Disclaimer: Fools! I own Robin Hood! You must all BOW DOWN TO ME!!!!!
gets attacked by the nice men it the white coats
Alright. I admit it... I sniff lied to you. I'm sowwy.
I enter my room, and Robin is sitting on his bed, looking bored. It has been two days since he almost drowned, and I have been worrying quite a bit.
Impulsively I run and hug him. He smells like the cleaning solution people in hospitals spray everywhere. He feels limp in my arms.
"Missed you, Mara." He says quietly into my shoulder.
"I missed you too." I say, pulling away so I can look at him properly. He looks worn out. His hair is disheveled and his eyes are dull.
"I hate hospitals." He confides, looking even more tired.
"Me too." I agree lamely. He looks into my eyes, as if he were reading me like one of his books. His eyes look strange, alive with a trust and exhausted passion. I can't bring myself to look away.
"Mara?" he asks in a weird way, "Can you keep a secret?"
"Uh... I think so..."
"Are you sure?"
I nod, confused.
Suddenly Joan and will burst into our room and Robin stops short.
"Robin!" they shout and hug him.
"How are you?"
"Was the hospital bad this time?"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He says and sits down on the bed. "Just tired, that's all." He sighs. "I need to sleep tonight." He states deliberately, looking at Joan and Will.
"Yeah, that's fine," says Will, putting a skinny arm around Robin.
"I have the Nightmare Before Christmas." Joan says, producing a DVD case from her pants pocket. "We saved it 'till you got back. You wanna watch?"
"Sure!" Robin exclaims in what seems to be an attempt to be excited about something.
"I love this movie." Will says. "I used to watch this all the time when I was a little kid."
"I do too." I put in, "I used to watch it when I was sick. My mom would put it on and I would drink cranberry juice."
Joan slips the stop-action musical into the slot. We all sit on Robin's bed to watch it.
"Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems..."
I tentatively look at Robin. He has reclined on his bed, his back against the wall, his long thin legs stretched in between Will and Joan. I move over beside him.
"In a place perhaps, you have seen in your dreams..."
As we watch, a pumpkin door opens to a Halloween land and strange creatures sing about Halloween. They sing about what Halloween is, and introduce themselves as "the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red." The king of the strange land is a skeleton who is bored with Halloween.
"Yet somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow..." he sings, walking in a misty graveyard.
Robin reaches out with his fingers and finds my hand.
I feel a kind of thrill go through my entire body.
"There's something out there far from my home, a longing that I've never known."
"Robin." I whisper into his ear.
"I... I'm sorry." He says, letting go of my hand, a red flush creeping across his handsome face. "I didn't mean to... I just..."
"No." I tell him, and pick his hand up again. "Don't be sorry."
He looks at me in wonder, and I realize why I've been missing Robin so much. As Joan and Will watch the skeleton sing about how dull his life is, Robin takes my hand and presses it to his lips.
The shudder returns. Wow. I think...
I think I REALLY like him.
I hold his hand for the rest of the movie. It finishes spectacularly, with the pumpkin king pledging his love to the girl who has loved him all the time.
"My dearest friend, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side Where we can gaze into the stars And sit together, Now and forever, For it is plain As anyone can see, We're truly meant to be."
I look down at Robin. He's fallen asleep.
His sandy hair falls over his closed eyes. His breathing is steady and soft. His face is pale, as if he hasn't seen the sun much in his life.
I release my grip of his hand and he moans in his sleep.
"G'night Mara, g'night Robin." Will says on his way out the door.
The door shuts.
I am alone with the sleeping form of the guy I've just figured out I like. Really, really like....
Maybe not just like... maybe love.
He moans again and rolls over onto his side. I stoke his hair away from his face, looking him over. I get up so I can get ready for bed.
I remove my shirt and pull on my pajamas. I get into the bed I have slept in for almost a week now.
"Dave tomorrow." I think as I drift off to sleep.
...
Steve and Mara's mother divorced, and Mara was glad to see him go. He made her mother cry, and he was an idiot.
Mara sat in her sixth grade Latin class and ignored her teacher. He rambled on and on about Romulus and Remus, Tarquinus Superbus and the uses of the ablative case. Mara listened, the words going through one ear and out the other.
Mara doodled on her notebook. She drew the She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus, her tail covering the baby twins' naked little bodies with a warm fur blanket.
"Marian?"
Mara didn't look up.
"Marian?"
She added teeth to her wolf.
"Marian!"
"Mmm?" she looked up.
"Glad to have you with us, Marian." the teacher laughed. "Now, would you translate, 'Hodie est dies veneris, et Marian semisomna est'"
"Today is Friday and Marian is half asleep." She said in a monotone.
"Very good." The teacher turned back to the blackboard.
Mara struggled through another fifteen minutes then lost interest again. She spent the remainder of the class looking at the clock, willing it to hurry up so she could get out and go home.
The bell rang. She hurried to collect her belongings. She dashed out the door of the schools and onto the bus.
"More! More!" came the cries from the next room when Mara returned home. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought of what her mother had degraded herself to in order to get money for rent.
She pulled out her science textbook and began her homework.
"Volcanoes are where the mantle meets the earth's crust and they leak. Magma is the molten rock inside the volcano. Lava is what you call it when the volcano erupts. When lava cools, it forms an igneous rock."
She finished the worksheet with ease, trying desperately to ignore the disgusting sounds next door.
"Mara, would you come in here?"
"I'm busy."
