Obnoxiously bright light filtering through my dark blue curtains was what woke me that morning. Actually, that's what woke me most mornings. If it wasn't the invading light from the sun, it was the equally obnoxious blaring from the mobile sat on my bedside table as the alarm set off, causing it to vibrate against the wood underneath it. Funnily enough, it went off as soon as I turned over and attempted to doze off again.
Groaning in annoyance I reached behind me and, after a few fruitless attempts at grabbing the device that was currently creating the most fucking irritating racket I had ever heard, I picked up the mobile and turned the damned thing off. I threw it in the general direction of the bean bag in the corner, the soft 'thud' indicating that this time I hadn't thrown it against the wall and woken anyone up at the ungodly hour of eight in the morning.
As soon as I had kicked off the rocket and star patterned bed sheets I realized how warm I was. The middle of summer was a heartless time of the year when temperature was concerned, and I found myself getting dressed slower than usual due to both the heat and the fact that I had woken up not two minutes ago.
My morning routine was the same as always. The first step was to get sorted and out of the apartment, which today I managed to do without waking Kiku up. I sighed in relief as I got outside. As cool as my best friend and flatmate was, he knew just how to pay me back for waking him up even a few minutes early in the mornings. The last time had involved wrapping everything in my bedroom in tin foil and then opening the curtains, revealing the shiny, reflective room to the bright, unforgiving sun. I have to admit it, the guy's great at planning these things.
I'd arrived at the Starbucks I often frequented at, successfully undertaking step two of my daily routine. It was when I was waiting for my coffee that it happened. It wasn't anything spectacular really, something most people wouldn't give a second thought about.
Sat on the counter was a small portable radio set. A few dents and scratches made its old, well-used life shine through and I briefly wondered if it had always been there. I'd never noticed it before, that's for sure.
But I wasn't interested in the radio as much as I was in the song. A gentle violin melody, a young voice. The lyrics. The lyrics were what made me stop for a second and think.
Have you ever been able to connect with a song? I don't mean in an I-know-what-this-means-so-I-understand way, I mean on a deep emotional level, like it can explain a key point of your life. To be honest, I never thought it was possible until this moment.
I quickly left Starbucks, caramel macchiato in hand, and started walking. I walked all the way to the park, some small part of my brain deciding that I should take the long route today, as it was clear that the other, larger part of my brain wasn't going to stop remembering the events that took place over the course of two weeks in a summer three years ago any time soon.
At some point I'd stopped walking, and now stood in the shadow of a tall, proud oak tree. Three years. It felt like forever and at the same time it felt like no time at all. I remembered every day, in little snippets of the past. Most of those thoughts and memories involved my time spent with him, and I'd often wondered if he remembered and thought of me as much as I remembered and thought of him. I'd often wondered if, by some miracle, we would meet again. The chances were slim, I knew that. It was a wide world after all...
But then again, I guess it was by chance that I met Arthur in the first place.
A/N: Guess who's back with a new story! I got the idea after listening to the song Fairytale by Alexander Rybak, which, if you're interested, is the song that's playing on the portable radio. Here's a link if you want to listen to it: watch?v=1ycWOSJusrc It's really good!
For those of you wondering what happened to my Hunger Games-inspired AU 'A Game Of Life Or Murder', I kinda forgot what I was doing and gave up on it. Sorry about that. But that won't happen to this one and I'm gonna do my best and it'll be fricking awesome!
