The Colors of Faith (the end)

Wednesday 4:12 p.m.

Lowell gets home from school as quick as he can and races to the woods. He slows as he approaches the fence.

"Hey!" he calls happily. He leans against the fence but there is no reply to his call. "Hello?" He says louder. He looks around and, seeing no one, starts to panic. Disappointed thoughts bounce around his insides.

You should have known, Lowell. You should have known that she wasn't real. Just like before. You imagined again. Just like before!

These thoughts torment him and before too long he can't help but do what she told him to. The one thing she demanded of him in their long hours together:

"You aren't supposed to come over the fence. So please don't, okay?"

He jumped over in one fluid motion and ran straight into the woods. After several minutes of calling and searching, he finds her. She's leaning against a tree, dressed the same as the day before, but soaking wet. She starts violently when she hears him.

"Lowell?"

"Yeah, hey, what happened? Why are you wet?" He runs over to her and puts his hand on her shoulders. He feels her forehead. She feels feverish but doesn't show any other signs.

"You jumped over the fence." Her face is pale.

"Yes. I mean I had to find you," Lowell explains. She doesn't say anything, only grabs his arm and pulls him along. They reach the clearing that is split in two by the fence. She extends her arms in search of the wire. When she grasps it she pushes him in front of her.

"Go. Get over the fence again!" Her teeth chatter at the last word and he shakes his head.

"It's too late. Whatever is going to happen has happened, because I am over the fence." With that he pulls her to him, willing the warmth in his skin to transfer to her pale form. They sit down against a tree.

"You shouldn't have come today," she says finally.

"Nothing could have stopped me."

"Why is that?"

"Because I wanted to see you. I want to learn from you, you know. There is so much I can learn from you simply because you see everything so differently than me. And you...are beautiful." She looks at him incredulously.

"I'm beautiful?"

"Heck yeah." He smiles. She is quiet for a minute or two before declaring:

"This isn't my world?"

"Of course it is. You're here, aren't you?"

"I'm here but I don't understand it. I've been here but I haven't known. I haven't known that I am beautiful. I never knew that my hair is not dark. I never knew you. I have to go, Lowell. It's time for me to go back." She looks straight ahead and her words denote utter resolve.

"Well where will you be going?" Lowell manages to day.

"Back to where I came from. That is how I got wet, that is why my head is buzzing. I've been told that it's time for me to go. So go I must. A girl like me can't argue with something this big."

"You can't argue with what? What is it that came to you?"

"I don't know. I only know my feelings, and they haven't told me everything. I am a girl of faith and people of faith are always called upon to exhibit their faith. Now is my time, Lowell. this is my exhibition of faith."

"I'm going to wait with you then. So I can see what these feelings are all about," he says. She sighs. They sit and are silent for a while, then speak, then are silent again. All the while the sun does not change its position in the sky. Lowell pretends not to notice.

"I think you have to leave," she says eventually. "The sun hasn't moved at all. The night must be to stubborn to come while you remain here."

"How can I leave? You don't even know what is going to happen!" Lowell argues.

"We have to have faith. Did I not just tell you? That is what it takes."

"You have to understand that I want you here! That I want to help you."

"You can't help me, Lowell. It's going to happen. You can only decide how long I will have to wait."

"If it can't be changed then I suppose I must." They both stand. She puts a gentle hand on his chest and her eyes focus just over his shoulder.

"Thank you for teaching me about you. I think you are the reason I came here."

Lowell chews his bottom lip.

"You're welcome," he says.

They remain standing face to face. She leaves her hand on his chest, allowing him to be the one to sever the touch, to walk away. Finally he gathers the courgae to take a step back and his feet take over from there. They pick themselves up, one in front of the other. He begins moving faster without looking back. She's in his mind's eye: standing behind, watching him go. He shakes the image from his head and sprints across the golden field that borders her wood.

There is a silent outburst of white light. It comes up behind and sweeps over and beyond Lowell. He stops in his tracks and closes his eyes tightly. When he opens them they brim with tears. He continues through the high grass, letting his fingers brush lightly over the soft tops.

He breathes in, he breathes out.


Lydia

The Colors of Faith (part 3)

Wednesday 8:35 a.m.

Lowell sleeps through his alarm and finds himself going straight to school. All the while he prays that she will be there after school.

"What is going on today, Lowell? You're acting weird." A fellow cross country team member says to him at lunch.

"I guess you could say it's a girl, Jim," Lowell replies with a small smile.

