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» SHORT STORY «

Rain drummed loudly on the roof of the old black Toyota 4-Runner, intermittent flashes of lightning lit up the freeway around it. From within it, Alex Richardson focused on the road, the headlights highlighting the white lane markers and they flashed by hypnotically. He turned up the a/c until he could feel its strong breeze tousle his hair. The digital clock on the dashboard let him know he'd probably be late as it was already 10:33 p.m. and he had to get his date before 11:00. He was going to pick up Faye Royaltonne for what she had called, "An incredibly romantic evening". He thought about Faye with her long black hair and amber eyes. Eye candy, all fluff.

Unbidden, an image of Piper came to his mind. Dear, vivacious, unique Pipper who'd been dead for five months. Faye was everything that Piper wasn't. Piper had been first a friend, then a romantic interest. Faye on the other hand, had
been matched to him by his friends Joe Smythe and Craig Cary. They wouldn't say how they found her and Alex knew that it had been intentional, to get his mind off of Piper, the one girl...woman he'd ever wanted.

A horn blew suddenly, he'd been drifting into the other lane. Alex blushed and cajoled himself inwardly, trying to ignore the driver giving him the bird. Piper, you're still getting me in trouble, he thought wryly. He almost hadn't taken his dad's old 4-Runner, had opted to take it instead of the brand-new 4-Runner which hovered, because Faye had once said how much she'd like to ride in a vintage S.U.V.

Who knows, maybe it'll soften the blow. Although he and Faye had started dating a month after Piper's death, he hadn't been able to forget her and he knew that Faye wasn't the one for him. Ironically, Faye had been the one pushing to go deeper into their relationship and his friends didn't understand that Alex didn't believe in sex before marriage.

And I'm gonna break up with her tonight. Courage, Alex.

Flashing lights flew by him suddenly as a state police hover car wailed past him. He sighed as he realized it wasn't after him. His dad wouldn't be understanding if he came home with a speeding ticket and Faye would be pissed if
he was late. Besides, he was only five m.p.h. over the speed limit of 80. He glanced back down at the clock, 10:45, plenty of time to get to Faye's house.
 
 

"It's not fair!" Piper McLean snarled, brown eyes flashing with anger. She'd since traded in her white pants outfit for a flowing white gown. Her silver tipped wings, rigid with righteous indignation, matched her silver sunglasses, which were perched precariously on her head. "Are you sayin' I was set up? Whassup wit that? And how long have you known?"

I sighed and held up my hands in surrender, "Piper, please be patient..."

"PATIENT!!! I'LL SHOW YOU...!!"

A sudden thunder-like rumble silenced her and I sighed and smiled reasurringly at Piper's Guardian Angle, who'd taken refuge behind me. From above us, the clouds parted, a golden ray of sunlight shone upon us and a figure on a cloud
decended amongst us. A trim woman in a silver edged robe/dress stepped off the cloud. As it sank into the clouds at our feet, I heard Piper sigh and mutter,

"Finally some real answers."

The woman smiled at them, revealing perfectly white, perfect teeth.

"I always knew God was a woman," Piper said loudly.

"Actually hon," the woman said in a voice reminicent of Fran Drescher, "I'm Hope, His PR person. The Big Guy is a little busy."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Natch."

Unruffled, the PR woman, er Hope went on, "Now I understand that you're feeling a little anger and that's perfectly understandable," she laughed, "I mean, c'mon who wouldn't? With a man like Alex on your arm....Wink,wink, nudge, nudge! Oooh yah!" She cleared her throat when she saw Piper glaring daggers at her. "Yah, well, the day before you were concieved, you personally scanned the world and choose to be born to the parents you were born to. Everyone does it. You decided every single major event that happened in your life. From who your friends were, who you were going to marry and when you were going to die. So all you have to do is realize that and it's off through the Pearly Gates and on to eternal happiness....Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because," Piper said through gritted teeth. I saw then that she was on the verge of tears, angry tears. "I would not choose to die like that. Not when I had so much to live for. There must have been some kind of mistake."

"Piper.." Hope began, sounding slightly irritated.

"NO!" she yelled. "I would not die like a coward, falling to my death while sneaking out of the house. My family doesn't do cowardly things. And then being forced to stay here in Purgatory for this long? I think not."

Hope looked to me for assistance and I opened my mouth to say something.

"C'mon, Jade, don't let her do this to me. Please help me." She begged me with tear filled eyes.

