Every day, I go up to the old bell tower and talk to the gargoyle.
Sometimes, when I'm really down, he's the only one who understands me. He's the only one who will listen, who will sit patiently and never interrupt me. He's always there for me when I need him and he's the best friend a girl can have, if only because he puts up with my constant chatter.
Okay, I haven't exactly been truthful, because the gargoyle has no choice but to listen to me. He can't even move anywhere. For all I know, he could be twitching in silent agony when he listens to me. You see, he's a stone statue at the top of this old bell tower. The bell tower has been there for ages, and the gargoyle with it. Silly, huh? My best friend is a stone statue.
But that's not true. He's not just a stone carving, he's my friend. I mean, he knows of every thought that has ever, or almost ever, passed through my head. I like to think that he's a little real because he just has so many memories. Memories of how I've felt, what I've dreamed, my desires, my hates… everything.
Like I said, he's my best friend.
Every day, after school I go to the bell tower, climb all three hundred and forty-two steps instead of using the elevator because it's good exercise, and cross over to where the gargoyle sits. He's the only gargoyle I've ever seen in the bell tower, and he's located right next to the huge old bell that use to tell time, but nobody uses anymore. It's because of this bell that the building is called the bell tower.
The gargoyle is made of gray stone, hunched over as if in pain, with his wings arched back like he's trying to fly away from his eternal prison. What use to really freak people out when they came up here, when it was still open to the general public and you didn't have to know the old lady like I do to get in, was the gargoyles face.
He has a mostly human face, with long hair tied back in a ponytail and an odd cross-shaped scar on his cheek. So what gets people freaked out is the human face twisted in anguish and pain. His gray, unseeing eyes are wide with panic and fear, and his mouth is open in a silent scream.
So anyways, I sit down, or lay in front of him and just talk. I talk about my day, what I want to happen tomorrow, just anything that passes through my head. I can sit there for hours, and I usually do, just talking to him. At first, his face use to frighten me, but I don't mind it so much anymore. I'm use to it. If it wasn't so twisted and frightened, I think he'd be handsome.
I wonder what he would say to me if he could talk back. Lately, I've been wondering if he even wants to listen to what I've been saying. I'm starting to think of him more and more as a real person, not just some statue, and I wonder if I'm going crazy?
I tell him so, and like usual nothing happens. He is just a stone statue. But I like to think that just for a moment the room lightens up for just a moment and that his face doesn't look so frightened. In much better spirits, I leave.
The next day, I'm back, but this time I'm crying. At school, the other kids and me don't exactly have the best relationship. I have some close friends, but we're drifting apart. The other kids call me Crazy Kaoru and I usually just punch them. I guess they're not the brightest crayons in the box, because they keep calling me that and I keep punching them.
Now, where ever I go I'm crazy Kaoru. That's why I don't have a job, and that's also why I'm talking more and more to the gargoyle. What few friends I have, are leaving. The phone no longer rings, and we no longer talk as much. They must think I'm crazy, too.
I'm not crazy, really I'm not. I just have different views. When my father was still alive, she use to tell me that people were scared of what they don't understand, and they defiantly don't understand me. I don't care what they think, but I do get sick of being so alone. Everyone's so concerned with their reputation that they're forgetting how to live. That's why I talk to the gargoyle.
He doesn't have a reputation, nor does he care for one. He can't, really, up in that old bell tower all alone except for me and my ramblings.
Back on track: I'm crying. Everything's just kind of spilling over right now and I'm so sick of being treated like dirt. My grades are failing because I spend all my time trying to get a job so I can eat, and that doesn't leave enough time for studying and homework. The kids and teachers alike hate me, and the principal pulled me over earlier saying that if I got into one more fight I would be expelled. I know she'd love to expel me right now, but there are to many rules.
I wait until I'm safely in the bell tower before I'm crying, and then I can't stop sobbing. They're huge gulping sobs that shake my entire being, and I can hardly see where I'm going because of all my tears. All I know is that I'm running up stairs.
Before I know what I'm doing, I've thrown my arms around the gargoyle and I'm talking through my sobs to him.
It's a little odd, because I have never, NEVER touched the gargoyle. Just some feeling, I guess, but now I ignore that and press myself against the hard stone. He's cold, freezing actually, but I just bury my head in his neck and let my tears drip over his still form.
