Short story serise:- The long road to love

Tallia was a lonely girl who had no friends, her family had no time for her and she lived without any kind of solace or support. Then she walked down the long road to love. Where she would meet Jude, a perfect stranger.

It was autumn and the trees were the wonderful colours of yellow, orange and a golden brown. They hung high over the long road, leaves falling and paving the ground like a tiled floor.

The miniature wooden fences were crooked from the many years they’ve experienced. From 1900 to the delightful 1970. Seventy long years of being jumped on, leant on and pulled for games. The field which the road ran through where enlightened by the green grass and the patterned yellow flowers which said “summer was soon coming to an end and autumn would finally begin”.

The pleasant sunshine made the picturesque road look like a landscape. A painting painted with oils and wonderful colours. A typical day in Earls Barton. The little lane which smiled at you from far away.

The young American girl walked down it with a basket of flowers which she had picked. At fourteen, she was careless and lived quite comfortably. She was tall for her age, and lithe. She had a perfect figure which women would have died for. A little underweight, but all the curves in the right places. Her silky brown hair wavered in the brief wind which gave her a rest from the heat. Even though it was autumn, the sun still shone, beating down on the world’s residents.

Her long, white skirt fluttered as she walked down, her tight white T-Shirt helping her figure look even more head-turning. She strolled in her flat shoes, looking at what flowers she would think looked nice in house which she lived in. Her mother sent her down there for something which would make the house brighten up. The house was bright anyway but most of the flowers had died so there was need for some new. She already had an assortment of orange and yellow tulips, but wanted now some daffodils. They were usually in the fields so she hopped over the fences and searched for the daffodils. She collected a few and decided that too many daffodils were going to hide away the tulips so she put some back and started to walked down the lane for another type of flower which would look lovely in her home as well.

As she looked at the path a young boy about her age came walking down beside her. He had hair which was a little longer than others and was wearing a brown shirt with some jeans. He was quite handsome but with the same boyish charm of a fourteen year old while the young girl had now grown to look like a lady herself.

She looked up at him and smiled, expecting him to say something. She felt highly embarrassed as she did with most people she spoke to. She wasn’t much of a socialite. She liked her own company with her books which she cherished to read. As her face was older than her years, her reading level was too. She liked to read books that included love and family feuds and stuff with drama in them.

He looked at her and admired her beauty. He observed how her face curved, her cheekbones stood high and how her eyes were so wide and blue, so open and fragile. He daren’t touch her since she looked so thin. But she was a substance which he would love to hold, just to feel her since she looked so special.

“Lovely day, isn’t it?” He was English, as was everyone in Earls Barton except her family. They had come over from America to England a month ago because of business. They lived at 111 Doddington Road; a large and beautiful home but also one of the very few which was still homely.

She nodded at him. “Yes it is, strange for an English fall. Sorry, I mean autumn.” She spoke so sweet, like the young girl she was, but her body didn’t match her. She looked older somehow. You couldn’t put your finger on it but she didn’t look her age at all.

“You’re American?” he said to her, a little surprised. He had not met an American person before and was pleased that now it was something which he could tick off his “100 things before you die” list. She nodded at him, which seemed the only thing she did with her head.

“Yes. My parents moved over here a month ago because his boss relocated him.” The boy nodded then and turned his head in front of him. He walked straight with his chest out like a man. But he was far from that.

After a few seconds he turned to her with his hand stuck out. “My name’s Jude.” She shook it.

“Tallia.” He smiled at her as if he was a little astonished.

“That’s an unusual name.” She went red with embarrassment. She always got that comment when she told people her name. And it was unusual really. It wasn’t exactly common but it was a nice name, a name which the boy took to quite quickly.

“Yes, I guess so. People always say that to me.” She looked up in front of her, squinting because of the sun. “It is quite unusual. I wish I had a normal name like Maggie or Jane. Tallia is not very normal at all.” He nodded. He liked talking to this girl, an American girl who five minuets ago he wouldn’t have known existed. And now she was something which he wanted to talk to for hours, as if she was his best friend or something.

