Author's Note: Here's Chapter 11! I actually wanted to include this part
as chapter 10, but I just ran out of steam yesterday. This chapter is from
David's POV. Please read and review! Thanks.
hm
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David sat deathly still on his couch, deeply mesmerized by the new memories flickering in his mind. As he saw Gordo uproot himself from the living room and chase Lizzie out the door, he leaped off of his couch and yelled, "come on Gordo, you go out there and bring her back! That's it, man! That's it!"
He no longer could sit still and he began pacing around his living room at a furious clip.
"Oww!!"
David had bumped his shins violently against the coffee table.
"Dammit! Serves you right for walking around in complete darkness," he muttered as he gingerly rubbed his shins. He cautiously walked to the table lamp sitting next to the couch, flicked on the lights, and winced from the sudden burst of brightness flooding his living room. Okay, that's better . . . . and he continued to nervously maneuver himself around his house.
David stopped dead in his tracks and felt his jaws drop, however, when he saw Lizzie reach her car, climb inside, turn on the ignition, and drive her car onto the street. Oh, no . . . . come on Gordo, get up off the ground, run after her, man!
David walked back to his couch and set himself down on it once again. I'm not sure I can take this, he murmured to himself, I can't deal with this, not again . . .
As a few minutes passed by, he was still on the couch, and now he was watching Lizzie's car approach the stop light and about to turn right and into the night. Oh my god, we've failed, we screwed up. . . . David clutched at his hair with both of his hands and screamed in utter frustration.
As he sat there and watched his life flash before his eyes, he kept thinking about what could've been, what might have been, if Lizzie hadn't died on that night. And he began remembering the day he attended Lizzie's service and funeral, the day he considered to be the second worst day of his life.
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He remembered walking around that day as if he were half-dead, alive by medical standards, but spiritually dead and hollow inside. He remembered how sunny and bright that day was, a day that was in sharp contrast to the dark and somber emotions he was feeling inside.
He remembered finally breaking down on that day and crying for his best friend. For two days after hearing about Lizzie's death, it felt as if his emotions had been frozen shut, and he felt completely detached from himself and the world. For two days, he couldn't believe Lizzie was truly gone, and that he had played a role in her death. He refused to believe it.
But, on the day of Lizzie's funeral, he slowly began to realize the bitter truth. It began at the service, when during the eulogy, one by one friends and family came up and spoke about their relationship with Lizzie, about how much they loved her, about how much they would miss her now that she was gone. And with each person who spoke, it began to dawn on David, incrementally, that she truly was gone.
He remembered vividly when it came to his turn to say something about Lizzie. Miranda had just spoken, or, more accurately, she had tried to speak, but after she had said, "I-I love you Lizzie, I am sooo going to miss you, I mean, who else is gonna tell me when I'm having a bad hair day or-or-or that I'm the best-est friend any girl could ever-ever-ha--. . ."
Miranda's voice trailed off and she couldn't finish her sentence as her voice was swallowed up by her sobbing, and she had to be helped back to her seat by her mother.
David was next, and he slowly got up from his seat and solemnly walked up to the podium, glanced out at all of the people there to grieve Lizzie's death and to celebrate her life, took out a piece of paper with his prepared speech, and started to speak in a controlled, composed, formal voice. "Lizzie McGuire will be sorely missed by all of us. She was a great friend, a great sister, a great daughter, a great person. She . . . ." He abruptly stopped speaking, as out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miranda continue to heave and sob in her mother's arms.
"She . . .she . . ." He looked down at his speech, and he knew he just couldn't continue or else he would lose control of himself just like Miranda.
He closed his eyes, fought the tears that were trying to seep out through his eyes, then said the one thing that he truly wanted to say. "Lizzie, I've still got your back. Okay? Always. Forever."
And I'll always love you, he whispered to himself. He then pulled himself off the podium and slumped back into his seat.
