by,
Bunny
Lately I've been tryin',
to fill up my days since you're gone.
The speed of love is blinding.
And, I didn't know how to hold on.
My mind won't clear,
I'm out of tears.
My heart's got no room
left inside.
A young boy of about 12, dark hair, big eyes, slipped on a jean-jacket and tried to slip out of the rundown tenement apartment.
"Alexander Ross McKee!" a shrill voice said, causing him to cringe and turn around.
"Y-yes, Ma?"
"Just where do you think you are going?" the woman demanded, hand on her hip.
Lex looked at her disgustedly. She was not a beautiful woman by any means... looking well beyond her years in the dingy houserobe, lit cigarette hanging from her lips, nose slightly red from drinking so early in the day...
"I'm just goin' down to the store, that's all."
"And leave your little brother for me to take care of? I don't think so..."
"But, Mom... he's fine... he's watching Sesame Street; he'll be distracted till I get back?"
"I have a gentleman friend coming over in about---"
"Come on, KC." he said quickly, scooping the five-year-old and going out the door with him...
How many dreams will end?
How long can I pretend?
How many times
will love pass me by,
until I find you again?
"Lex, I was watching---"
"Don't complain; I don't like you there when Ma has her 'man friends' over..." he said as they neared the stoop of their apartment building.
"Ohhhh..." he said, scrunching his brow pensively.
"Yo, Lex-man!" a voice said, coming up behind him.
"Hey, Glen!" he greeted with a slight smile.
"You brought the shrimp, I see?"
Lex shrugged and put a hand on KC's head.
"Sooo... what's happening down here?"
"New girl moving into our building?"
Lex watched as a petite girl, dressed to the nines, got out of a beat-up VW Bug.
"How's a girl movin' to our neighborhood, whose Pop has a car like that have the dough to dress like that???" Glen wanted to know.
"Dunno... but she's got style, that's for sure..."
Well, the arms of hope surround me.
Will time be a fair-weather friend?
Should I call out to angels?
Or just drink myself sober again?
Can't hide, it's true.
I still burn for you.
Your memory just won't let me go.
"Stay here with Glen, KC..." he said, moving towards her.
"Hi..." he greeted.
"Hello." she said, as if bored.
"Name's Lex---"
"Mine's Zandra... isn't that funny? Kind of alike..."
Lex nodded, not really focusing on her words, but her big, beautiful eyes...
"Sooo... you live here too, huh?"
"Yeah... not for long, though..."
"Yeah, us too... One day, I'm gonna live on Fifth Avenue in New York City..." she nodded, and Lex had no doubt in his mind she'd get it one day...
How many dreams will end?
How long can I pretend?
How many times
will love pass me by,
until I find you again?
About then, Glen walked back over with KC.
"Don't dump the kid on me just so---"
"Wasn't; I was only five feet away?"
"You're pretty." KC smiled up at her, in his innocent, little boy way.
"Awwww, isn't he a sweetie? And, such a smart boy, too?" she smiled, lifting him to her hip.
"Ah, Zandra, this is Glen, and that is my little brother KC."
Zandra smiled at him over KC's head.
"I was wondering... if maybe... you'd like to to the arcade later?"
Zandra nodded, giving him a sweet smile, and Lex's eyes lit up...
I'd hold you tighter,
closer than ever before.
Yeah.
No flame would burn brighter,
if I could touch you once more,
hold you once more.
Lex lay his forehead on the makeshift marker they'd made for her tombstone--- a cross of wood. It was like something out of "Old Yeller" or something...
They were gone... both gone...
Zandra, and the baby she carried...
And, all he had were voices... voices telling him he had to go on...
And, he knew he would. But, he also knew nothing would ever be the same again...
He knew he had things to do, reasons he had to stick around, but it would be a long time before it was truly living, and not just waiting until he could find his Zan again...
How many dreams will end?
How long can I pretend?
How many times
will love pass me by,
until I find you again?
Until I find you,
again...