Here Without You
By: Alicia Maxwell Winner
Song By: 3 Doors Down (Away from the Sun CD)
"Cecil? Yo Cecil!" Sai Saici called down the street. He ran after the blue-haired girl. "Hey Cecil, didn't ya here me callin ya?" He put a hand on her shoulder. Whoops, wrong girl.
"I think you have me confused with someone else," She replied.
"I'm sure I do," Sai Saici grinned in embarrassment. "Sorry about that."
"S'ok," The girl said walking off.
"Three months, one week, two days, six hours, and five minutes ago… that's when she left for Neo-Denmark again. Man, it hurts to live like this."
Sai Saici was very late getting in from school, which got Zuesen and Kayoon mad at him. They told him he was in charge of lighting the candles in the meditation room that night as punishment.
One… two… three… four… five………. seventy-nine……. one hundred fifty two……… one sixty-nine….
It was understandable why lighting the candles was considered punishment. There were over five hundred sixty-nine lights in the meditation room. Sai Saici began counting them one day and got up to five hundred sixty-nine before he became to bored to continue so everyone he talked to other than Zuesen and Kayoon knew the number of candles as "over five sixty-nine."
Wind blew in the open door and Sai Saici began to feel extremely cold.
Five sixty-two--- forget this. I'm going to bed.
Sai Saici walked off leaving the job half-finished. He just wanted to go to sleep and dream about Cecil again. He realized that his only salvation from his frustration were the dreams he had every night. Though that was a sad truth, it still made him feel better about all those things he had written in his letters about how her picture gave him hope in even the most desperate of situations.
A hundred days had made me
older since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lights had made me colder and I don't think I can look at this the
same
But all the miles had separate
They disappeared now when I'm dreaming of your face
I'm here without you baby but your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby but your still with me in my dreams
And tonight it's only you and me
Wake up calls came ringing in from outside the door at five in the morning as usual. Sai Saici pulled his blankets and pillows over him. He was just having a good dream about Cecil going to a carnival with him and he wanted to go back to it. He had no interest whatsoever in getting out of bed.
"Sai Saici! Wake up!" Kayoon yelled at the boy as he slammed open the door.
He slams that door open any harder and it'll break.
"Sai Saici, you left your work half done last night. Get up now or we'll punish you with another five weeks of lighting all of the candles nightly," Zuesen said to the boy. Sai Saici immediately sat up. "That's better. Now go get dressed."
Kayoon and Zuesen left the room.
"He's a handful don't you agree?"
"Quite."
"How do you suppose we've managed this far with him at our age?"
"A miracle," Zuesen sighed. "A very amazing miracle of the heavens."
"The worst is yet to come, my friend."
"What's that mean?"
"Imagine what a pest he'll be when he's married and we have a whole group of little Sai Saici's running around the temple."
"Kayoon?"
"Yes?"
"Do not mention that again. I hope to have achieved nirvana by the time he's married."
"I'm afraid that won't happen, Zuesen. Have you seen the mail yet today?"
"No. Why?"
"Sixteen letters and three packages from Cecil all to Sai Saici… and two or three of Sai Saici's letters to Cecil that got sent back because he forgot the postage stamp. I think it is very likely that Sai Saici will get married at the first chance he gets to Cecil."
"Buddha help me."
"My sentiments exactly."
"Just listen to them complain about me. Do they ever stop to think it could just possibly be worse for me? It ain't easy living in a Buddhist temple with two guardians who are old enough to be my great grandfathers," Sai Saici mumbled as he pulled himself out of bed. He headed off to the bathroom to get changed.
The miles just keep rolling as the people either way to say hello
I hear this life is overrated but I hope it gets better as we go
"Cecil! What are you doing here at the temple?"
"This is your dream, I'm obviously here because you want me here."
"Wow. Never had a person in my dream tell me I was dreaming like that before. Hey, wanna go to the carnival again?"
"The carnival's over."
"If this is my dream then it's not over."
"Good point but you're scheduled to wake up by falling out of bed in five seconds."
"Huh???"
BAM!!! Sure enough Sai Saici woke up five seconds afterward by falling out of bed.
I'm NOT giving up. I'm going to spend a fun and romantic time with Cecil at that carnival tonight
Sai Saici got back into bed and tried to fall asleep again.
I'm here without you baby but your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby but your still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl it's only you and me
"Hey Sai Saici!" Sai's little 'fan club' greeted him as he approached school the next morning.
"Hello girls," Sai Saici sighed.
"Are you alright?" The one girl asked. She was a pretty girl with red-brown hair and the same color eyes. Sai Saici had gone out with the girl once before and he really liked her but that was before he met Cecil.
Maybe I should just forget about Cec--- What are you thinking Sai Saici!? Get a clue! Cecil's the only girl for you out there! You can't give up on her! No matter how far away she lives!
"I'm fine. I just had a rough night last night; woke up eleven times. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get to class," Sai Saici kept walking toward the school.
Everything I know, and anywhere I go
it gets hard but it won't take away my love
And when the last one falls, when it's all said and done
it gets hard but it won't take away my love
"Hey Cecil--- is this a dream again?"
"Does this answer your question?" Cecil asked, waving her hand and making a plate of sushi appear.
"Well that depends- did you secretly have magical powers in reality?"
"What do you think?"
"I'll take that as a 'no, this is a dream you idiot.'"
"Correct so what do we do tonight?"
"How about going sightseeing back in Hong Kong?"
"You stole that idea from the soundtrack Round 5!"
"I know. Let's do it anyway."
"Do you wanna get lost like the last time we went sightseeing in Hong Kong?"
"Oh yeah… that wasn't exactly fun was it?"
"No. You said, 'Come on. It'll be fun to see more of the city than the stupid Gundam fight area.' And I said, 'Doesn't sound like a great idea to me.' Then you got us lost in the slums of Hong Kong!"
"Heh heh…. I'm sorry about that Cecil. Maybe we should just go play a game of miniature golf or go to the batting cages or something."
"I agree so what is it? Golf or batting practice?"
"Batting practice."
"Okay let's go!"
I'm here without you baby but your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby but your still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl it's only you and me
"The mail's here Sai Saici."
"So what?"
"There's a letter in here from Neo-Denmark again."
"Is it from Cecil?"
"Actually, it says it's from her brother."
"Her brother? What could he possibly want?"
"I don't know but it's addressed to you so I suggest you open it," Zuesen said handing Sai Saici the letter.
"Alright," Sai Saici opened it and began reading. "YAHOO!"
"What in the name of Buddha was in that letter?" Kayoon asked.
"Cecil's coming to visit!! She'll arrive tomorrow morning and she won't be leaving for three weeks! No more living on dreams alone for me!"
"Hey Cecil! Guess what?"
"The real Cecil is coming for a visit."
"How did you know?"
"I'm a figment of your imagination; I know everything you know."
"Cool. Say can you do me a favor?"
"Sure what is it?"
"Help me create a list of stuff me and the real Cecil can do together for the three weeks she's gonna be here?"
"Okay let's see…."
I'm here without you baby but your still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby but your still with me in my dreams
but tonight girl it's only you and me
The End