"A girl? Here at school?"

"No, I met her yesterday afternoon..." his voice trails off and he stares at nothing.

"Must be some girl," Jimmy says with a shake of his head. "At least tell me what she's like."

"She's...hard to explain."

"Try. Blonde or brunette?"

"Blonde." Lowell tosses his lunch sack into the garbage can. "She's different, Jim, really different."

Jimmy gives him a confused and disgusted sort of look.

"I do not understand...."

"It's like this: if she lived in our world she would love animals and dot her "I"s with hearts," Lowell responds. Then adds quietly: "But she's not from our world."

to be continued...

The Colors of Faith (continued)

"Hello...?" The girl asks hesitantly. Lowell looks around, and then looks back at the girl.

"Hi. I was just running and..." the boys voice drifts off as he sees her foggy eyes and realizes that she cannot see. Her eyes rest in his direction nonetheless.

"Were you following the fence?" She asks.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just wanted to go a little farther today.

"Why is that?" She wraps her arms around herself as a brisk wind floats past. He hesitates, but then steps closer.

"Small town life can be-er-constricting at times. I come out here to breathe."

"That's nice," she says. Lowell looks back through the curtain of trees and she asks him what his name is.

"Lowell. Yours?"

"I don't know." Lowell smiles, then chuckles so she'll know he found her "joke" amusing.

"No, really, I don't know my name yet." He examines her face, trying to understand someone so different.

"Really?"

"Really. Can I ask you a question, Lowell?"

"Shoot." Her brow furrows.

"Where did you come from? Just now I mean. What's over there?" She gestures to her right, over his shoulder. He looks at what she cannot see: the pine trees and their green needles, the brown needles that carpet the rustic floor. He thinks for a moment:

She can't see any of this. She can't see this fence, this wire barrier separating us, maybe even our worlds from one another. She can't see me.

"I came from over there, you are right. But I don't want to talk about that, okay? I want to talk about me; I want to talk about you. I want to know why you aren't afraid of me, why you don't wonder what I look like." She turns her face to the side and silvery-blonde strands of hair conceal the side of her pale face from him. She remains in this position for a moment before brushing her hair away and staring at him, again, in her own sightless way.

"I want to know about you; I want to know about me. The thing is, I want to know where I came from and I just thought that knowing where you came from would maybe help me discover where I came from." She pauses, then adds: "And I do wonder what you look like." They stand in silence. Then she reaches out her hands. "Show me." He steps up to the fence, grabs her hands and then places them on either side of his face. Her nose wrinkles.

"Why is it damp and slick?" She asks.

"I have been running. It's sweat," Lowell answers. Her lips tighten into a half smile. She feels the rest of his face gently.

"Is this your ear?"

"Yeah."

"And your hair?"

"Yep."

"What does it look like? Is it like mine?" She asks.

"Well it is considerably shorter and darker," he responds.

"Darker?" It takes him a moment to realize she needs an explanation.

"You know those moments you sometimes come across while walking outside? A sudden warmth on your skin?" She nods. "Your hair is like those moments; mine is like all the rest."

Lowell and the girl talk. They talk about life and his home and about songs and about beauty. At one point Lowell stops talking and starts thinking.

"I'm afraid," he admits.

"Why are you afraid? she asks. They sit back to back on opposite sides of the fence.

"Because I fear that you aren't real, that I'm making you up. What if I come back tomorrow and it turns out you are totally a figment of my imagination and I'm really a messed up guy with hallucinations." She doesn't respond. "You are the only person I have ever loved, the only person who has ever loved me. I never want to go back to the time before I had someone who cared. Before there was you."

She turns to face him and says:

"There's no way to prove my existence to you. I just know that I am not from your mind. I know that I exist outside of you. I do not know why or how, I just know that I do. So we will both have to have faith. There are a lot of people who love you, Lowell. They just haven't found you yet."

to be continued...

Lydia

The Colors of Faith

Tuesday 4:22 p.m.

I tie my shoes and go

I breathe in, I breathe out.

I feel my matted hair brush roughly against my forehead

I breathe in, I breathe out.

I stop thinking about what I'm doing and start wondering

I breathe in, I breathe out.

What am I doing here? Am I alone?

I breathe in, I breathe out.

This is the farthest I've ever gone. Have I gone too far?

I breathe in, I breathe out.

I slow and look around the serene wood

I breathe in, I breathe out.

And then I see her, but she does not see me

I breathe in, I breathe out.

to be continued....