My talk is more babble, and I doubt he could even make it our, but I slowly start to calm down. For hours, I just lay there, holding him and letting the gargoyle give me comfort. When I'm finally clamed down, and no longer shaking or crying, I finally pull away from him.
"Thanks." I whisper, trying to wipe away the tears on my cheek with my sleeve of my overly large sweater. "You're really amazing, you know that? You listen to some seventeen year old and let me tell you, that takes talent."
I sit back, studying him. You're my best friend, but I've told you that a million times. Want to know what I haven't told you? That I love you."
Yes my friend, I just did admit my love for a stone statue.
Smiling, I lean down and do something that has never, ever crossed my mind: I kiss him.
I kiss him right on that opened mouth, screaming forever. A hard, firm kiss that has me even probing with a bit of tongue. I don't think I was thinking rationally, but at the time I was probably a little crazy, just like my name.
What happens after, or during the kiss (I'm still not sure which one it is) takes me totally by surprise.
Suddenly, I can't see a think because it's so bright. There's this beautiful, white, blinding light. It's pressing my in from all sides, pushing against me till I feel spread out like butter on to much bread. I can't find it in myself to care how I feel because the light is so beautiful.
Then, someone's kissing me in that beautiful light, and let me tell you, they know what they're doing. The kiss isn't wt, or gross, or anything like that. It's gentle, and soft, and filled with passion. Arms are supporting me, strong arms, and I need it because my legs feel like jelly from a kiss like that.
So, here I am, trying not to go blind while also trying to kiss this person back, just because it seems so… right.
When the light finally fades away—Thank God—so does the kiss. Looking up, because I'm really curious about who's that good at kissing, and also because I'm wondering who got up here to kiss my in the first place, not to mention that freaky light, all the breath leaves me.
There's a man standing there, the most handsome, gorgeous man I have ever laid eyes on. Like a man who is so beautiful that he puts models to shame and it almost hurts to look at him kind of beautiful. A man that looks about twenty, with silky red hair falling to his shoulder blades, enchanting violet eyes that have the oddest flecks of amber, and wings.
Big, huge, white feathers I've-just-come-out-of-some-angel-movie wings. Surprisingly, it's not the wings that take my breath away or have my legs shaking so badly that I'm thinking that I'm going to fall down any second. What has me going through an emotional roller coaster is his face.
His face, which is shaped exactly like the gargoyles, down to the cross shaped scar, except that the man in front of me is smiling.
So, just like any average modern-day Tokyo girl, I do the only thing I can. I faint.
When I wake up, that impossible beautiful face is staring down at me with concern, kindness, and… love? I blink for a moment, before it all comes rushing back to me.
The kiss, the light, the other kiss, the face…
It's just all to unreal.
Sitting up, I look at the man warily. If this is a joke, it's not very funny." Taking a deep breath, I ask, "Who are you? What do you want? And," I glance around "Where the hell did the gargoyle go?"
The man just stares at me as if I'm insane, and I'm starting to think that I am.
Slowly, he starts to speak "Kaoru, don't you recognize me?"
I scowl at him. "I recognize your face, but not you! And for the record, I don't think it funny at all how you stole the gargoyles face. What did you do? Use plastic surgery?" I ask sarcastically.
He flinches, and a wave of shame sweeps through me. I can't stand to see the gargoyles face filled with such sadness, even if I don't care about him, the guy in front of me. How n the world did he get those wings on his back, anyways? They look real, and their rustling and twitching.
Sitting back, I study him, then go bright red and put a hand over my eyes. He's completely naked.
Which means, I was kissing a naked guy.
A very handsome, naked guy, but that's beside the point.
He sighs loudly. "Kaoru, I am the gargoyle. You freed me." I hear something shift, and then his wings have pulled me closer to him so I'm practically on top of him. I let out a loud squeak, and try to pull away, but those freakish wings are inhumanly strong. So, now I'm sitting on his lap, with his wings around me, and he's naked.
He continues, not seeing how red I am or ignoring it. "A very long time ago a sorcerer trapped me as a gargoyle. He was… jealous. His sister had feelings for me, and he had the notion in his head that his sister should only love him. So he trapped me in stone using tricks and lies. Otherwise, I would have never fallen for his trick." Dark humor laced his voice. "I was trapped in that curse until someone would come along and love me. But whoever would love a hideous gargoyle?"