“What’s your father’s name?” She looked up at him then.

“John Thompson.” His expression changed then. “What? D’you know him?” He nodded.

“He’s more of my father’s friend. Actually, they’re not much friends at all. More like foes.” Tallia looked at him strangely then, as if she didn’t know who he was. Which she didn’t but she felt she had known him for years.

“Who’s your father?” She was anxious to know who her father didn’t like. She liked a bit of gossip.

“Charles Waterton.” Her expression completely changed to shock.

“Oh!” she said to him, and he was a little more than astounded at her complete change of voice and face.

“What? Is something wrong?” She got all flustered.

“I’m sorry, look at the time.” She didn’t even have a watch on. “I must go; my parents will be worried about me.” She started to turn back and run but he grabbed her arm before she could and stared into her eyes.

“Is there something wrong? Something I said?” She shook her head.

“No, really, look at the time—”

“You have no watch on; you wouldn’t know what the time is anyway.” She stopped trying to make excuses and wanted to tell him the truth, but couldn’t. She had to tell him the truth because there was no other reason which would be urgent enough for her to leave.

“What have I done?” he asked her, feeling a little down hearted. He didn’t want to upset her.

“Nothing, you haven’t done anything, it’s more…who you are that’s the problem.” His expression went from a frown to sad eyes and she hadn’t felt as guilty as this in her life.

“What, so it’s because I’m a Waterton, is that it?” She nodded. He had never felt anymore angry since he had been brought into this world. He pushed her down onto the mud in anger. “I didn’t think you were that shallow! Because of my surname you are singling me out?! Well, it’s people like you why bullying is in the world!” He walked off down the road, leaving her lying on the floor. She felt terrible. She didn’t want upset him like that but her father would have gone mad if he had found out who she was talking to.

“Please, Jude…!” But he ignored her. This had happened too many times. He had been bullied because of his name at school because his parents were well-known thieves. They had thieved their whole lives for what they had. They had a family of five children, apposed to the Thompson family who only had two. Tallia and Maria.

Now as Tallia tried to jump back up and run after him, he had disappeared. She went back to her home and that night all that was on her mind was Jude. Jude Waterton was everything that she had wanted in a friend. That few moments which she had had with him were everything she thought a friend should have been. He was kind, considerate, and was obviously nothing like his parents, or the rest of his family for that matter. He was the perfect stranger to her.

The next day she got up and went outside with her basket again. She had dropped the flowers the day before so she had to get some more. She had told her mother that there were none suitable and that she would go somewhere else the next day. But she wanted to go down the lane since that was the only place where there was the kind of flowers which she wanted.

As she started to trot sadly by herself down the lane, she spotted Jude walking down by himself. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him. She wanted to run up to him but thought she shouldn’t. But her body was doing the complete opposite to her mind so she started to run down the lane toward him. She got to his side and smiled but he looked at her as if she was dirt.

“What do you want?” he asked her, and she felt a little upset. She didn’t want an escapade like the day before. She wanted to make up with him now.

“Look, I want to say I’m sorry. Yesterday, I don’t know what, I panicked. I didn’t mean to be so cruel to you. I don’t want you to hate me because of my stupid mistake yesterday. At the end of the day, you are nothing like what I’ve heard you were like. You are everything I’ve wanted in a friend. I don’t know about you but…I’ve never had friends before. Not friends like you. You are special, Jude. You have a special heart inside and I want to know that heart.” He shook his head.

“We can’t be friends.” She frowned at him, wondering why.

“What? Why? You would make an excellent friend. You are everything that I’ve ever wanted to know. You’re everything I’ve dreamed of—” But she couldn’t finish. His lips were hard on hers, his strong hands gripping her arms. Her eyes were closed in shock. His were too but he soon pulled away with his face angry.

“That’s why!” Then he ran off into the distance. Tallia watched as his legs flapped away. And then he was gone. And she was left, by herself, standing there, wondering what had just happened. It felt like it wasn’t real, like it was a dream or something.

