Heart of Gold (PG) Champagne Challenge #101
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:53 pm
Hi,
This is my offering to the champagne challenge for writing a brief story on relocation.
As always, I don't own any of the characters (Warner Brothers, CBS, and/ or Joel Silver do). I just enjoy playing with them.
Rating is PG
Please, enjoy!!
Heart of Gold
New York City, 1955
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We should be leaving together.
It was time. Time to change again, time to move on. Plans had been made, all had been made ready. A new life, a new name, a new opportunity to profit from the humans who would gladly see him dead. Often, the metamorphosis was a game, an adventure, a challenge to add to his vast wealth at the expense of those who tormented him. But not now. This time, the dream of a new life with one he loved had become a nightmare. This time, he had lost everything that he held precious. This time, the humans had won.
He stroked her pale cheek, cool even to his touch. No reaction, no sense that she even knew he was there. No indication that she ever would.
Sarah, my beautiful Sarah.
He recalled his first glimpse of her. How even from a distance, Sarah stood out in the crowd. Her smile was brilliant, her laughter, infectious. He was drawn to her on that platform, at first out of curiosity, but when their eyes met, he knew he was lost.
Excuse me, sir, but do you have a light?
He could still hear her voice, just as clearly as on that day. He had been momentarily stunned by her beauty and her charm, causing him to fumble for the gold lighter in his pocket. She was trying to look sophisticated and mature with the cigarette she held, but he knew just how young and how nervous she really was.
And how innocent. I should have walked away then, but I couldn’t. Your eyes were dancing with delight at my momentary awkwardness. But you weren’t being cruel, you were just being you. Playful, vivacious, curious. How could I have ever walked away from you?
The chance encounter led to a conversation on the train and an eventual exchange of names.
Sarah Whitley. The daughter of one of my business associates, a cold-hearted, ruthless man. Knowing the kind of man he was, I should never have befriended you, but I did. For one glorious moment in time, I was happy, we were happy, more than I ever thought possible. For one glorious moment, I forgot who I was and what I was. But the moment didn’t last. Just as I knew it couldn’t.
When your father found out that I was seeing you, he forbade you to ever go near me again. Even if he didn’t know what I was, he knew I was dangerous. All dangerous men recognize each other for what they are. You should have listened to him, my love. You should have heeded him, cried for a few days, then moved on. You should have found someone to love you, to protect you, to give you everything you could ever want in life. If you had, Sarah, you would be alive and well, and I wouldn’t have to leave you.
But you didn’t. You threw caution to the wind when you ignored your father’s wishes. You knew what I was, but truly, Sarah, you couldn’t understand what that really meant. I should have known better. I did know better, but my heart overrode my wisdom. So great was my love for you that I took you to my bed, made you a part of me, all against my better judgment. I told myself that it would end there. I should have known better.
You were not to be denied. Each time that we were together, your hold on me grew stronger, and I knew I could never let you go. The flirtatious young woman had become a sorceress who wove her magic spell on me so powerfully, that I agreed to madness. I agreed to make you as I am, my own for all eternity
This was wasn’t supposed to happen. By now, we should be in Europe, starting our new lives together with new names and new identities. Charles Fitzgerald and Sarah Whitley would no longer exist. Mr. and Mrs. Josef Kostan would emerge on the continent, enjoying life abroad until it was safe to return home, when all who had known you had turned to dust. Then, we could go anywhere, do anything, be whoever we wanted to be for all of eternity. Just the two of us, Sarah, together, forever.
Why did it happen this way? I may never know. Maybe God is punishing me for all my past sins, but why you? All you are guilty of is giving love and hope to a soul that has known nothing but hated and despair. What I do know is that the last kiss we exchanged will be forever on my lips. The last time your eyes held mine will never fade from memory. The last time you said my name will forever echo in my being.
And now the time has come, my love, for me to leave you. I will keep you here, hidden from the monster who seeks to destroy our love, in the hope that someday you will be restored to me. I cannot stay with you, for your father is searching for us, and if he finds us, we will both perish. For now, dearest Sarah, I leave you in the care of trusted friends, knowing that you will be safe. I must flee into the night, heart and soul broken in the knowledge that I did this to you. Forgive me, my love, I should have known better.
For you, Sarah, I will always be Charles. But for the rest of mankind, Charles Fitzgerald dies this night. From his ashes, a new man arises, one who leaves behind the better part of himself, in your heart and in your memory. He will leave this city and begin the charade again, but he will keep you forever in his heart. He will have learned from my mistakes, never allowing another to touch him and love him in the way that you have touched and loved me. Never.
It was time. If he didn’t leave now, he knew he never would. For both of their sakes, he had to make the break. One last look, one last touch. He couldn’t let go. His fingers grazed her pendant, the small heart of gold, the one he had given her as a token of his love. Gently, lovingly, he removed it and kissing it, placed it in his pocket. Now, it would be with him wherever he went, whoever he became, as an eternal reminder of what she had given him and what he had lost. He bent over her sleeping form, his lips to hers, bestowing a final kiss.
“I gave you this heart of gold as a sign of my love for you. Now, I take it back, but never my love. For now and for all time, Sarah, my heart and my love is yours.”