"Maybe there's something you can do for her, Hope. She's been awfully good considering who she grew up around."

Hope sighed, "What I won't do for you, Jade. Okay," she snapped her fingers and a file fell from the sky into her hand. She flipped through it and said, "See, right here, you died on December 21, 2085..." She snapped the file shut. "It,
ah, it seems as though there's been some sort of mistake."

"Natch." Piper said.
 
 

When Alex pulled the aging black 4-Runner up to the front door of Faye's house it was a minute past eleven. He put the truck in park, blew the horn once, got out and stood next to the passenger side door. A moment later, Faye stepped out, hugged her mother and gracefully ran to the S.U.V. They kissed briefly and Faye waved once as Alex helped her get in the truck. Alex stepped around and got in and Faye initiated another kiss. She broke the kiss, stared deeply into his eyes and purred, "You are so incredibly sexy."

"You're pretty gorgeous yourself." He noticed Faye putting on her seatbelt rather snugly. She didn't seem to look all that excited about the truck. "I can't get over how much you and your mother look alike." Faye's mother, Alanna,
watched from the open doorway as they drove off.

"Yes, people say we could almost pass for twins. I just tell them I'm her clone."
 
 

"Aaarrgh, that's disgusting! Alex, how could you be so dumb?" Piper groaned as she watched the scene. We were in the Viewing Room, which consisted of one steel framed chair facing a huge screen. Normally it was used for judging a person as their life was played back before them like a rented movie. Right now though, Piper and I were watching Alex on his date. Not on his date, but on, um...I'll shut up now.

Alex was pulling the 4-Runner up to a valet at a restaurant simply called Le Mont. Very pricy and very exclusive, reservations were commonly booked half a year in advance. I knew that Alex's celebrity influence had some hand in this last minute reservation. They walked past the long line of waiting couples. Even at 11:15 at night it was packed and had a waiting line for tonight of nearly two hours. Then Alex noticed a familiar face in the crowd.

"Uncle Nick?"

The man started, and his blue baseball hat nearly slid off his blond head.

"Alex!" he whispered frantically, "I'm in disguise!"

The woman next to him put it back on and said, "Honey, I wish you'd leave that ratty old thing at home."

I smiled as I watched a small stir in the crowd around the two couples, then remembered just who Faye Royaltonne was. Thankfully for Nick and Amber, the people around them didn't seem to recognize who they were and the two couples separated. The Screen showed Alex and Faye walking off, but stayed focused on Nick and Amber.

"I'm not too sure about her, Hon," Amber said to Nick.

Nick fiddled with his disguise. "What do you mean? Alex's friends wouldn't get someone for him that wasn't good for him."

"I'm not sure. I don't have a good feeling about her," Amber looked thoughtfull, the large diamond on her left hand sparkled as if it was brand-new. "She looks like a gold-digger, a familiar gold-digger. I think I've seen her somewhere
before."

Nick snorted, "Yeah, sure you have."
 

"No, really, I just have to remember where."

From beside me, Piper yelled, "Duh! She snuck into the party you had for Nick when he turned 20!"

"Nick," Amber murmered, "I don't know how you managed to escape into your thirties and come out unscathed."

"Oh, that's easy!" He said.

"Really?" she asked dryly.

"Yeah, I'm Nick Carter!" he said loudly in a suddenly quiet line.

Amber groaned and shook her head as a few people started asking for autographs.

"Oooh, is that Nick?!"

"Ohmigosh! It is him!"

"Really!"

"Aaah! Nick!"

"Oh yeah, first there's oohing and aahing, then later there's, there's screaming and running." Piper turned to me. "But enough about Uncle Nick's fans, why can't Aunt Amber remember?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, but they're in a popular restaurant and I can't see that Faye could hurt him."

"Hurt him? What are you talking about?"

Crap "Well, um, Piper..."

"She did it? She set me up, didn't she?" she turned to the View Screen, which now showed Alex and Faye in a snug table in the back corner of Le Mont, a lit candle with fresh roses was at its base. Suddenly, Faye grabbed Alex's left
hand, lifted it to her mouth, kissed it, and then held it to her cheek.

It's now when I wish the View Screen let us hear what they are thinking.
 
 

Alex stared at Faye and she gently let go of his hand. To him, it was as if a relative was holding his hand. He couldn't believe he had ever felt anything remotely romantic about this girl. It was at that moment, Alex knew what he had
to do was right. "Faye, there's something I need to tell you."