I stare at him. Then, I burst out laughing. "You have got to be kidding me!" Maybe I'm going into shock of something? But from what? I don't know, but none of this can be real. Sorcerers are not real, curses aren't real, and gargoyles that turn into angels when you kiss them are defiantly not real.
He frowns at me, but continues anyway. "The one thing about this curse though, was that they person who loved me had to kiss me. The sorcerer was positive that no one would want to love OR kiss a gargoyle. But you did both."
I just stare up at him, considering that there isn't much I can do with him having me trapped on his lap. He does have this goofy look on his face now, and he's looking down at me with this tender look like he can't believe I'm real. That's okay, because I can't believe he's real either.
Except that the wings around me are actually pretty soft and rather warm and they're twitching as if with their own life. And this man does have an uncannily similar look to the gargoyles, and I just can't stop staring at him.
"Kaoru," He tucks a piece of hair behind me ear, "Kaoru, how can I get you to believe me?"
I gulp. "You can't."
He looks a little impatient now, but he takes a deep breath and that all fades. When he speaks again, it's not a denial or anything like that to my statement, but a monologue. A monologue that I talked right here a week ago. What's more is that he's quoting me word for word.
About halfway through, and now I'm really gaping, he stops and pears down at me.
"Now do you believe what I say is true?"
"That's not possible." I whisper, but I really do think in a corner of my mind I'm starting to believe him.
"Angels and witches and sorcerers are not possible either, but I can assure you Kaoru that they are very, very real." When he says me name, he kind of rolls the Kao around. IT has me shivering.
I shake my head again.
Instead of exploding with anger like I thought he would, he merely leans down and whispers, "Come away with me. Then I'll prove that it's real. He gives me a gentle kiss that has me blinking in surprise, then stands up and pulls me to my feet with him.
"You have nothing left here, Kaoru. I know, I remember the day you came in sobbing with the news that your father was dead. I also know he was the only one you had left, except for me. So come away with me, because" His mouth is very close to my ear, and I'm shaking all over though now I don't really know why. "I'll take you straight to heaven to be my bride. We'll live in paradise for eternity, just you and me."
And what's more is that I believe him. I believe that he'll keep his promise, that I'll marry him and we'll live happily together for eternity. What's a little scary is that he's right, too. I do have nothing left here. No living relatives, no friends, no job, and school's going to hell.
"I'll protect you, always." Then he's looking down at me with so much love that I just know this can't be real. No one can love me that much. No one can love me that much to look down at me as if I was a goddess sent. No one has ever loved me that much, or tried to.
"Every time you came up here, I felt joy when you were happy. But every time you came up here sorrowing, it broke my heart. Kaoru, whenever you were near I could forget about my inner torment. Please, Kaoru. I love you with every fiber of my being.
Well, if that little speech didn't manage to convince me.
He was right; all that I did have left was him. All I had left to keep me going was the gargoyle. Even if he was like this, alive, he was still my gargoyle.
Really, what did I have to lose?
I did love the gargoyle, the stone statue that always sat up here. And if he was the gargoyle, well then I loved him too, didn't I?
He made me feel loved, made me feel wanted. I would be a fool to pass something like that. I had never felt wanted in my entire life, never felt like I was as beautiful as I was just then standing in his presence.
Looking up, I proclaimed as boldly as my shaking hands would allow, "I love you, too."
The look oh joy that passed over his face was worth it. He leaned down, kissing me again and again while I just laughed and kissed him back.
Together, we made our way over to the edge of the bell tower, where the gargoyle, or not gargoyle, lifted me up into the beautiful blue sky with his beautiful white wings.
And I was happy for once in my life.
With him.
A/N: Yup. So, how was it? Originally, this was an original piece I was thinking of entering for a competition. However, with school I never got around to editing it, and seeing as I have extreme confidence issues, I didn't think it would be good enough. I still don't actually. So, it's been sitting here for a while.
Right now I'm too shaken up after reading HBP (I started crying at the end), so I'm not very much in an editing mode. And seeing as I'm leaving tomorrow, well, I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. Maybe I'll come back later and change everything up.