Everyone has those days in life that are too precious to forget; the day you meet your first love, the day your wedding, that day you have a child. These days linger with you for the rest of existence, even if you don't think of them always; they are right there, safe in your memory. The day I will always remember is the days I found my dragon.
I was 9 years old, turning 10 in two months and I was out with my dad at the creek. He was fishing while I played in the water, the air around us was sticky and wet but the sun was still beating down; my dad was sweating in his overalls, but I was wearing my favorite yellow dress. The green trees swayed in the breeze and the birds continued their never ending song, all in all- it was a gorgeous day. We lived up in the mountains, about an hour walk to the nearest town. We weren't hillbillies or anything, my brothers and I still went to school in town and my mom worked in town, but we lived on the mountain. Most would hate the seclusion, hate being stuck away from humanity, but I thrived in it. It was like I owned the forest and nobody could take it from me, the trees, flowers, birds and sun that shined on them all belonged to me.
I started to collect pebbles so that later I could sew them together and make a necklace(I know now that it was silly thought). I was very particular, they couldn't be too big or heavy and they couldn't be too dark, only light prety rocks would work for my necklace. Then, I saw it. It was a small white dot buried underneath the darkness and mud of the river. I shifted the rocks to grab it but it was suck, I mean really stuck. I dropped all the pebbles I had collected and grabbed the white stone with both hands and pulled as hard as I could. It was bigger than I thought it was... a lot bigger. almost as big as my head! I felt the rock slide in the mud, giving way to me and I yanked with all my strength. The rock came out suddenly, sending my backwards. I fell into the water but I had lost the rock! It fell out of my hands! I searched high and low for it but it seemed to have disappeared from the creek. I splashed in the water frantically, feeling my way to see the glorious white stone.
"Alyson!," my father called. "It's time to go!"
I left the water reluctantly and wrapped myself in my towel. I pouted the whole way home and my father noticed.
"What's wrong, Alyson?"
"I lost my rock," I whined.
He smiled," You'll find a better one."
"No! No, I never will!," I grumbled.
"Oh, is that so... and why wont you?"
"It was the best, most beautiful rock in the whole river, daddy! The whole mountains! Probably, the whole world and I lost it!"
My dad threw his head back and laughed, "Oh, Alyson..."
My dad said that a lot 'Oh, Alyson' like he knew something I didn't, like he was just so happy to say my name.
"You'll find a new rock, sweetheart. Who knows, maybe it'll be better."
"I doubt it," I mumbled to myself.
We got home and I went straight to my room and shut the door. I kept beating myself up about that stupid rock! I don't know why I wanted it so badly, it was just a rock! Not even a jewel or gem, just an ordinary rock! My parents noticed that I was down, but whenever they asked about it I shrugged them off and went to play.
Over time, I forgot about the marvelous white rock that had mysteriously vanished. Months turned to years and I moved on, started worrying about other things, new things like: clothes, my hair and boys. My parents weren't poor, but we always didn't live in a mansion; I got things I needed and some I wanted but they also had 4 other kids to look out for. I was very self conscious about myself; I wasn't really pretty and living with 4 brothers, I wasn't very skinny either. I was about 5'4, had blonde hair about halfway to the middle of my back and blue eyes. My freckles hadn't left my nose and I had a very lacking development in the chest and butt department. In short, I was a 17 year old girl- chubby, tall, and blonde who was loud and reckless.
Luckily, I wasn't too hideous because I did have a boyfriend and he was sweet kid. His name was Darion, his was tall and very lanky and he was very nerdy which was so adorable. My brothers always gave him shit, but he never cared and almost always gave them shit back. He was a great guy, the best; and I felt so lucky to have him in my life, happy. We had been together about 7 months and we were definitely taking things slow, so no sex. I was a virgin and still completely terrified to give that piece of myself up; it wasn't that I didn't want to with Darion, I was just a big step and there was no way I was going to rush that decision. Darion was a sweetheart about it, he was a virgin too so I think he was just as nervous as me.
It was summertime, Darion and I had just spent the day in our secret spot. It was a small tree that laid close to the ground with a maze of branches to sit on. We went there a lot when we needed privacy from my family, or just space to talk, we even went there when we needed to fight! We were walking back to my house, enjoying the silence between us, listening the world around us. I heard the birds still singing their song, the squirrels in the trees, the water splashing in the river, and the crunch of the underbrush under my feet.
"It's sooo hot!," Darion breaks the quiet. I glance over to him, he was sweating badly through his shirt, outlining his stomach. He didn't have abs or anything, but he did have a nice V line.
I bit my lip and looked back to the trail," Let's go then." I took a sharp right, leading him into the trees.
"Alyson! Where are you going?," he was right behind me. I followed the sound of the water, it was loud and I pushed past a tree and saw the creek flowing few yards away.
"Here we are...," I jumped down to the bank of pebbles.
Darion jumped after me, grabbed me from behind my waist and whispered into my neck," I didn't bring swim trunks."
I smiled and turned to face him, wrapping my arms around his neck," Good."
He chuckled and kissed me very slowly. His hands moved and lifted the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head, he tossed it on the ground. Any other guy, I would pull away and be embarrassed about my weight, but Darion saw past all that: he saw me. I pulled him close, entangling my hands into his black curly hair and kissed him slowly, lingering on his lips. "Good...," I repeated breathlessly.