"What? What is it?" Faye asked sweetly as she brushed away a lock of jet black hair, her amber eyes warm and sparkling.

"Well, Faye, it's like this," Alex began.

"Sir, are you ready to order?" the waiter asked politely, holding a pen and a tablet at the ready.

"No, I'm sorry." The waiter left with a nod and Alex turned to Faye. "Faye, you know I care for you and all, but it's not working between us. It's over."

Faye stared at him, mouth agape as if dealt a mortal blow. "What!?! Why are you telling me this? And in the middle of the most popular restaurant in Orlando?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it would..."

"Well, why didn't you just bring me on the Jerry Springer Show?"

People around them stopped eating and looked up, some obviously, others more discreetly.

She noticed the people staring at them,at her and she sobbed loudly; stood up knocking against the table. "You still care for her don't you? For, for Piper?!"

Alex paled, and shook his head, "N..no, it's not that..."

"Hah!" she spat out, "She's DEAD, Alex, like a doornail! Gone! The fact that you care so much for your dead girlfriend is totally sick. Piper was a looser, no matter what family she came from. Being the daughter of a Backstreet Boy didn't
cut her any slack. She deserved what happened to her." She clutched her small purse to her chest and shouted, "You are a jerk, Alexander Richardson! You'll be sorry you humiliated me here!" Her amber eyes turned cold and sharp, "If I can't have you, nobody will!" She stormed away and people watched her go and some looked back at him.

Alex, stung and in shock by Faye's reaction, thought he could almost hear what they were thinking and he almost wished his dad wasn't a famous singer. "She, ah, she was too controlling." he said, as if in apology for having disturbed their meals. What did she mean about Piper?, he frowned as he gestured to the waiter. "It looks as if I won't be ordering tonight after all," he said softly.

"Very well, sir. Would you like me to see you to the foyer?"

"No thanks, maybe some other time, Alfred."
 
 

"Alfred?" Piper smirked, "There are really people out there named Alfred?"

I sighed, annoyed. "Yes, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I just thought the Batman reference was a little, um, nevermind."

I looked back up at the Screen in time for it to show us Faye striding away from the 4-Runner and into a waiting late 90's Porsche. It tore off through the lot and nearly hit a couple crossing the lot. It never even slowed down. Moments
later, Alex walked out of the restaruant and up to the valet.

"What did she do? Did she do something to it?" Piper asked, gnawing at her fingernail.

Ten minutes later, he was on the expressway towards home. It was 12:00.
 
 

Trying to get his mind off of Faye, Alex turned on the radio and searched the stations for a good song. The end of Yearning by Maxell played down and it swung right into a familiar, yet old melody started on the radio. Alex frowned, trying to remember it.

Oh, my love, my darling, I hunger for your touch for a long, lonely time
As time, goes by, so slowly, and time can do so much, are you still mine?

Alex's breath caught in his throat. The voice sounded so much like Pipers had, but this singer sounded young. Suddenly he felt as if he had betrayed Piper by dating Faye. The rain drummed on, adding to the sorrowful song.

I need your love, I, I need your love, God speed your love to me,
Lonely to the scroll of the sea, to the sea, to the open arms of the sea,
Lonely with a sigh, wait for me, wait for me, I'll be coming home, wait for me

A tear fell as Alex rememberd a childhood memory. Piper had fallen behind as they were running to his house. They were eleven and it was raining. She had tripped and shouted to him, Wait for me!

Oh my love, my darling, I hunger, hunger for your touch. A long, lonely time
And I know that time, goes by, so slowly, that time can do so much, are you
still mine
and I need your love, I, I need your love
God speed your love, to me

An old model Ford sped past him and Alex saw the unlit police lights on its roof. He braked instinctively, or at least tried to, for suddenly he had no brakes.

What the...? he thought and glanced around. No one else was on the expressway except for some headlights a long ways back. The tailights of the cruiser were nearly pinpoints on the flat stretch of expressway ahead of him. At least it was flat for now, the road would eventually crest a steep hill with an equally steep descent.

"What else could go wrong tonight?" he muttered. The headlights behind him seemed to catch up, then fell back. He felt the 4-Runner slow down as it began to climb the hill and he sighed in relief and started to pull into the right lane. He would park the truck on the side of the road and call his dad on his digifone. But as he put his turnsignal on and started edging over, the accelerator pedal suddenly depressed itself and the 4-Runner surged forward. Alex could feel icy pinpricks of fear all over his body as he watched the speedomeder climb from 80 to 90 to 100.

