Title: Sealed with a Kiss
Author: Stress
Summary: Layna Kotliar is a girl with a secret so big that she doesn't even know it herself. Will she be able to trust David with it or will she continue to rely on the only friend she's ever known, a simple leather-bound journal?
The translations: As you will see as the fiction begins (and continues), Layna is a French immigrant. Therefore, much of what she says is in French. When the dialogue called for it I tried to include a translation but not always. However, I will include translations at the bottom. Hopefully it will add to the experience of the story. And, I should probably add, I know maybe three words of French. I get all of my French from a translation site. I only wish I was bilingual.
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IV. DAVID
Then stole my heart away
We may be outta touch, but never out of time…
16 August 1899
Mon journal,
Amour. I wonder if I ever knew it before. I'm sure my parents loved me - Reste de Dieu leurs âmes – just as I am sure that the feelings I had for Sergeant Murphy were based on infatuation. But love? Vrai amour? I doubt I knew it – until now. Until I met David…
"Secrets? Are you almost ready to get up?" Holiday leaned over the edge of her bunk, pulling her blouse over her undershirt, and looked at the girl slumbering on the bunk below. If the past few days were any indication, the other girls knew that Secrets had to be one of the first girls up in order to be ready in time to sell – but they could never get her up in time. As it was, more than half the girls had already headed out to the distribution center, yet Secrets did nothing but let out a snore before turning over, her long black covering her face. The girl showed no signs of waking from her sleep.
"Hey, Hol, I don't think she's getting up anytime soon," called Rae, one bunk over from Holiday, as she braided her long blonde hair into a single plait.
Aki, in the bunk directly below Rae, climbed out from beneath her covers. She had slept in her clothes from the day before and only needed to put her shoes on to be ready to sell. Such a technique, she reasoned, let her sleep a little extra in the morning. "Don't worry, girls. I'll wake her up," she offered and leaned over so that she could reach Secrets. She shook her gently. "Secrets, you've gotta get up. Remember? You made us promise to wake you first."
Secrets stirred slowly, barely opening one of her blue eyes. "Hein? What's going on?" she mumbled, only half awake, as she watched Aki's attempt to wake her up. It might have struck her as humorous if the girl's touch wasn't accompanied by a sharp pain that shot through her head nor the blackness that enveloped her.
The seven-year-old Layna led Officer Murphy up the block where her apartment building was located. She didn't even have to announce it when they arrived; he could tell for himself.
"What is going on here?" Officer Murphy muttered as he looked at the crowd that was gathering in the streets. He drew out his police whistle and gave it a blow, though the shrill sound did nothing to disperse the crowd. He pocketed his whistle once more and elbowed his way into the middle of group. When he saw the two bodies, two bodies that lay in a large pool of their spilt blood, he started to bark orders. "That's it people, go back to your homes. There is nothing to see here," he announced, trying to block the grisly sight from their view.
The crowd begrudgingly broke up, each person mumbling about the police always having to ruin all of their fun. Officer Murphy ignored their remarks and turned to back to Layna. The little girl was shaking though she couldn't see her parents. He was still blocking them. "Now, child, I really don't want you to see this, but..." he stepped aside, revealing the bodies laying in the road, "are these two people your parents?"
Layna waited until Officer Murphy had stepped aside before taking a look at the two murder victims. "Papa!" she yelled as she weaved passed the police officer and threw herself on the man.
Officer Murphy cursed under his breath and rushed forward. "Layna, no!" He pulled the child from the dead man's hold and held tight. "He's gone, child."
Layna kicked and struggled in his arms. "Non, il est juste là. Let me see Papa," she cried as her tiny fists beat upon the police officer's much larger arms.
"I'm sorry, Layna. I'm sorry...sorry...sorry..."
"Sorry, I'm sorry..." Secrets murmured as she fought against the thin sheet that covered her in her bunk. Aki, who had kept her hand on Secrets arm throughout the spell in fear of endangering the girl, pulled it back once Secrets began to move about.
The five girls left in the lodging house that morning – the only five girls who witnessed Secrets' latest fit – stared at her, warily, as she opened her eyes and sat up in her bunk. "Mon Dieu, what just happened?" Secrets asked groggily, blissfully unaware of the apprehensive looks on their faces.
"Are you alright, Secrets?" Stress tentatively asked. She had been at the mirror, pulling her curls back, when Secrets entered her latest spell. When the entire bunkroom had gone quiet, Stress had walked over to see what was going on. It was Iris, with a panicked expression on her face, who indicated for Stress to keep quiet. No one spoke until Secrets came back to.
"Oui, I believe so." Secrets pulled herself up and rubbed her forehead. The five girls just continued to stare at her. Instead of acknowledging their concern, she glanced around and saw that all of the other girls had already left for the distribution center. "Fichu, just how late is it?"
Holiday opened her mouth to tell Secrets that she had blacked out for some time when she saw Iris shaking her head. She understood and smiled at Secrets. "Don't worry about it, Secrets. Just put some clothes on and we'll all go down to the DC together." The other girls nodded their agreement. For some reason they didn't want to discuss Secrets' spells either.
Once Secrets was dressed appropriately enough to sell newspapers for the day, the six girls ran down to the distribution center, aware of exactly how late they were. When they arrived there, they were glad to see that there were still papers to be bought. Aki, Rae and Iris bought their papers and took off to sell together, while Holiday went off in search of Bumlets. This, of course, left Stress and Secrets alone.
"So, Secrets, you want to sell with me?" Stress asked after she and Secrets bought a few papers apiece. For the last two days, Stress, Secrets, David and Jack had strolled around Manhattan selling their papers together. But, due to Secrets' state that morning, and the lateness that followed, Jack and David had obviously left the distribution center already. Before Secrets could respond to Stress' invitation, the two girls heard someone's voice call out to them.