"Mara!" shouted her mother.
But Mara had already walked out the door.
gets attacked by the nice men it the white coats
Alright. I admit it... I sniff lied to you. I'm sowwy.
I enter my room, and Robin is sitting on his bed, looking bored. It has been two days since he almost drowned, and I have been worrying quite a bit.
Impulsively I run and hug him. He smells like the cleaning solution people in hospitals spray everywhere. He feels limp in my arms.
"Missed you, Mara." He says quietly into my shoulder.
"I missed you too." I say, pulling away so I can look at him properly. He looks worn out. His hair is disheveled and his eyes are dull.
"I hate hospitals." He confides, looking even more tired.
"Me too." I agree lamely. He looks into my eyes, as if he were reading me like one of his books. His eyes look strange, alive with a trust and exhausted passion. I can't bring myself to look away.
"Mara?" he asks in a weird way, "Can you keep a secret?"
"Uh... I think so..."
"Are you sure?"
I nod, confused.
Suddenly Joan and will burst into our room and Robin stops short.
"Robin!" they shout and hug him.
"How are you?"
"Was the hospital bad this time?"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He says and sits down on the bed. "Just tired, that's all." He sighs. "I need to sleep tonight." He states deliberately, looking at Joan and Will.
"Yeah, that's fine," says Will, putting a skinny arm around Robin.
"I have the Nightmare Before Christmas." Joan says, producing a DVD case from her pants pocket. "We saved it 'till you got back. You wanna watch?"
"Sure!" Robin exclaims in what seems to be an attempt to be excited about something.
"I love this movie." Will says. "I used to watch this all the time when I was a little kid."
"I do too." I put in, "I used to watch it when I was sick. My mom would put it on and I would drink cranberry juice."
Joan slips the stop-action musical into the slot. We all sit on Robin's bed to watch it.
"Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems..."
I tentatively look at Robin. He has reclined on his bed, his back against the wall, his long thin legs stretched in between Will and Joan. I move over beside him.
"In a place perhaps, you have seen in your dreams..."
As we watch, a pumpkin door opens to a Halloween land and strange creatures sing about Halloween. They sing about what Halloween is, and introduce themselves as "the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red." The king of the strange land is a skeleton who is bored with Halloween.
"Yet somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow..." he sings, walking in a misty graveyard.
Robin reaches out with his fingers and finds my hand.
I feel a kind of thrill go through my entire body.
"There's something out there far from my home, a longing that I've never known."
"Robin." I whisper into his ear.
"I... I'm sorry." He says, letting go of my hand, a red flush creeping across his handsome face. "I didn't mean to... I just..."
"No." I tell him, and pick his hand up again. "Don't be sorry."
He looks at me in wonder, and I realize why I've been missing Robin so much. As Joan and Will watch the skeleton sing about how dull his life is, Robin takes my hand and presses it to his lips.
The shudder returns. Wow. I think...
I think I REALLY like him.
I hold his hand for the rest of the movie. It finishes spectacularly, with the pumpkin king pledging his love to the girl who has loved him all the time.
"My dearest friend, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side Where we can gaze into the stars And sit together, Now and forever, For it is plain As anyone can see, We're truly meant to be."
I look down at Robin. He's fallen asleep.
His sandy hair falls over his closed eyes. His breathing is steady and soft. His face is pale, as if he hasn't seen the sun much in his life.
I release my grip of his hand and he moans in his sleep.
"G'night Mara, g'night Robin." Will says on his way out the door.
The door shuts.
I am alone with the sleeping form of the guy I've just figured out I like. Really, really like....
Maybe not just like... maybe love.
He moans again and rolls over onto his side. I stoke his hair away from his face, looking him over. I get up so I can get ready for bed.
I remove my shirt and pull on my pajamas. I get into the bed I have slept in for almost a week now.
"Dave tomorrow." I think as I drift off to sleep.
...
Steve and Mara's mother divorced, and Mara was glad to see him go. He made her mother cry, and he was an idiot.
Mara sat in her sixth grade Latin class and ignored her teacher. He rambled on and on about Romulus and Remus, Tarquinus Superbus and the uses of the ablative case. Mara listened, the words going through one ear and out the other.
Mara doodled on her notebook. She drew the She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus, her tail covering the baby twins' naked little bodies with a warm fur blanket.
"Marian?"
Mara didn't look up.
"Marian?"
She added teeth to her wolf.
"Marian!"
"Mmm?" she looked up.
"Glad to have you with us, Marian." the teacher laughed. "Now, would you translate, 'Hodie est dies veneris, et Marian semisomna est'"
"Today is Friday and Marian is half asleep." She said in a monotone.
"Very good." The teacher turned back to the blackboard.
Mara struggled through another fifteen minutes then lost interest again. She spent the remainder of the class looking at the clock, willing it to hurry up so she could get out and go home.
The bell rang. She hurried to collect her belongings. She dashed out the door of the schools and onto the bus.
"More! More!" came the cries from the next room when Mara returned home. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought of what her mother had degraded herself to in order to get money for rent.
She pulled out her science textbook and began her homework.
"Volcanoes are where the mantle meets the earth's crust and they leak. Magma is the molten rock inside the volcano. Lava is what you call it when the volcano erupts. When lava cools, it forms an igneous rock."
She finished the worksheet with ease, trying desperately to ignore the disgusting sounds next door.
"Mara, would you come in here?"
"I'm busy."
"Mara!" shouted her mother.
But Mara had already walked out the door.