The next thing David remembered was standing at Lizzie's grave site, watching her casket being lowered. At that moment, he couldn't hold himself back any longer and he began to weep like he had never done before. It was the most awful feeling in the world, as he felt like he would never be able to stop crying and that the deep dark hole in his heart would never go away. Lizzie's father saw him crying, walked up to him, put his arm around Gordo's shoulder, and gently whispered, "It's okay, Gordo, let it out, let it all out. It's okay, it's okay." And he continued to cry, as he finally allowed his heart to understand and accept that Lizzie was truly gone from his life.
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As David reminisced about the day of Lizzie's funeral, he watched as Lizzie's car turn right and drive off into the night. But, then, his eyes suddenly opened up with hope. Lights, he saw car lights. Is that Lizzie's car? Is it? Is Lizzie coming back? He watched his younger self watching with great anticipation to see who was in the car coming towards him.
"Oh my god, it's Lizzie!! She's coming back, thank god she's coming back!" David hopped around with sheer unadulterated joy and excitement. He stood up and watched in his mind as Lizzie sat in her car and Gordo kept urging her to come out. "Come on, Lizzie, just turn off the engine and come out of the car, please, please," pleaded David.
After a few moments had passed, he yelled out, "YES!! Yes!! Oh my god, yes!! She's not going to drive away, she's not!! She's staying with me!! We did it, dammit, we did it! Lizzie's going to live!" He started jumping up and down as a huge surge of ecstatic energy surged through his entire body as he watched Gordo and Lizzie walk together back into the house.
As soon as Lizzie entered the house, David *knew* that they had just changed history. And at exactly that moment, a brilliant flash of light covered his entire house and now new memories were filling his head at the speed of light. Oh, my, god, it's like I'm seeing my entire life flash before my eyes. . . .
He began to see several *years* of new memories seep into his consciousness, one memory at a time. This is unbelievable, thought David, this is absolutely unbelievable.
He saw new memories of him and Lizzie through their junior and senior years of high school. He saw new memories of their senior prom; he went with Miranda and Lizzie went with Jimmy; he saw Lizzie hugging him when he received his acceptance letter to Harvard; he saw himself saying goodbye to Lizzie and Jimmy at the airport as they were about fly off to the University of Washington, where Jimmy was going to play quarterback for the college football team.
Years of new memories were filling his mind within a matter of seconds. It was as if time was standing still at this moment and allowing David to catch up with himself and his "new" past.
As he initially began seeing his new memories, he had a huge grin on his face, as he loved every new moment with Lizzie. But, as his memories continued to fill up, his smile kept getting smaller and smaller as his memories of Lizzie became increasingly more bittersweet with each passing year.
When he began seeing memories of him and Lizzie when they were 23 years old, David watched, and then his smile completely disappeared and was replaced with a weary, forlorn grimace.
Oh my god, no, no, no, it can't be, this can't be . . . .
He buried his face in his hands and slowly began accepting his new truth.
Lizzie and Jimmy continued to date after high school, and they eventually married after they had graduated from college. Jimmy was a star quarterback for his college team, and was drafted by a professional team. However, on the first day of practice, Jimmy blew out his knee, abruptly ending what portended to be a very promising career.
That injury devastated Jimmy. With his football career over, he found himself unemployed and feeling like he no longer had a life or a future. He quickly fell into a severe depression, and instead of seeking treatment, he began to numb his feelings by taking drugs and drinking alcohol. His marriage turned for the worse as well, as he began spending all of his time drinking with his buddies and cheating on Lizzie with other women.
One night, after spending a night in jail after being charged with driving while intoxicated, he binged on drugs and alcohol at a friend's house. He came home to find Lizzie packing her clothes. She told him that she wanted a divorce and that she was leaving him and staying with Miranda. In a drug and alcohol induced suicidal frenzy, a hysterical Jimmy went into his room, grabbed his handgun, and shot and killed Lizzie before turning the gun on himself.
Seven years after he had saved her from one premature funeral, he found himself at Lizzie's funeral once again, grieving the all too brief life of his friend, Lizzie McGuire, who passed away, again, on July 31st, 2010, at the age of 23.
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additional author's note: I realized after reading the reviews of this chapter that it may seem like this story is over. I just want to let you know that, no, this isn't it, there are several more chapters to come.