"Stress, Secrets, over here."
Waiting just outside the gate were Jack and David. Jack nudged David in the ribs slyly and winked at Secrets before walking over to Stress and draping his arm over her shoulder. She smiled up at him and just handed her papers to him. Adopting a wounded expression, he removed his arm from her shoulder, took the papers and added them to his stack. Then, his expression switching to one of mischief, he placed his arm back around her.
Stress tried not to laugh and just poked him in his side. "Morning, Jack. I would have thought that the two of you left without us already."
"No," Jack answered, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement, "David wouldn't let me." Stress opened her mouth in an expression of faux shock before slapping Jack's arm playfully. Secrets and David just stood by the side, watching the humorous antics of the couple. "I'm just kidding, Stress. You know I'd never sell without you," he apologized and placed a quick peck on her cheek. Then, remembering that they had an audience, he turned to face David and Secrets. "Me and Stress are going to have some quality selling time together – alone. I guess that means the two of you are going to have sell together today." And, with a final wink in David's direction, Jack led her in the opposite direction.
"So..." David began, using the one hand not holding a stack of papers to run his hand through his curly brown hair. He looked incredibly nervous, as well as looking as if he wanted to run after Jack and smack him over the head for deserting him like that.
Secrets just grinned sheepishly, not knowing what to say at all. She had never expected Stress to abandon her like that, either.
"Why don't we just go and sell, eh?" David said simply. He grinned when he saw that she nodded. Maybe this won't be so bad, after all.
And sell they did. The two of them walked over to the mid-morning boxing fight and sold out of their papers in a little over an hour. After Secrets thanked the gentleman who paid for her last paper, David crossed his fingers behind his back. "Would you like to have lunch at Tibby's with me? My treat," he added when he noticed her slight hesitation.
What would you do if that happened to any of your new friends? The words from Kisses' journal entry from the night before flashed through Secrets' mind. "That would be nice," she responded with a shy smile, ignoring the unsaid threat hidden within the words. I'm not going to let anything happen to any of my new friends, she promised.
Once the two of them were inside the restaurant and their orders were placed, David began to shake nervously. Secrets noticed his agitated movements and looked at him questioningly.
When he saw that Secrets' eyes were focused on his bouncing knee and tapping fingers, he abruptly stopped. He covered his hand with the other and looked embarrassed. "Secrets, there – uh, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Yes, David?" she answered, her voice an octave higher than normal. His nerves were catching.
"Would you care to ..." David lifted his hand nonchalantly, covering his mouth as he spoke. The second half of his sentence was mumbled, his ears turning red.
"Care to what?" Secrets prompted, turning her head slightly so she could get a better look at him. Her heart rate sped up significantly and she felt her smile widening. David looks quite adorable when we is embarrassed.
He put his hand down on his lap so that any words he would manage to eventually get out wouldn't be all garbled. He lifted his head up so that he was looked straight at her, and took a deep breath. "Would you let me call on you sometime?" His voice was a lot shyer than it had been but, at least, she understood what he said.
She just wasn't so sure she understood what he meant. She sat in silence for a moment, not sure what to say as a response.
David obviously thought that her silence meant "no". He began to ramble his apologies. "I'm sorry, Secrets. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, we just met a few days ago and, besides, why would you want any one like-"
Secrets tried to wipe the smile from her face; she didn't want him to think she was laughing at him. "Attendre," she said, and she held up one of her hands. David, who had turned his head away while he was apologizing, looked back when he heard the French. "I'm just not sure what you mean, 'call on you'? Does that mean you want to see me again?"
His face become even redder as he nodded before looking away again. "Yes, but I understa-"
"David." He stopped and looked back at her. "I'd really like that."
She was surprised to see that, while still blushing from embarrassment, his blue eyes lit up and he smiled back at her. His expression seemed to illustrate that he wasn't sure if he heard her right. "Vraiment?" he asked, his accent stiff, his pronunciation a bit off. But it made her feel happy when he spoke to her in French.
"Vraiment."
And, yes, I'm aware that I've only known him for a few days. But it just seems si juste. We spent that evening, hand in hand, walking across the City. He even brought me to a dance hall where I met Jack's friend, Medda – a putain, but agréable. We spent this morning selling down at the Harbor, and he promised he'll take me over the Brooklyn Bridge sometime. It was such fun. David is just stupéfiant. I believe it might just be vrai amour.
As Secrets re-read her earlier journal entry, debating on whether or not she should add more details about the fabulous two days she had, she giggled girlishly to herself. If this was love, she never wanted to lose it.
"Ce qui est cela?" she murmured as she realized that the last set of words – vrai amour - in her journal were crossed out with big bold strokes. With quaking fingers, Secrets turned the page of her journal. There was only one person, besides her, who had access to her journal. She was quite anxious to read the message that Kisses must have left her.
And there it was. Kisses' message.
Mon cher, Layna,
Amour? You are just a child. You have no idea as to what love is. This boy, this David, he just wants to use you. Just wants to get inside your head, get inside your heart and then drop you. You don't know what you are getting yourself into, Layna. And why didn't you write yesterday? You ayez à write everyday.
Kisses
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Translations:
Amour – Love
Reste de Dieu leurs âmes – God rest their souls
Vrai amour – True love
Hein – Huh
Non, il est juste là – No, he's right there
Fichu – Damn
Attendre – Wait
Vraiment – Really
Putain – Floozy
Agréable – Nice
Stupéfiant – Amazing
Ce qui est cela – What's this
Ayez à – Have to