Find Her

Just a glimpse from afar. That was all I got. Then, the world went black and I never saw her again. but still, I see her. Apparently, my mind has stored the image for safe keeping, because I still see her, even now. Over a month after it happened. The image lingers in my mind, not a full image though. I saw her, and I can faintly remember the soft, wavy, mousy brown hair as it flew about gently in the breeze, the pink lips that turned at the corners and formed a gentle smile, exposing her pearly white, perfectly straight row of teeth. But the image that lingers, the thing that stays in my mind and feels like I only saw her yesterday are her eyes. Eyes as blue as the sky above. Eyes that sparkle and shimmer in the sun. Those eyes. Those, beautiful, sparkling eyes that immediately have you under her spell.

And now, I yearn to see her again. Though I know I won't ever actually see her, for the world took my sight the day after I first laid eyes on her, I want to find her. I want to see if her immense outer beauty is any match for her insides. So, I tell my friend when he comes round. I say, "Jim, I want to see that girl again. Will you find her for me?"
"What does she look like?" he asks.
"Like a dream," I say, the image of her siren eyes in my mind taking my breath away.
"That doesn't exactly help mate," he says. "Did you see her? You know, really see her? You know, before..."
"Just a glimpse, that's all I got."
"We can go off a glimpse," says Jim. "What did you see?"
"Brown hair. Long, wavy, glossy," I say, building up to the very best bit. "Pink lips, bright, smiling with teeth so white it's blinding." Jim laughed at that. "What?" I ask.
"So white it's blinding huh?" he asks. "That how you lost your sight is it? Man, you've got it bad!"
"Got what bad?"
"She's got you good!" says Jim, and I can hear him chuckling. "What else?"
"She's got eyes," I say, a little mesmerized at the memories of her by this point.
"We've all got eyes, mate," says Jim.
"Beautiful eyes," I continue, ignoring his comment, "big, kind eyes. Sparkling and a bright blue, the very colour of the sky."

"You owe me one Will," says Jim.
"What?"
"I am going to look like a crazy man going around with this drawing," Jim says. "People'll say, 'yeah! I've seen her! In the movies!'. Will, are you sure she wasn't just a dream?"
"Nope," I say definitely. "She was real. Just as real as you and I."
"Alright then," says Jim and I can tell he's trying to stifle another burst of laughter. "I'll give it a shot, but I'm not making any promises alright? So don't get your hopes up."

It was weeks before I saw Jim again and I suspected it was because he was hard at work with the task I'd set out for him.
"Mate!" he says, coming closer. "You're never gonna believe this?"
"What?" I ask, my voice quiet. He did tell me not to get my hopes up.
"I found her, and by golly were you right! She looks exactly like a dream or something out of a Hollywood film."
"Did you bring her?" I ask hopefully.
"No," says Jum, and my face must have fallen, for he clapped me hard on the back and kept speaking. "Course I did mate!" he says, his tone playful. "Couldn't leave you hanging any longer once I found her, could I? Come on in!" I hear Jim call and then there a footsteps, louder as they come closer, then I hear air escape from the chair beside mine as the visitor sits down in it.

"Hello," she says, her voice as sweet as her smile, as inviting as those beautiful blue eyes.
"I've been trying to find you," I say.
"So I've heard," she says with a laugh that sounds like bells tinkling.
"I saw you, right before I went blind, and I had to know the girl with those beautiful eyes."
"Oh no," she says, and i feel her touch my arm. "You didn't look straight at me did you?"
"Just for a second, I think."
"That's all it takes," she says in a whisper.
"What?"
"Strange magic," she says. "I'm like a siren, if anyone looks directly into my eyes for too long..."
"It's too hard to resist," I say, interrupting her.
"I think that's the idea," she says. "But anyway, if anyone looks for too long, their sight goes."
"Oh," I say. "Well, you're forgiven, you couldn't help it. And a beautiful girl like you... Oh, I'm Will by the way."
"Skye," she says, "and thank you. I think there's a cure, if you're interested."
"What?"
"It's hard," she says in a warning tone.
"I'll give it a shot."
"You've got to look into my eyes again."
"Yeah, you're right darlin'. That could be just a little tricky." I say and laugh a little.