She couldn’t understand why he had done it. They had only met a day before and now he wanted to kiss her? What was that about?

She picked the flowers which she had to pick and then cleared off home, trying to forget the day’s events. At six o’clock there was a load of commotion which disrupted Tallia’s reading. She looked out of her bedroom window and saw Jude standing outside, trying to talk to her father civilly but her father was having none of it.

Tallia ran downstairs and to the door and stopped her father.

“Father, stop! Let me just speak to him for a second.” Her father backed away and left the two alone. Tallia turned towards Jude and looked expectantly. “What do you want?” He began to talk to her, practically saying what she had said to him earlier on.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do that but you wouldn’t let me go. I want to be your friend. Well, more than that, but I just want to say sorry. You are every bit a friend I’ve ever wanted too. You’re more than what I’ve wanted in a friend. And I want to be more than a friend with you.” She didn’t quite know what to say then. What could she say? She felt, deep inside, that she loved him too, but she was fourteen for goodness sake! She couldn’t love a boy. She was nearly fifteen, but this feeling was yearning to come out, all these emotions that wanted to be felt by Jude was just waiting for her cue. And then her cue was set off.

She ran to his arms, hugged him and kissed him on the lips. They hugged and kissed like no tomorrow but her father came out and caught them and dragged the two apart. He punched Jude and made him run off back to his home. Then he ordered Tallia up to her room to yell at her.

“What do you think you were doing?! You are fourteen years old Tallia, have you no sense?!” She had a tear run down her cheek then.

“Look, we met yesterday and we have a bond, father. We are very good friends and he thinks that he loves me. But all the things he said were everything I felt too, father. Something I’ve never experienced before!” He looked at her, fuming.

“You know no such thing! You are a young fool and if you carry on this way you’ll end up depressed and pregnant!”

“And if I do what you say I’ll end up an old spinster!” He was more than angry at what she had said. Who was she to talk to him like that? Regardless of whether he deserved nothing more or not.

“You are rude, young girl! Very rude!” She screamed at him, her feelings running over board and her eyes streaming.

“I love him father, I love him!”

“NO YOU DON’T!!!” He hit her across her face. She fell from the force and banged her head on the window seal. Blood started to poor out of her head and the sight was gruelling. A pool of blood surrounded her and the doctor was immediately called.

One month later…

The day was a cold November one which everyone hated. It matched the exact genre of the day itself. It was depressing, as funerals often were. Everyone was morning over the wonderful face of the person in that coffin. People threw roses, dirt and various other things.

The priest said a few words as Tallia cried. How it had happened she didn’t know. All she knew that one day she was in her hospital bed, the next someone had committed suicide. It was strange and horrible and everyone mourned on the graveyard.

The Thompson family were there, as well as the rest of Earls Barton. What had happened was a terrible fate for the now dead person.

As everyone started to leave, Tallia stayed to say a few words to the person she loved so much. The person who she felt she did have a special bond with, no matter who said she didn’t.

She knelt down on the grass, tears dropping down her face like lemon drops. “I know what had happened was mostly my fault. Everything that had happened had been because of me. I just want you to know that I do love you. I love you so much! I never got to say it properly when you were alive, and now you’re gone, I just don’t know what to do. I know you love me, loved me even, but I’ve never really shown it properly. I just want you to know that you will be missed by everyone. No matter who says what about you, you will be missed.” She placed a rose on the coffin. “I’ll miss you.” She paused as she watched the stillness of the person inside. The person she loved so much but never had the chance to say it. He had shown love to her, but she had never had the chance to be kind and loving to him. He had given her everything she had wanted, everything she had dreamed of. And now he was dead, and she felt like she had lost the only person who loved her dearly. “I love you…” she whispered and then got up and walked away.

Jude held her in his arms, not knowing what she was going through. He knew what had happened, and felt very guilty too. But he knew his girlfriend must be going through hell. And now, as they both thought about the day ahead, the only person who was really on their mind was the dead culprit: Tallia’s father.