He chuckled deep in his throat," You have such a way with words."
"Shut up," I scoffed and hit his chest, we both laughed. We stripped and dove into the crisp clear water.
"OHH SHIIT! COLD! COLD! COLD! TOO COLD!," I lunged for the bank, but Darion wrapped his hands around me and swung me back into the water.
"Not so fast," he smirked and crossed his arms
"Is that you intimidating face," I raised an eyebrow.
He dropped his arms to his sides," I thought it was kind of intimidating."
He sounded like a sad puppy, so I swam over and lifted his head," Very scary."
He swept his hands under my legs and neck, like I was bride," That's how I lure them in: sad puppy face, works every time!" Then he plunged both of us into the water.
We swam for awhile, but the wind picked up and I started to shiver. We ran back to our clothes, trying to escape the harsh wind biting at our exposed skin. I buttoned my pants, while he pulled his shirt over his head. He was so cute: dark curly hair, dark eyes, soft lips. I was almost going to kiss him when the wind howled and shivers went down my spine.
"Shit! It should not be this cold in summer! Where's my shirt?," I asked.
"Uhmm.. I don't recall. I was kind of busy at the moment," then he grinned like a fool.
I rolled my eyes," Come on, we have to find it. It's cold!"
"I can keep you warm," he opened his arms.
"That sounds amazing," I walked towards him but stopped just out of reach, he furrowed his brow with confusion. "You know what doesn't sound amazing... arriving at my house without a shirt and explaining that to my brothers AND my dad."
He dropped his arms and scratched his head," Yeaaahh, that sounds not amazing."
We looked up and down the beach, but I didn't see it.
"There it is!," I hear him say and whip around to see him pointing towards the water.
I run to the creek and hear him right behind me," WHERE!?"
"Right there," he shouts and I see it. It's right at the border of the water, on the edge of falling in and floating away. I grab it before the wind it blows it over and clutch it to my chest.
"How the hell did you throw it all the way over here!?" I say while putting my shirt on.
"I didn't!," he protested. "Maybe the wind blew it over here."
"Excuses. Excuses," I chuckled and sit down on the rocks. He sits next to me and I lean against him so he wraps an arm around me. "My dad used to bring me here, back when he fished for fun. I always thought it was cool, because beaches everywhere are made of sand, but not mine: it has a pebble beach."
"It almost looks like a completely different place, you know? Almost like it doesn't belong in the mountain, like it belongs in a story or something."
" Yeah," I smiled up at him and he smiled down at me. We sat and talked for awhile before he said he needed to head home. "Can't be late for bedtime," I teased.
"Hell no I can't! If I don't get there she won't tuck me in," he joked.
"Shut up!," he helped me stand up. I took a step forward and fell flat on my butt, but Darion still had my hand, keeping me from falling over completely. "Ow!," I yelped.
"You good?"
"Yeah, it's just... I landed on something," I struggled to stand.
"The beach is made of rocks...," Darion mentioned.
I rolled my eyes and looked back at where I had fell and saw a white stone the size of the fish in the stream; around five or six inches. It was so blindingly bright, looking at it made my head moan. Darion bent down and picked it up," Pretty rock."
I looked down the river, but all the stones were gray or black, there were no other white rocks. I watched Darion flip the stone over and admire it's simple beauty. The rock was memorizing, it was hard to look away but it still hurt to watch it.
"Let me see it," I opened my hand and he passed it over. I held the stone, it was perfectly smooth with round edges; in a word the rock was perfect. "It's beautiful...," I whispered more to myself then Darion.
"Keep it. When you look at it, think of me and how giving I am to you; giving you this rock as a symbol of how-,"
"Shut up," I laughed, never looking away from the white stone in my hands. The brightness was beginning to fade and it hurt less to look at.
"Come on," he linked his arm in mine." M'lady..."
My other arm fell to my side, still clutching the rock," Good sir..."
We pretended to be a couple from the last century all the way back to my house.
"Ah, this is where I bid you farewell," he bowed slightly.
"My good sir, you shall cross my mind until we meet again. I hope that I will stay on your mind until our next acquaintance," I curtsied.
"Oh yes, you will be on my mind, but not in the most appropriate way a suitor should think of his maiden," he kissed my hand," I bid you adeui."
My brother, Asher, then leaned out of his opened window and yelled down at us," YOU BOTH SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF PUSSIES!"
Darion yelled up," THAT'S MORE THAN YOU'VE EVER GOT!"
Asher flipped us off, then shut his window. We laughed," See you later, gator," I reached up on my tip toes and kissed him softly.
"After awhile, crocodile," he turned and walked down the trail to town. I stayed there a minute, watching him fade then went inside.
I heard my parents bickering back and forth about whether Blurple should be an official color or not.
"It's a real color! It's own color!," my mom said.
I heard my dad sigh," It's the combination of two colors, not it's own color."
"Combining two colors create new colors! Like red and yellow make orange."
"Then why don't we start calling orange: Yellange or even Orallow! It's ridiculous!"
I smiled at their simple arguments, it was adorable.
I went into my room and locked the door, sat on my bed and placed the rock in my lap. It was so simple, so basic, just a white rock. I fell back on bed and let the day wash over me, remembering all the good things that happened, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.