I blink. Skye has sunglasses covering her eyes so she doesn't send me blind again, but she looks even more beautiful than I remembered. And I can see her. Actually see her.
"Thank you," I say. "Now, can I take you out to dinner?"
"What?" she asks.
"It's the least I can do," I say, "besides, a beautiful lady like yourself deserves to go out."
"On the arm of a man like you?" she asks rhetorically as she links her arm with mine. "I'd be honoured."

International Smile

Mia shook her head and took a deep breath, plastering a big smile on her face before emerging from the curtain and going to face the new plane load of needing, wanting, demanding customers.

"Good morning, how are you today?" she'd ask with the trademark stewardess smile and the cheery voice. "Can I get you anything? Are you comfortable?" Mia went on like that down the rows and aisles, her smile plastered on good like cement to her face. She was on autopilot, walking around and fulfilling customer's requests, standing there but really wanting to move on as some customers droned on and on, telling them their life's story.

"I think the question should be, how are you... Mia?" asked one customer, leaning forward and squinting slightly to read her name tags. "How long have you been flying now?"
"Not too long," Mia answered, perking up. She couldn't believe it... This guy actually, genuinely seemed to care.
"Oh, well, you're doing a wonderful job," said the elderly gentleman, patting her hand lightly. "How long have you been a stewardess for? Are you happy?"
"I've been doing this for about five years now."
"Ah," said the man, "and that, that young thing over there's been doing it for about five weeks, right?"
Mia's gaze followed in the direction of the man's thumb to see Carmen, the newest stewardess on the flight. Mia couldn't help but blink as she looked back at the man. "How could you..."
"Ah," said the man, flicking his hand in the air as if to swat a fly. "she's still got that sparkle in her eye doesn't she?"
"Sparkle?"
"You would have had it too when you'd been here as long as she has," he said.

"Tell me, why did you do this?"
"I wanted to travel," said Mia. "I wanted... I wanted to see the world."
"And what a lovely way to do it," said the man. "Brightening up the day of your fellow travelers like me."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll let you in on a little secret," he said beckoning with his finger so she leaned closer and he whispered in her ear. "Myself, I don't too much like flying. But you with your bright smile and your warm words... You make it better, bearable."
"I'm glad I could enhance your experience Sir," said Mia. It was the only thing she could think to say, his comment had startled her so much. In all her time as a stewardess, no one had ever been that appreciative before.

"You know love," said the man as Mia rose back to her full height. "A million girls would kill for your job. Just... don't... Don't lose sight of why you started doing this in the first place. You're living your dream every day. You're travelling and seeing the world, and you making others happier while you're doing it."

As she walked away from the kindly old gentleman, Mia felt like she was taking in a breath of fresh air. He was right. A million girls would kill for her job and she was living her dream, so why wasn't she smiling all the time for real? Where, in all of this, had she lost sight of all that?

Years later, on another day and another flight, Mia was pleased to see the elderly gentleman who had reminded her of the dream she was living sitting in a chair, smiling back at her.
"Hello! How are you doing today?" she asked cheerily.
"How are you doing?" he asked instead of answering.
"I... I'm good," she answered. "Happy."
"I'm glad to hear that," he said, offering her a smile.

"Got an international smile that one," Mia could hear the old man saying as she wandered away. "You're lucky if you're on her plane mate, don't you worry." She glanced back to see a young man sitting beside the nice old gentleman. "I'd catch her if you can though, if I were you, she's in high demand now I'd imagine."

Mia smiled as she went back to her stewardess duties. Her smile widened as she made eye contact with the man again and it became plastered on her face. A genuine, international smile.

If Only

"Mike! Come on! You gotta come see this!" Charlie said excitedly, her wide eyes bright as she looked back at her friend.
"What is it?" Mike asked, panting as he ran to keep up with his friend.
"You'll see! We just gotta.. Otherwise all the other kids'll know!"
Mike shook his head at the confusion as he ran along after his friends.

"Watch this!" Charlie said, picking up what appeared to be a completely normal stone from a bowl in the centre of the otherwise deserted field.
"Wha..." Mike started to say, going silent as his friend opened his mouth.
"If only I could have a bouncy ball," there was silence a moment before a ball appeared on the ground between them.
"Woah!" Mike said, staring at the ball, then his friend and finally, the stone.
"You have to be holding one of the stones from the bowl," said Charlie. "Here, you try. It'll give you anything you want, so long as you say if only."
"If only we had apple juice." A moment later, a glass of apple juice appeared in both their hands.
"Apple juice?" Charlie asked, staring at him.
"What?" Mike asked. "I was thirsty! And you did make me run. Besides, it's nice. I'll have it if you don't want it."
"No," said Charlie without a moment's pause, pulling the glass close. "I'll have it."
Mike shrugged and dipped his head back, finishing his juice in a single gulp. "If only these glasses would go away," said Mike, and sure enough, they disappeared.

