Hopelessly Hopeful

Prologue

Sweat was rolling down the side of Pete's cheek. It had been unusually hot that day, so Pete had decided to stop a moment to cool down. He found a small wooden bench on the side of the street. It seemed to have been there for ages, the wood was no longer smooth but cracked and flaky. It appeared to have formed a dull grayish color on the surface. Unsure of how stable the bench was going to be, Pete took a seat carefully and relaxed for a moment, realizing it would hold his weight. There were many people walking around shopping with their families and began to wonder what his family was doing right now. Pete missed them terribly, he was part Hawaiian from his mother not to mention his smile and he had his father's strong distinctive chin. He missed his little sister Hilary and his baby brother Andrew too. They always supported him throughout his journey to become a musician.

Putting his head into his hands he noticed something out the corner of his eye. A small rectangular book, abandoned at the end of the wooden bench, staring him in the face. Who was the owner of this book, he wondered. Pete glanced around the street trying to see if anyone was returning to collect their forgotten possession. No one near him seemed to be concerned about losing anything. Hesitant of whether or not to peek inside, Pete thought if he could find a name in it, he might be able to return it. What was in it, he wondered? Grabbing the book, he slowly opened the cover, feeling a little uncomfortable by the fact that this was someone else's written thoughts. Noticing on the first page it said, visual journal in black pen. His being uncomfortable was justified, yet the word visual intrigued his curiosity.

Having a successful clothing line, Clandestine Industries, he enjoyed seeing interesting drawings to give him ideas for new products and styles.

Flipping through a couple pages, he found many uniquely construed drawings. Some even made him laugh, like the Golden Snitch from the story of Harry Potter. He had seen all the movies and immediately recognized it. Thumbing through a few more, he saw there was poetry as well. Some had been dated years ago, but there was one towards the back that appeared to be recent. The poem read,

"Emptiness"

"A feeling of emptiness inside,

There is a huge void in my heart,

I can not find.

Unable to handle the emotions,

I lose control of myself.

I am pretending there is a reason to continue,

Continue a life without a soul.

Hidden from the day, the truth burns within me.

A concealment of identity.

Traces of loneliness everywhere.

How can I fight it?

Pressures of lost time and a reflection unknown.

I seek a forbidden love,

Chained down by my own desires.

If only there was someone out there,

To consume my emptiness.

I beg you,

Find me!"

It was signed Casie Treston. These words appeared over and over in his head, when he could no longer look at the book, he set it aside. Pete contemplated what he had just read. Being a lyricist for his band, Fall Out Boy, he himself had written words of this nature before, but this was different. This was someone else's words, a girl who seemed so sad and alone. Understanding how personal these words were, he could not bear to leave the book behind for fear another finding it.

"What if they throw it away or someone decides to blast it over the internet and she sees it", Pete said to himself. He knew he had to return it to this girl, but how would he find her?

"Pete!" yelled Patrick from across the street. "We gotta get going. Andy and Joe are waiting on us."

Shaking his head, Pete realized Patrick, the lead singer of their band, was motioning him to come. Patrick was his best friend; they spent most of their time together touring different countries with their band. Patrick was about the same height as he was, but not quite the same body type. Pete never missed a chance to take his shirt off in public, showing off his eccentric tattoos that covered most of one arm. Patrick's features were different as well; his hair was a light sandy brown, and his eyes were crystal clear blue. On the other hand, Pete's hair was a dark brown almost black at times, and he had intense brown eyes that resembled a creamy caramel. Seeing his friend continually motioning for him, he grabbed the book, jumped from the bench and hastened to catch up.

"Leila" "Cara" "Have you seen my journal? I can't find it anywhere!" Casie yelled in a nervous tone.

She knew all her private thoughts had been written down in it and fears of someone reading it overwhelmed her. She could feel a knot starting to form in the back of her throat as she tossed her blue pillows off her bed and pulled the tiger striped sheets back, hoping to find it under them. That journal was a way for her to relieve stress and express her emotions when she could not out loud. If anyone that knew her found it, she would be devastated.

"Have you looked under the bed?" Leila asked. "Yes, it's not there," Casie cried.

"When did you see it last?" said Cara. "I had written some stuff down before we went to those shops on Wilshire and put it in my bag, I thought." Casie said queasily.

Cara looked at Casie with her brilliant emerald green eyes and noticed her face was blood red, "Don't worry it will turn up; we can go back and look for it later, but we are late for the movie."

Leila Davison and Cara Scott had been her friends for the past 5 years. They loved doing everything together and always were there for each other. After college, they decided it would be easier on all of them if they shared a place to live in Chicago. This opportunity gave each one the chance to save up money, and not to mention the fact that they were becoming more and more inseparable from this arrangement.

They had been planning to see this movie tonight, Sweeny Todd, for weeks. Cara was not as excited as Leila and Casie, but she knew it meant a lot to them.

Unfortunately, since the discovery of her missing journal, Casie was not really up to going to the movies, as she normally would have been. Seeing her friends pleading faces, she reluctantly decided it was best that she went. Leila would not have forgiven her if she did not.

The theater in town had recently been redone; the sign was lit up and could be seen from blocks away. As they arrived, Casie saw the fresh parking space dividers lined around each car. Surprisingly, they managed to find one up close by the front doors. They got out of Cara's car and started making their way to the ticket booth; Casie could smell the fresh paint that covered the outer walls. This paint was a smooth eggshell color with midnight blue surrounding the posters depicting the different movies. They received their tickets for Sweeny Todd and Casie followed behind Leila and Cara into the theater. The girls had decided it was a good idea to avoid getting refreshments as they had been watching their figures and went instead to search for seats.

Leila led the group to the back of the room, where they snagged the upper most middle row. It was pitch black; they could hear the crunching of popcorn under their feet as they made their way across. Settling in their seats, the curtains opened and the movie finally was about to began. Leila and Cara could not bring themselves to remove the smiles off their faces from the movie being full of excitement and romance. On the contrary, Casie did not once smile or speak to either one of the girls the whole time. All she could focus on was when she was going to begin a quest for her journal.

Cara and Leila noticed Casie's behavior towards the end of the movie. Cara had given Leila a look of concern. So, she then leaned next to Casie's ear and whispered "are you still upset about your journal?" All Casie could do was nod.

"We'll go first thing in the morning to look for it, I promise." Leila said with a reassuring voice.