"Oh, my dear sweet Lord," he whispered.
 
 

"Alex!" Piper cried out, lunging towards the Screen. She spun to me. "Do something!"

I shook my head, "I can't, I'm not supposed to interfere..."

"But you're a high, supreme angel, surely there's something you can do!"

"HOPE!"

Hope appeared in a swirl of clouds. "What?" She saw the Screen. "Oh, what does he mean to you?"

"My life!" Piper cried out, anguished.

"Not you, hon, Jade. Is he one of your charges?"

"No, but you owe me one. We need to help him."

"Owe you one? To help him? A. I don't owe you anything that large and B. That would cost you and me both, Jade, and for a mortal who's bound to die today, er, tonight, anyway.."

"You were wrong about me, maybe you're wrong about Alex," Piper taunted.

"If I were to allow Jade to sacrifice her immortal soul to save one boy, I'd say

I were nuts." Hope sniffed. "But you, you're stuck here in Purgatory 'cause you don't want to see the light. I'd let you make the sacrifice."

"Hope," I warned.

"What? We're wasting time here. What do you want, Piper, eternal happiness or your boyfriend to stay alive?"

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"You either live the good life after death in Heaven or you cease to exist here."

I paled, suspicious and afraid. In all of my 1500 years here, I'd never heard that one. Piper looked at me, distraught.

"What do I do?" She wailed at me, hugging my waist and looking at the Screen. Alex was pale and the S.U.V. was vibrating dangerously as it roared up the hill, quickly nearing the top and passing the cruiser as if it were standing still.

The red and blue lights came to life and the pursuit was on. The 4-Runner was old, it may fall apart before it ever crashes. The Screen suddenly did a close up of his eyes, a steel blue color, the edges tight in fear, red and blue lights
faintly lighting the interior. The Screen showed his point of view and we all heard him say, "Oh God, please let me get out of this alive."

Pipers arms slid from me as she faced the Screen. "Forgive me, my love." She turned to Hope, her chestnut colored hair fanning out behind her, eyes lit with determination. "I want to give my life for him."

Hope seemed stunned and then happy, "Excellent choice," she said, as if she were a waiter at Le Mont.

Piper hugged me fiercely. "I love you, Jade." She spun towards the Screen, "I love you, Alex," She cried out as she disappeared in a shower of glitter and rose petals.

From my view of the Screen, I saw the 4-Runner slow down, and park itself on the right side of the road, well out of the way to make anymore trouble. Moments later, the cruiser caught up with him.
 
 

"Well, son, you say the accelerator was stuck? You're lucky to be unharmed."

Alex leaned against the 4-Runner, shaken to his core as the trooper leaned inside to check out the interior of the 4-Runner. It was still raining hard and the paneling of the door was getting wet, he was soaked and getting wetter, but he didn't care.

A late model Porsche flew past, the rain making a hissing noise as it passed him. As if it and its occupants were in slow motion, he could see Faye and her mother inside, looking eerily identical. Both were giving him death looks, which shook him up even more. They looked disappointed to see him standing there, unharmed.

She planned this. She and her mother. The thought popped in his head suddenly and he knew without a doubt it was true.

"Son? I asked if you're gonna be okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I will be now." Alex nodded to the trooper.

The man raised his eyebrows, "Really? I can call for a tow truck if you need me to."

Alex shook his head, "No, I'm gonna call my dad. I just wanna go home." Moments later, the trooper drove off, waving at him. Alex watched the receding taillights and called home. As he expected, his dad was extremely concerned, naturally, and was going to leave right away. He hadn't told his dad about Faye and how he thought she did this, it sounded too abstract, even to him and he experienced it.

Ten minutes later, the new 4-Runner touched down and Kevin Richardson lept out and hugged his son to him. Disregarding his earlier self-criticizm, Alex told his dad everything that happened that night, right down to his suspicions of Faye and her mother.

What he didn't tell his dad was what happened moments before the 4-Runner gently cruised to a stop.

That he had seen Piper sitting in the seat next to him, radiant with love and concern for him. And, with tear-filled brown eyes, telling him that everything would be allright.

For all eternity.

¤ THE END¤
Read The Prequel THE LAST GOODBYE
Read The Sequel IMPOSSIBLE AS IT MAY BE
Or Return To AJ Mclean Fanfiction
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