Thanks for the reviews, and if you have any questions about the story and where it's going, feel free to email me.
hm
hm
______________________________________________________________________
David sat deathly still on his couch, deeply mesmerized by the new memories flickering in his mind. As he saw Gordo uproot himself from the living room and chase Lizzie out the door, he leaped off of his couch and yelled, "come on Gordo, you go out there and bring her back! That's it, man! That's it!"
He no longer could sit still and he began pacing around his living room at a furious clip.
"Oww!!"
David had bumped his shins violently against the coffee table.
"Dammit! Serves you right for walking around in complete darkness," he muttered as he gingerly rubbed his shins. He cautiously walked to the table lamp sitting next to the couch, flicked on the lights, and winced from the sudden burst of brightness flooding his living room. Okay, that's better . . . . and he continued to nervously maneuver himself around his house.
David stopped dead in his tracks and felt his jaws drop, however, when he saw Lizzie reach her car, climb inside, turn on the ignition, and drive her car onto the street. Oh, no . . . . come on Gordo, get up off the ground, run after her, man!
David walked back to his couch and set himself down on it once again. I'm not sure I can take this, he murmured to himself, I can't deal with this, not again . . .
As a few minutes passed by, he was still on the couch, and now he was watching Lizzie's car approach the stop light and about to turn right and into the night. Oh my god, we've failed, we screwed up. . . . David clutched at his hair with both of his hands and screamed in utter frustration.
As he sat there and watched his life flash before his eyes, he kept thinking about what could've been, what might have been, if Lizzie hadn't died on that night. And he began remembering the day he attended Lizzie's service and funeral, the day he considered to be the second worst day of his life.
*********************************************************
He remembered walking around that day as if he were half-dead, alive by medical standards, but spiritually dead and hollow inside. He remembered how sunny and bright that day was, a day that was in sharp contrast to the dark and somber emotions he was feeling inside.
He remembered finally breaking down on that day and crying for his best friend. For two days after hearing about Lizzie's death, it felt as if his emotions had been frozen shut, and he felt completely detached from himself and the world. For two days, he couldn't believe Lizzie was truly gone, and that he had played a role in her death. He refused to believe it.
But, on the day of Lizzie's funeral, he slowly began to realize the bitter truth. It began at the service, when during the eulogy, one by one friends and family came up and spoke about their relationship with Lizzie, about how much they loved her, about how much they would miss her now that she was gone. And with each person who spoke, it began to dawn on David, incrementally, that she truly was gone.
He remembered vividly when it came to his turn to say something about Lizzie. Miranda had just spoken, or, more accurately, she had tried to speak, but after she had said, "I-I love you Lizzie, I am sooo going to miss you, I mean, who else is gonna tell me when I'm having a bad hair day or-or-or that I'm the best-est friend any girl could ever-ever-ha--. . ."
Miranda's voice trailed off and she couldn't finish her sentence as her voice was swallowed up by her sobbing, and she had to be helped back to her seat by her mother.
David was next, and he slowly got up from his seat and solemnly walked up to the podium, glanced out at all of the people there to grieve Lizzie's death and to celebrate her life, took out a piece of paper with his prepared speech, and started to speak in a controlled, composed, formal voice. "Lizzie McGuire will be sorely missed by all of us. She was a great friend, a great sister, a great daughter, a great person. She . . . ." He abruptly stopped speaking, as out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miranda continue to heave and sob in her mother's arms.
"She . . .she . . ." He looked down at his speech, and he knew he just couldn't continue or else he would lose control of himself just like Miranda.
He closed his eyes, fought the tears that were trying to seep out through his eyes, then said the one thing that he truly wanted to say. "Lizzie, I've still got your back. Okay? Always. Forever."
And I'll always love you, he whispered to himself. He then pulled himself off the podium and slumped back into his seat.
The next thing David remembered was standing at Lizzie's grave site, watching her casket being lowered. At that moment, he couldn't hold himself back any longer and he began to weep like he had never done before. It was the most awful feeling in the world, as he felt like he would never be able to stop crying and that the deep dark hole in his heart would never go away. Lizzie's father saw him crying, walked up to him, put his arm around Gordo's shoulder, and gently whispered, "It's okay, Gordo, let it out, let it all out. It's okay, it's okay." And he continued to cry, as he finally allowed his heart to understand and accept that Lizzie was truly gone from his life.
