AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well after a long recess from the story I've decided to continue on. It's late at night and I've been watching on episode of MASH entitled 'Who Knew' where Hawkeye finds a diary of a nurse killed by a land mine. It gave me the urge to write again so I'm just letting these words flow from my brain to my fingertips. This chapter is for you, Alan Alda.

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Chapter 6: No Man is an Island

Leo sat there on the bed, his lower half numbing from sitting down for so long, his joints aching, on the verge of screaming at him to stand up and move around. Eventually, he gave into the requests and pushed himself to his feet felling that an old man as he did so. He walked around the length of the room several times and a number of bones popped in his neck and back.

Still holding the book in his hands, Leo rubbed his fingertips over the cover. It might have been leather, black leather if there was such a thing, or something else. Whatever material it had been crafted from, it was built to last the ages and it seemed to have done just that. The book could almost pass for new if it weren't for some of the pages inside. Some of them where folded badly and others stained with what could have been water, tears, rain, or just about anything, still others were ripped out from the book entirely, written memories that were too painful to ever been seen again perhaps.

A knock at the door pulled Leo from the hypnotic thoughts racing through his mind like some kind of strange parade. Leo stood, shocked at first before moving to the bed and stuffing the book under the pillow. It didn't occur to him at first why he did such a thing, but the answer was simple enough; the book was his, his and no one else's. If someone else saw, they may want him to share and that was something Leo would not do. Even if they had no interest in what was written inside of the book, they still might inquiry into what the novel was in the first place and Leo didn't want to speak of that either. This may sound selfish, but it was his. The diary was his dirty secret like the explicit magazines a teenaged boy may hid under his mattress. While the contents where nowhere near the same, it principal held true: there would have to be explaining and Leo was in no mood for that, no mood at all.

Stepping over to the door, he hesitated only a moment to pull himself together and whip the tears that had gathered in his eyes over the period of the sitting. After a deep breath, he pulled the door open.

Memory is a funny thing; sometimes it can play tricks on the host about times past. You may think you see your ex-girlfriend on a passing bus, or your old boss in a quick shot on a movie you watched. It likes to make you re-live sudden memories that you spent so long burying and no matter how long or deep you dig in the graveyard of memories in your mind, they just won't stay down. Other times, however, the exact opposite can happen and you may forget about the person completely, someone who has had so much impact on you can we whipped away, never to be remembered again, what happened to Leo has he saw the figure behind the door was a strange mix of the two that hit him so hard he staggered on his feet.

"Arisa?" He finally managed to say after a silence that felt like it would never break.

"Long time no see." She remarked with a smile that held no real happiness.

Arisa was the daughter of Popuri and Kai. The story of that relationship could fill a hundred diaries, but the short version goes as such:

Kai would arrive at the village every summer and only for summer to run his beach stand and mingle with the towns people before leaving ever first of fall. Now Kai was a nice guy and was respected by everyone, except for Popuri's older brother Rick. Rick hated Kai with a passion and it would become obvious why to anyone who was willing to pay attention. Kai and Popuri had built a bond between each other that never broke, even when he left of the city. The summers they spent together were the best of their lives. They were living up every moment of their love bliss. Rick saw this, but couldn't (or wouldn't) see the love, only the fact that his little sister was being pulled away from him when he was supposed to be the watchful eye. Ever since their father had left, Rick was to be the protector, but Kai was taking over that position and there was little Rick could do about it. The fall after Jack had arrived at Mineral Village, Popuri left with Kai. She said a personal good-bye to her mother and left a note for Rick. By the time he found and read it, the boy only had time to watch the outline of their ship fade into the sea line. They returned every summer like clockwork and Rick slowly lost his rage over the incident.

It was the summer after Leo was born that the two returned to the village with a baby of their own; a daughter named Arisa. The girl came to love Mineral Village and proclaimed it her home when she was 18 and has not left since. Now here was that girl standing at his down. She was the perfect mix of her parents. Her hair was that cotton candy pink, but her eyes and personality matched that of her father, though she was smile all of the time like Popuri was know to do. There was no smile on her face today. He was sad and grim in his door step.

"Might I come in?"

"Sure."

Leo moved out of her way and held the door open. Arisa nodded a thank you and took a seat promptly on the bed, close to the hidden diary. That made Leo a bit nervous, but he said nothing. As he took a seat next to her, Arisa spoke up.

"It was May that told me you had arrived. She said that when she spoke to you when you arrive, you seemed very distant and quite. I…..I wanted to come by and see if you were alright. Well, I guess you're not alright, but….well….I can't explain it. I just wanted to see you again."

"Thank you, Arisa. It was kind of you, but you could have just waited until the funeral."

"Yes, but those aren't the conditions that you want to strike up a conversation was an old friend, are they?"

"No I guess you right"

Leo had to smile at that. Despite her looks, Arisa was a very sharp girl. He always liked that about her.

"You've grown, Leo. You look different."

"You have too, Arisa."

"Perhaps, but not in the same way. You've matured a bit, I think. I can see it in your eyes; you've been through much more then this, haven't you?"

She was very sharp indeed.

"Yes…..you can say that."

"I thought so." To Leo's luck, she didn't press any further into the topic. "Seeing you brings back a lot of memories. I think of the games we would play together as kids on Mother's Hill, the festivals, and the other thing." She blushed as she said that and looked away.

'The other thing' was just another example of the selective memory that was stated earlier. Leo had completely forgotten about that, but had said nothing. Arisa would murder him if she ever knew that he forgot about that.

It was a warm evening years ago; Arisa and Leo where at that age where they weren't children, but nor where they adults or even teens. The stars were bright and crickets sang all around them as the lay at the open field on Mother's Hill. They had been making idle conversation about kid's stuff: the city, townspeople, the other children, who had a crush on who, junk like that. Leo stood up from the grass with Arisa and they where about to leave when she said the strangest thing to him.

"Leo, can you close your eyes?"

"What? Why?"

"Please. Can you?"

Leo did as he was asked thinking that the girl had lost every marble in her pink head when he felt her hands clasp his shoulders in that strong yet gentle fashion that only females can do, and he opened his eyes to see Arisa kiss him on the lips. The kiss only lasted a moment before she pushed away and ran off without a word leaving Leo to stand speechless and dumbstruck for the next ten minutes and his brain tried to figure out what had just happened.

They where adults now and they had long since matured since that day of childish passion, but maybe that moment meant more to the girl then he knew; just maybe. Arisa must have become aware of Leo's thoughts; maybe sorry she brought it up. She stood up.

"I should go now. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Yea. Later."

With a smile, she closed the door and left Leo alone again. The thoughts of yesteryear now mixed with the new ones. Leo reached under the pillow and fumbled for the book. He didn't want to stop yet. Before opening the book, he spoke a quote he read long ago:

"I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I can sleep."

He continued with the diary. Recess was over.

TO BE CONTINUED