This is my first Pearl Harbor fic...I'm not sure if it's any good or not, so please go easy, if I get some reviews, I'll continue,
but if I don't, we can forget that this was ever posted, ok? I actually had another PH fic written that I wrote during
Keyboarding class at school, but the silly teacher deleted it, it was 40 pages long...forty.pages. Gone. I was quite upset, but
read this and tell me what you think, you can review or e-mail/IM me at Silverfox41988@aol.com ...thankssss! And on with
the show!
Summary: Your typical little sister fic with a twist... "Destiny is a funny thing, you know. It can be the best thing in the
world for you, or it can just drive you off the edge. Some people let destiny guide them, while others use destiny as their
guide. Rafe and I always knew we were destined to fly, just like Leanna knew she was destined to fail."
From the moment she was born, or was able to talk, I remember calling my little sister 'Beautiful' because (a) that's what her
name meant, Leanna Celeste, Beautiful from the sky, and (b) she was the most beautiful girl I've ever, and will ever, see. She
was my baby sister, and I was going to protect her because she was my Beautiful, and no other girl could ever take her place
in my heart. Even my best friend, Rafe McCawley, began calling her 'Beautiful' and promised to help me protect her until the
day we died, because after all, in a way she was his little sister too. I only wish that I could say we lived up to that promise.
If I try really hard, I can almost remember everything about her, the way her delicate brown curls fell gracefully at her
shoulders, the way her emerald eyes glimmered when she was happy, or dimmed when she was sad. I remember the way
she walked, her gait strong and flowing, the way she laughed, smiled, I remember mostly everything about Beautiful in the
good times, and I try not to think about the bad, because the story of Beautiful is like the old country roads, long and rocky;
sometimes they lead you on top of the hills, where you can overlook everything, see the vapor rise from the pond in the
early morning fog, before the sun even begins to peek over the fields, and watch the sun as it drops behind the hills in a
magnificent array of bright oranges and purples and reds, and you look around and all you can see is beauty, captivating
your every senses; but then sometimes it leads you down in the valley, and all around you is darkness, and it rains on you
and there's no place to sleep without facing the demons of the night, but that didn't matter, because the story of Beautiful is
really a story of us all, because whatever we went through, we went through it together, and of how we grew up, and
learned the hard way that there is a fine line between real life and fairytales. In real life there are no happy endings, only
broken homes and broken hearts left in the dust, and so is the story of Beautiful, not necessarily the way it happened, but the
way I remember it, just plain life...
Beautiful
"Leanna!" our father yelled, his drunkenness showing as he slurred his words, "Get your asfs over hea tis instsnt!" Leanna
looked up to me, her eyes wide and terrified, knowing that if she went into that room, that he was going to beat her for one
thing or another, and she expected me to know exactly what to do, so I racked my 8-year-old brain for something to do to
get my little sister out of this, with a sigh and a quick nod for my own self-assurance, I collaborated a plan that had worked
in the past, "Run to Rafe's barn, ok? I'll be there in a few minutes, if anyone asks you what you're doing, ask if Rafe can
come out, and tell him where I am" I said quickly, looking to the kitchen door all too much, almost expecting for our dad to
burst through the door at any second with a belt in hand, Leanna nodded, but stood still, "What are you doing, Beautiful?
Go! Get!" I shooed her, watching as she took off out the back kitchen door and across the field, I watched as she ran as
fast as her 6-year-old legs would carry her over the hill, and only then, when I knew she was safe, did I turn "She's not in
here, Daddy!" I called, hoping that it didn't anger him any more than he already was, after a few minutes of silence, I took a
step towards the door, hoping that he had maybe passed out or something, but I couldn't be that lucky, the door flew open
and my father stormed in, belt in hand, raised, I winced in preparation for the blow, which came in a frenzy of drunken fury,
over and over again he brought the belt down on my soft skin, leaving red mark after red mark that I could feel shaping
across my back and arms, after a few moments that felt like an eternity for me, he stood up dizzily, almost unaware of what
he had done, the only evidence that remained was the dark brown leather belt in his hand and the bruises and red stripes
forming on my arms and back, there was a long, uncomfortable silence between us, our eyes locked, mine filled with tears I
would never allow to fall, and his bloodshot and pupils dilated from the 4 or 5 beers he had, finally he shook his head and
turned, mumbling something about needing another beer, and I watched him walk back into the living room, the kitchen
door swinging closed with an uncanny creaking sound, I sat perfectly still and counted to five in my mind, calming myself
and making the tears go away before I jumped up and scrambled out the back door, across the field and over the hill
towards my best friend's house...
In approaching the barn, I heard the familiar sound of Rafe playing in the toy plane, shaking the events that had happened that day behind me, and stepping into the barn to see Leanna and Rafe playing in the little plane we had built from things we could salvage from this and that place, Leanna spotted me first, hopping down from her place beside Rafe and running to me, stopping inches from me and grabbing my arm, which caused me to wince in pain, she looked up at me and blinked her pretty green eyes, questioning me before she looked back down at my arm, at the blue and purple marks on it, then back up at me, her smile had faded, and her eyes were sad, almost guilty looking, I smiled weakly at her, "It's not your fault, Beautiful" I whispered, a small faint smile crept across her face, and she nodded halfheartedly, turning and walking back to Rafe with me right behind her, she was so smart, smarter than me and Rafe, even though she was only six and we would never admit it to anyone else but ourselves, but she knew exactly what was going on, she was wise beyond her years "Hey Danny" Rafe smiled upon sight of me, "Hey Rafe" I said, looking down at Leanna, "Are you ok?" Rafe asked me, I looked up and smiled feebly, "Yeah, I'll be fine" I sighed, "Let's play" Rafe smiled, my face lit up, and I knew it, Rafe could always make me feel better after something like that happened, and I was grateful for every second we could spend together, he was my best friend, my brother, and he would be until the day I died...