With that, Charles Fitzgerald was no more.
This is my offering to the champagne challenge for writing a brief story on relocation.
As always, I don't own any of the characters (Warner Brothers, CBS, and/ or Joel Silver do). I just enjoy playing with them.
Rating is PG
Please, enjoy!!
Heart of Gold
New York City, 1955
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We should be leaving together.
It was time. Time to change again, time to move on. Plans had been made, all had been made ready. A new life, a new name, a new opportunity to profit from the humans who would gladly see him dead. Often, the metamorphosis was a game, an adventure, a challenge to add to his vast wealth at the expense of those who tormented him. But not now. This time, the dream of a new life with one he loved had become a nightmare. This time, he had lost everything that he held precious. This time, the humans had won.
He stroked her pale cheek, cool even to his touch. No reaction, no sense that she even knew he was there. No indication that she ever would.
Sarah, my beautiful Sarah.
He recalled his first glimpse of her. How even from a distance, Sarah stood out in the crowd. Her smile was brilliant, her laughter, infectious. He was drawn to her on that platform, at first out of curiosity, but when their eyes met, he knew he was lost.
Excuse me, sir, but do you have a light?
He could still hear her voice, just as clearly as on that day. He had been momentarily stunned by her beauty and her charm, causing him to fumble for the gold lighter in his pocket. She was trying to look sophisticated and mature with the cigarette she held, but he knew just how young and how nervous she really was.
And how innocent. I should have walked away then, but I couldn’t. Your eyes were dancing with delight at my momentary awkwardness. But you weren’t being cruel, you were just being you. Playful, vivacious, curious. How could I have ever walked away from you?
The chance encounter led to a conversation on the train and an eventual exchange of names.
Sarah Whitley. The daughter of one of my business associates, a cold-hearted, ruthless man. Knowing the kind of man he was, I should never have befriended you, but I did. For one glorious moment in time, I was happy, we were happy, more than I ever thought possible. For one glorious moment, I forgot who I was and what I was. But the moment didn’t last. Just as I knew it couldn’t.
When your father found out that I was seeing you, he forbade you to ever go near me again. Even if he didn’t know what I was, he knew I was dangerous. All dangerous men recognize each other for what they are. You should have listened to him, my love. You should have heeded him, cried for a few days, then moved on. You should have found someone to love you, to protect you, to give you everything you could ever want in life. If you had, Sarah, you would be alive and well, and I wouldn’t have to leave you.
But you didn’t. You threw caution to the wind when you ignored your father’s wishes. You knew what I was, but truly, Sarah, you couldn’t understand what that really meant. I should have known better. I did know better, but my heart overrode my wisdom. So great was my love for you that I took you to my bed, made you a part of me, all against my better judgment. I told myself that it would end there. I should have known better.
You were not to be denied. Each time that we were together, your hold on me grew stronger, and I knew I could never let you go. The flirtatious young woman had become a sorceress who wove her magic spell on me so powerfully, that I agreed to madness. I agreed to make you as I am, my own for all eternity
This was wasn’t supposed to happen. By now, we should be in Europe, starting our new lives together with new names and new identities. Charles Fitzgerald and Sarah Whitley would no longer exist. Mr. and Mrs. Josef Kostan would emerge on the continent, enjoying life abroad until it was safe to return home, when all who had known you had turned to dust. Then, we could go anywhere, do anything, be whoever we wanted to be for all of eternity. Just the two of us, Sarah, together, forever.
Why did it happen this way? I may never know. Maybe God is punishing me for all my past sins, but why you? All you are guilty of is giving love and hope to a soul that has known nothing but hated and despair. What I do know is that the last kiss we exchanged will be forever on my lips. The last time your eyes held mine will never fade from memory. The last time you said my name will forever echo in my being.
And now the time has come, my love, for me to leave you. I will keep you here, hidden from the monster who seeks to destroy our love, in the hope that someday you will be restored to me. I cannot stay with you, for your father is searching for us, and if he finds us, we will both perish. For now, dearest Sarah, I leave you in the care of trusted friends, knowing that you will be safe. I must flee into the night, heart and soul broken in the knowledge that I did this to you. Forgive me, my love, I should have known better.
For you, Sarah, I will always be Charles. But for the rest of mankind, Charles Fitzgerald dies this night. From his ashes, a new man arises, one who leaves behind the better part of himself, in your heart and in your memory. He will leave this city and begin the charade again, but he will keep you forever in his heart. He will have learned from my mistakes, never allowing another to touch him and love him in the way that you have touched and loved me. Never.
It was time. If he didn’t leave now, he knew he never would. For both of their sakes, he had to make the break. One last look, one last touch. He couldn’t let go. His fingers grazed her pendant, the small heart of gold, the one he had given her as a token of his love. Gently, lovingly, he removed it and kissing it, placed it in his pocket. Now, it would be with him wherever he went, whoever he became, as an eternal reminder of what she had given him and what he had lost. He bent over her sleeping form, his lips to hers, bestowing a final kiss.
“I gave you this heart of gold as a sign of my love for you. Now, I take it back, but never my love. For now and for all time, Sarah, my heart and my love is yours.”
With that, Charles Fitzgerald was no more.