So, while driving a few weeks ago, listening to the new The Civil Wars album, this song came on and immediately I thought of Alice. I haven't been able to get this story out of my head since then… Huge thanks to Ali, Lindsey, and TheHeartOfLife. I couldn't have done this, written it, published it, anything without you three, love you! I hope you enjoy this silly, tiny little story Oh, and this is for SydneyAlice, who always tells me to write…
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To Whom It May Concern
She adjusted the strap on her favorite Martin acoustic guitar, the very first she bought in 1925. Along with the ability to see the future, Alice Brandon woke to her vampire life with an uncanny talent for guitar playing, and took advantage of any and every opportunity to play for an audience. She had lived in Philadelphia for five years, ever since she saw her first vision of him. Him. Her husband, her future, her whole life. The unnamed man that was the total embodiment of every dream she could ever remember having; luckily she couldn't remember anything before waking as a vampire. So there she was, in the same diner in Philadelphia, sitting on the same stool, and preparing to sing the same song. She knew that he would walk in at some point, on some night, she just wasn't sure when that night would come. Since Alice's visions were subjective, they would change according to the decisions that were made; unfortunately he changed his mind often. Very often. It was time to begin, so she strummed the six strings, making a show of tuning, even though the sound was already impeccable.
"Hi, if this is your first time here tonight, welcome. If you're a regular, I'm sure you already know me well. My name is Alice, and I'm going to sing a few songs for you all. I hope you enjoy!"
Her spirit and smile were both infectious, and every person in the diner, man and woman alike, couldn't take their eyes off of her. Couldn't stop the smiles from spreading across their own faces at her sweet lilting voice, and the impressive sounds coming from her guitar. She played a few songs, reworked versions of Peggy Lee and Doris Day, popular hits that she made her own. After she finished her fourth song, Alice stopped strumming the strings, and instead began picking at them.
"This will be my last song tonight. It's the one I always finish with," she smiled. "It's called To Whom It May Concern, and it's dedicated to my future…"
A sound completely unlike anything else she had played during the night came out of the guitar, music so far past the times, and so intoxicating to every patron of the diner. Other than the sound of Alice's guitar and voice, the restaurant was completely silent, everyone enraptured by the slip of a girl singing to the man who already owned her heart.
"Why are you so far from me?
In my arms is where you ought to be
How long will you make me wait?
I don't know how much more I can take
I missed you
But I haven't met you
Oh how I want to
How I do
Slowly counting down the days
Till I finally know your name
Ooo the way your hand feels round my waist
The way you laugh
The way your kisses taste"
Alice's voice broke on the last line as the front door opened, and he walked in. A smile as bright as the sun broke out across her face, and she laughed lightly, singing the next line, knowing that she never had to miss him again.
"I missed you
But I haven't met you
Oh how I want to
How I do, How I do
I missed you
But I haven't met you
Oh how I missed you
I haven't met you
Oh but I want to
Oh how I want to
Dear whoever you might be
I'm still waiting patiently…"
Applause rang out across the diner, but nothing could distract Alice from the man standing in the threshold of the shabby establishment. She stood quickly, far quicker than was acceptable for a vampire pretending to be a human girl. She simply couldn't find it in herself to care. She walked as slowly as she could bear until she was standing right in front of the beautiful blonde man with the blood red eyes.
"Hello, I'm Alice, and that was your song. I sing it in the same place, every week in the hopes that you will stop changing your mind and come find me."
Her smile grew wider as a smirk lifted the corners of his lips, "I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting, ma'am. The name is Jasper Whitlock."
"Jasper," she whispered, liking the way his name tasted on her tongue. "You're here now, that's all that matters. Would you like to come with me? I think I may have some explaining to do."
He nodded in confirmation, and she rushed as much as was possible to stow her guitar in the leather case. She waved to the owner, without her usual promise to see him the next week, and rushed toward the exit. She reached for Jasper's hand at the same moment that he reached for her guitar case, and they shared what would be the first of an eternity of coy smiles and shining eyes- only for one another. Alice tugged his hand, pulling him in the direction of her apartment. Upon arriving, she launched into what she knew: waking as a vampire with no remembrance of a previous life, her myth-like future telling ability, "seeing" him years prior," the family they will soon have, and the special diet he would soon adopt. Jasper accepted everything she had to say with hardly a blink of an eye, knowing instinctively to trust the girl pouring her heart out to him.
"Alice?" he asked, interrupting her train of thought, "Maybe you could show me your way of hunting now? But first, what was that about the way my kisses taste?"
A brilliant smile lit up Alice's whole face, and she pulled Jasper to her, kissing him with everything she had within her, knowing she never had to be without the man of her dreams- visions- ever again.
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I'm back on Twitter after an extended hiatus… snarkerella1 Also, the song is called To Whom It May Concern (obviously) and is by The Civil Wars! Check it outtttt.