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fragments of the tragic blonde (rough draft of novel that will probably take years to finish)

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     Crystal laughed in her desk as she eyed John ferociously, “No, he’ll call on you...”

    “John.”

    “Yes?” John replied, trying not to laugh as he looked in Crystal’s direction.

     That was enough, she could barely conceal her laughter as he flawlessly answered

the question and jokingly glared at her afterwards.

      Luckily, the period was short, and the bell rang soon after. Collecting her things,

Crystal got up, almost ready to exit the classroom. She felt a tap on her shoulder.

Turning around she saw no one there, but as she looked ahead she noticed John rushing

out of the door far ahead of her, probably laughing on his way. She secretly smiled to

herself as she swung the bag on her back and left the room behind him. Those were the

usual days, the good old days. The days she would hate at the time, but would be all she

would remember of happiness.

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(bumped into jannie in the hall)

      “Hey Crystal,” a cheery voice called out.

      “Jannie! What’s up?”

      “Oh not much,” she replied as usual, “School, as always which gets in our way.  How are you?”

      “Oh, I’m alright.”

      “Alright?” Jannie stopped and snorted. “Just alright?   I can tell when you’re hiding something, and you are aren’t you?”

      “Of course not,” she said serenely, “I’m just happy, that’s all.”

      “I think you’re in love, you’re in love aren’t you?”

         “In love?!” Crystal laughed in shock, “Where would you get an idea like that?”

      “Oh, I can tell,” Jannie nodded knowingly, “I can always tell when someone’s in love.”

      Crystal shook her head smiling, but it was the truth. At 14 she had fallen in love, and even then she still wouldn’t know it.

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possible outcomes:

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“Hey,” she said shyly, twirling a finger through her curled hair. John stopped.

“Sarah, is that you?” he squinted his eyes, trying to remember everything that he

could about her from the past 10 years, and was awestruck. She looked different to him,

it was something about her...

“Yeah, it’s me. Long time no see huh?” She laughed, her eyes sparkling with it.

“Oh I wanted you to sign this.”

She dug around in her purse and finally pulled out a pad of paper along with a

pen. “I was hoping you could do this one little favor....”

“This is ridiculous,” he said taking the pad of paper out of her hand, “We’ve

known each other since high school, you don’t need my autograph. We’re friends.”

“Oh are we? I was beginning to wonder.”

His face fell as she looked down. “Why don’t you come to my place tonight.”

She looked up with raised eyebrows, questioning his invitation. “Funny, you

never invited me anywhere before. Why should I go with you now?”

“Why not?”

The crowd had thickened, pulling her away from him

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“You are such an asshole! I can’t believe you would ever do this!”

Angrily she grabbed his award, flinging it at him with all her strength. Quick

reflexes made him jump to the side as he heard it shatter the window behind him.

“What are you doing?” he yelled, running up towards her.

“I’m sick of you! I’m sick of everything!”

“Stop it! Stop it!” he screamed in her face as he shook her, holding tightly on to

her shoulders practically crushing them. She had turned a ghastly shade of white as the

color drained from her face, her eyes bulging from her head. Shaking free she swung

back her arm and punched him hard, square in the eye.

“Now you’ve done it,” he growled as he struck her across the cheek, blood flying

across the room, permanently painting the wall a deathly shade of red.

Her body crumpled to the floor, not moving for a few seconds. John stood still

above her, breathing heavily and glancing around the apartment. His award was broken.

Everything was broken.

He watched her stir, and knelt down on the ground beside her. “Baby, I’m so

sorry, I’ll never do this again, this was an accident, a mistake-”

“Fuck you,” she growled as she got up. Limping she moved towards the door.

“I’m leaving. Ha! I’m leaving you!”

He watched motionlessly as she walked out the door, slamming it behind her. At

that moment words didn’t exist, nothing seemed real at all. He fell to the floor and cried.

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(the even more tragic ending, lol)

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“Crystal?”

“Yes, this is,” she said, putting her dirty plate in the sink.

“I have some difficult news to tell you, you’d better sit down.”

“What is it?”

“You see..... John killed himself last night.”

She dropped the glass she’d picked up and watched in slow motion as it fell into

the sink, bouncing unharmed, like plastic does when it falls. “What?”

“John killed himself, he did it last night...with a gun. He left a note.”

“What?” she cried helplessly into the phone, tears springing out of her eyes and

falling into the sink. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m so sorry,” the caller said as her voice cracked, “He wrote something in this

letter for you.”

Crystal broke into sobs and looked out the window. Her husband looked at her

quizzically through the window. “No, how could he do that? Why would he ever do

that?” she screamed into the phone while looking out the window. Her whole being fell

apart, she could see the pieces shattering before her, flashing back into her mind like it

was yesterday....John. John smiling serenely, John dancing in January, John seeming just

as helpless as she did then.

She crumpled to the floor and cried, dropping the phone to her feet. Daniel came

running through the door, taking off his shoes and throwing his arms around her. “It’ll be

okay,” he said calmly, “Shhh, shhh, I’m here, it’s okay.”

His strong arms comforted her as her tears washed onto his sweatshirt. The world

suddenly seemed emptier, more surreal, just as cold as she had once told herself she

would never believe.

“What happened, what happened?” he asked soothingly as he ran is fingers

through her hair. She looked up, her blue eyes standing out even more behind the red

backdrop they had fallen in front of. He wiped the tears from her face as she spoke.

“We have to go to Chicago Daniel, I’m really sorry...” she broke into sobs before

she could finish.

“What happened?”

“John killed himself, he left me a letter,” she could barely spit the words out.

Daniel’s face fell. He noticed how her arms had grown limp when she said the

inevitable.

“Oh my God,” he said while he cradled her head against his chest, rocking gently

back and forth. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered in her ear.

Sobs continued to escape from her mouth as she looked out of the window, only a

tiny square of sky was visible. It seemed forever tainted. Nothing would ever look the

same again.

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all the things i should've given but i didn't...