auclair would receive various items from her sister’s travels. Mrs. Auclair was the opposite from her sister, she didn’t like to leave this town. I also remember she told me about her job offer to the city and how a little change won’t hurt her. About the things you said about the city, Mrs. Auclair has a strong enough will, and I am sure she’ll bring some townsfolk charm to that city.”

I sat back up, and Valorie looked at me and smiled. I smiled back, and we admired each other for some time before turning to the orange fire of a sunset.

        “Are you ashamed of me?” Valorie asked again.

        “I don’t think I will ever be ashamed of you.”

        “Will you stay with me in this town?”
        “Yes. I will stay with you in our town.”