"How are we gonna keep this to ourselves?" Mike asked. "if any of the other kids see..."
"I know," said Charlie, shuddering at the thought. There was a moment's silence before she started frantically stuffing the bowl's contents of powerful, magic stones into her pockets.
"Woah! Wait, Charlie, what are you doing?"
"Well, we can't let anyone else get them, can we?" Charlie asked as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.
Mike stood, thinking it over for a sheer second before he followed Charlie and started to stuff the stones in his pockets. Between the two, they could take all the stones, and nobody would ever know.

"Mum! Look at this!" Charlie said quickly, pulling a stone from her pocket and holding it up for her mother to see. "All you have to do is say if only and they give you whatever you want,"
"Alright," her mother said uncertainly as Charlie and Mike ran upstairs to play. "Just don't let the power get to your head!" she called after them.
"Kids," said Charlie's mother as she turned back to her husband. "Such great imaginations."

Upstairs, Charlie and Mike sat, seriously mulling over what their next wishes should be.
"I want to do something nice for Mummy," Charlie decided. "If only Mummy had Lyla back," she said and smiled at the satisfied gasp she could hear coming from downstairs.

"It's not is it?" her mother gasped at the sight of her other, now eight year old daughter standing in front of her. She'd gone missing years ago. She hadn't thought she'd ever see her again.
"Hi Mum," said Lyla, smiling back at her mother as if nothing had ever happened.
"Lyla? Oh my! I don't believe this! Wherever did you go? What happened to you?"

"What do you want to do Mike?" Charlie asked upstairs. "What do you want to wish for?"
"I don't know.." Mike sense, dissolving into silence as he thought hard. "Wait, I do know. I know exactly what I want."
"What?" Charlie asked.
"If only I could have a puppy," said Mike and one appeared before him. "I'd think myself so very lucky, that's what I always used to say."
"Now you've got one!" said Charlie excitedly, bending down to give the puppy a pat and laughing as it licked her fingers. "That tickles!" She declared through laughter.

"I've got myself a new best friend," Mike said, smiling as he knelt to allow the puppy to lick his hand.
"New best friend?" Charlie asked quietly, tears forming in her eyes.
"Charlie.." Mike said, looking worriedly up at her. "Charlie, I didn't mean like that, I..."
"What did you mean then?" Charlie asked as a few tears began to fall.
"I meant that I have another best friend,"
"Can you?" asked Charlie. "Can you have two best friends."
"Sure you can," Mike said. "Besides, he's a dog, and you're a kid, like me. So I have two different types of best friends. One dog and one kid."
"Ok," Charlie said after a while, shrugging. "So what're you gonna call him?" she asked, looking at the puppy sitting obediently between them.
"Chip," Mike answered without a moment's thought. "That's what I always said I'd call a puppy if I ever got one."

"What are we going to do with the stones?" Charlie asked suddenly.
"I say leave 'em here," said Mike. "In case we want to make any more wishes. It's more likely to be found at my place. Dad snoops."
"How's he gonna handle Chip?" Charlie asked worriedly.
"I'll tell him I found him," Mike said and Charlie shrugged, a smile forming on her lips.
"Ok. Will you bring him back to play tomorrow?"
"Yup," Mike said, patting Chip's back. "Come on boy," he said. "Let's go home. Think up more wishes. "

Pause

He stopped short, standing completely silent and still as he stared straight ahead, unseeing. A moment passed before he seemed to unfreeze. A moment ago, the world had been calm, but no longer. Now, all at once, the young boy screamed his little lungs out, his face contorting and turning bright red with the effort as he began quickly rocking back and forth on the spot, hugging himself as he did.