************************************************************
As David reminisced about the day of Lizzie's funeral, he watched as Lizzie's car turn right and drive off into the night. But, then, his eyes suddenly opened up with hope. Lights, he saw car lights. Is that Lizzie's car? Is it? Is Lizzie coming back? He watched his younger self watching with great anticipation to see who was in the car coming towards him.
"Oh my god, it's Lizzie!! She's coming back, thank god she's coming back!" David hopped around with sheer unadulterated joy and excitement. He stood up and watched in his mind as Lizzie sat in her car and Gordo kept urging her to come out. "Come on, Lizzie, just turn off the engine and come out of the car, please, please," pleaded David.
After a few moments had passed, he yelled out, "YES!! Yes!! Oh my god, yes!! She's not going to drive away, she's not!! She's staying with me!! We did it, dammit, we did it! Lizzie's going to live!" He started jumping up and down as a huge surge of ecstatic energy surged through his entire body as he watched Gordo and Lizzie walk together back into the house.
As soon as Lizzie entered the house, David *knew* that they had just changed history. And at exactly that moment, a brilliant flash of light covered his entire house and now new memories were filling his head at the speed of light. Oh, my, god, it's like I'm seeing my entire life flash before my eyes. . . .
He began to see several *years* of new memories seep into his consciousness, one memory at a time. This is unbelievable, thought David, this is absolutely unbelievable.
He saw new memories of him and Lizzie through their junior and senior years of high school. He saw new memories of their senior prom; he went with Miranda and Lizzie went with Jimmy; he saw Lizzie hugging him when he received his acceptance letter to Harvard; he saw himself saying goodbye to Lizzie and Jimmy at the airport as they were about fly off to the University of Washington, where Jimmy was going to play quarterback for the college football team.
Years of new memories were filling his mind within a matter of seconds. It was as if time was standing still at this moment and allowing David to catch up with himself and his "new" past.
As he initially began seeing his new memories, he had a huge grin on his face, as he loved every new moment with Lizzie. But, as his memories continued to fill up, his smile kept getting smaller and smaller as his memories of Lizzie became increasingly more bittersweet with each passing year.
When he began seeing memories of him and Lizzie when they were 23 years old, David watched, and then his smile completely disappeared and was replaced with a weary, forlorn grimace.
Oh my god, no, no, no, it can't be, this can't be . . . .
He buried his face in his hands and slowly began accepting his new truth.
Lizzie and Jimmy continued to date after high school, and they eventually married after they had graduated from college. Jimmy was a star quarterback for his college team, and was drafted by a professional team. However, on the first day of practice, Jimmy blew out his knee, abruptly ending what portended to be a very promising career.
That injury devastated Jimmy. With his football career over, he found himself unemployed and feeling like he no longer had a life or a future. He quickly fell into a severe depression, and instead of seeking treatment, he began to numb his feelings by taking drugs and drinking alcohol. His marriage turned for the worse as well, as he began spending all of his time drinking with his buddies and cheating on Lizzie with other women.
One night, after spending a night in jail after being charged with driving while intoxicated, he binged on drugs and alcohol at a friend's house. He came home to find Lizzie packing her clothes. She told him that she wanted a divorce and that she was leaving him and staying with Miranda. In a drug and alcohol induced suicidal frenzy, a hysterical Jimmy went into his room, grabbed his handgun, and shot and killed Lizzie before turning the gun on himself.
Seven years after he had saved her from one premature funeral, he found himself at Lizzie's funeral once again, grieving the all too brief life of his friend, Lizzie McGuire, who passed away, again, on July 31st, 2010, at the age of 23.
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additional author's note: I realized after reading the reviews of this chapter that it may seem like this story is over. I just want to let you know that, no, this isn't it, there are several more chapters to come.
Thanks for the reviews, and if you have any questions about the story and where it's going, feel free to email me.
hm