Watching on, the boy's mother shook her head, closing her eyes and taking a breath. She let it go, for just a minute before stepping forward.
"Angus," she called, her voice raised though not angry in order to be heard over the screams. "Angus, look at me," she said. It took a while, but it wasn't long before the young boy stopped his screams, looking silently back at his mother. She reached out, wiping the tears from her face. "Ssh, there, that's it," she said encouragingly, brushing his hair with her hand. From her pocket, she pulled the smallest remote you'd ever seen and handed it to the boy. It was so small that it only had two buttons- play, and pause.

Without a moment's thought, Angus lightly pressed the pause button and at once, the world around him paused in motion, like a DVD when you paused it. The boy looked around, satisfied before pointing the remote back at his mother and pressing 'play'.
"What's going on?" she asked calmly.
"My head, Mummy," Angus complained, falling into her open arms. "My head is spinning."
"Ok, let's talk about it then, what's going on?"
"Mal," said Angus. "He was my friend yesterday, and he says he still is but... he's not acting like it. I'm confused and I have no idea what to do."
"It's as they say," said his mother said. "Actions speak louder than words."
"It doesn't make sense when someone says something but does something different. It makes them seem a little two faced," said Angus bluntly.
"Well, it doesn't always make sense, no," was all his mother could think to say.

When Angus had calmed down and he had talked it out with his mother, he pressed play on the remote away and the world resumed going on, as if nothing had ever happened. As if a little boy hadn't just paused the world a while. Because only the boy, and the mother he'd unpaused knew of any time passing at all. Even the clocks had stopped.

Little were they aware, a man had been watching them from outside through a window. A man who was  miraculously immune to pausing.
"I wish I'd had one of those things as a kid," he sighed as he wandered away. "It would have made it so much easier."

Infinity In Ink

Gail had looked everywhere for her husband, but there was no sign of him anywhere. She knew he'd been ill, he'd been fighting it for months. Maybe he lost his fight, but if he did, wouldn't he be somewhere? He certainly wouldn't have been gone without a trace, nowhere to be found. 

Gary fell to his knees the moment the policemen left, closing the door behind them and leaving him on his own. Completely on her own. How could this be happening? His baby, gone forever? Bridie, dead? Why her? Why him? Why was this happening? Why was this happening to him? Why was this happening at all? Just, why?

A wife, distraught she hadn't had the chance to say the goodbye she'd been preparing for for months. A father, desperately searching for answers that were nowhere to be found. Gone, snatched. But the question remained, where had they gone so suddenly? 

Isaac's mother became suspicious when the family dog disappeared all of a sudden. Duke had been old. Perhaps he'd gone off somewhere quiet? Dogs did do that, she'd read. Only, when she went up to tell Isaac, he didn't seem at all fazed by the news. 

"It's ok Mum," he said instead. 

"What?" 

"Duke's ok," Isaac said. "He's right here," he pointed to the paper on his desk. 

"Isaac, you're starting to worry me," said his mother, coming closer to rest her hands on his shoulders. "No, really. Look Mum, he's right here." 

His mother lent forward, looking at her son's drawing. On the page, there was a dog, who looked exactly like Duke. He was sitting down, tongue poking out, tail wagging. She blinked. Was he actually moving? Couldn't be, she reasoned with herself, it was a drawing. But no, his tail flicked sideways again. He was moving! But how? 

Next, Isaac's mother noticed her brother in law in the picture, or what looked like her brother in law. He stood, hands in his pockets, smiling back at her.There was another girl she didn't recognize on her knees on the opposite side of Duke with her hand extended toward him, as if she were waiting for him to come to her for a pat. 

"Isaac," she asked, looking at her son again. "What is this?" 

"It's Duke, and Uncle John and Bridie Mum," he answered simply. 

"What are they doing there?" she asked. "And... moving?" 

"I saved them Mum," Isaac said simply, shrugging. But the bright look of pride in his eyes didn't go past her. 

"What do you mean you 'saved them' Isaac?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"I've sort of got this power," Isaac explained. "When I draw people, it gives them life on the page. Uncle Jon didn't want to fight anymore. He told me so himself, Bridie asked me too, and I could tell Duke was getting bad. I didn't want him to suffer." 

"That's... That's nice of you," she said. It was all she could think of to say. The whole thing, it was a little strange, and sort of unbelievable. Yet, it was there, on the page, right in front of her. She could see it with her own eyes. The drawn figures of people they knew, moving. Living a life on the page. 

"It's a second chance Mum," said Isaac. "An infinity in ink."