A Visitor to the Round Rock

May 03, 2008 - 20:50 PM PST

This is a story i had to write (rather imitate) for english this year. it is based on one of the short story's from The Illustrated Man called "The Visitor". i came across it again the other day and figured i'd post it.

The Visitor Visits Round Rock

A cool breeze blew the resting leaves, swirling them all around the deserted playground. A dog barked somewhere in the distance. My face pulled down in a frown. This was all wrong. I lay on my back on the bridge of the playscape, my head bent backwards over the side, watching the leaves blow across the ground with a new breeze. My hair fanning out and blowing in the wind, looking as if it was trying to touch the ground. My legs hung off the other side at the crease of my knees, swinging rhythmically. I shivered a little in my jeans and ’No Mercy’ Rock Basketball shirt. I held my basketball in my arms, that was why I had come down here after all.
I stiffly turned my head to look sadly at the basketball courts. How pathetic I was, all alone and abandoned on Thanksgiving Break! My mom busy working, my brother busy with his video games, and my friends busy with their families. I had no one to talk to, to play with, nothing to do but be pathetic. I sighed and sat up for a second, allowing the blood build-up in my head to filter back into my body. I sat simply staring at my basketball, rolling it around in my hands for probably five minutes.
Ten minutes later I found myself sitting in the middle of the basketball court, doing the exact same thing. I looked up and chunked my ball at the basket, not caring when it miraculously ‘swooshed’. I lay down again staring up at the cloudy sky.
“Do you think it will rain?” Asked a masculine voice.
I sat up quickly, surprised. At the entrance leading into the courts there stood a beautiful boy that I had never seen before. His hair was light brown, almost blonde, and kind of shaggy, but it was shorter then a skater boy cut. He was wearing jeans and a long sleeve green shirt.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He walked over, picking up my basketball and turning quickly to shoot it from the elbow. It missed the rim by three feet. I laughed and he turned back to me, a grin on his face.
“My name is Leonard Mark. My family and I just moved here from Paris.”
I hopped up and introduced myself, shaking his hand before I asked, “Paris? What is it like there?”
“Like this.” He said.
Then like magic, the park disappeared and in it’s place the Eiffel Tower popped up out of the ground. My ears were filled with the sound of traffic, the music of French restaurants, and people walking along the streets, tourists and natives alike. My nose went crazy with the smells of genuine French cuisine. Then I realized that I was in Paris. But how could that be? A second ago I was feeling sorry for myself in little Round Rock, Texas. I turned in a circle, until my eyes fell upon Leonard Mark. He smiled, taking in my confused look. Then Paris faded.
“What was that?” I asked feeling slightly insane and hoping that I didn’t just imagine that I traveled across the world.
“Paris.” Leonard said simply, still smiling easily.
“You did that?”
He nodded.
“But how…?” I asked stupidly.
“It’s what I do. How I was born.”
I stood, speechless.
“You have no idea how happy I am that you’re here!” I finally said, giving him a big hug.
The next few days were bliss. I spent every moment with Leonard. We went on trips to foreign places, traveled through time, and hey, I even got my Aristotle report done using information from the man himself. We spent a day under the sea, a day in the sky, no place was left undiscovered, or unexplored.
On the Saturday before school started again I invited Leonard to my house for lunch before we went to the park. It was probably the biggest mistake of my like, however looking back on it I can only assume that it would have happened anyway, it was just a matter of time. We were sitting in a beautiful green meadow surrounded by a huge forest on one side, the sea on the other, and a castle far off on a cliff in the distance. It was the perfect picnic spot. That is, until my brother walked in and my multicolored walls and flowered bedspread of my bedroom returned underneath us.
“Hey, Kels…,” he stopped short.
“Uh, Cody, this is my new friend, uh, Leonard. He just moved in down the street.” I told him, nodding my head encouragingly. I really hoped that he would forget about whatever he might or might not have seen and just yell down to mom that I had a boy in my room. This was a sticky situation, but I would rather he tattle on me for having a ’boyfriend’ then steal Leonard from me.
Cody turned, confused, and returned to his room. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’d better go to the park where it’s safe.”
Leonard looked at me with a strange look. “What do you mean ’where it’s safe’? We are safe right here.”
“But Cody almost caught us, he almost realized what you can do. You know what would happen then right? He would want you for his own, like some prize possession to put on his shelf.”
“Impossible,” Leonard replied, shaking his head disapprovingly, “no one can own me, I am a free man.”
“But that won’t matter to anyone who finds out about you.” I tried to convince him.
“Look at you, Kelsie, are you any different? You are thinking of me as yours right now aren’t you?” He said gesturing his hand in my direction.
“Me? I’m trying to protect you!” I exclaimed. And I was, in my heart I couldn’t live if anything happened to Leonard. He was too good of a person.
The look on Leonard’s face changed as he looked at me, all concerned and whatnot. “I suppose your right. Let’s forget about it and go to the park, okay? We could use some fresh air.” He laughed, and I laughed with him.
Walking across the grass towards the playground at the park, Leonard took my hand and asked, “Where do you want to go now?” I thought very hard and replied, “How about a Beethoven concert?” “What about Fall Out Boy?” He countered. “Oh! Even better! I didn’t know you could do that,” I added. He looked down at me and smiled.
We stood in a crowd of thousands jumping up and down, singing along with Fall Out Boy. Something tugged on my sleeve. I turned into the face of my brother. He had a look of odd understanding on his face. The concert died down, trees taking their regular place in my line of sight, though I only had eyes for my brother and what he was about to say.
“I knew it! How did you do this?”
He wasn’t talking to me. I turned to look at Leonard.
“It’s what I do, how I was born.” He said as simply as when he explained it to me.
“Can you do it for anything?” Cody asked.
“Yes.” Leonard replied.
My stomach dropped, here it came, Cody was going to steal him from me.
“Can you let me meet Weird Al, or the creator of Kingdom Hearts, or Super Smash Bros, ooooo!!!” Cody trailed off, mumbling to himself, full of excitement.
“Come on Leonard, we should go, it’s getting dark,” I cut Cody off. I grabbed Leonard’s hand and pulled him behind me, my eyes wild with panic. We were at the edge of the pit before Cody caught up with us. To get into the park, you have to take the back way, which involves walking around a high cliff-like area, and through some woods. Where the ground fell, there were rocks before hitting the rock covered grass at the bottom.
“Stop,” Cody said, “that’s not fair Kels, you can’t have him all to yourself.” He advanced toward me.
Leonard put himself between me and my brother. “Now Cody, let’s take it easy and talk about this.”
But Cody was beyond listening. He lunged at me. Leonard stood to meet him, and with the impact of Cody hitting him full on, he lost his balance on a slippery rock. Leonard Mark tumbled down the side of the pit, his head seeming to make contact with every rock possible. A silent cry of pain escaped my lips. Cody stood beside me watching in horror. When Leonard lay still at the bottom, I screamed, “NO!” I ran down the rocks that stuck out of the side of the cliff making a small staircase. Tears rolled down my cheeks making it hard to see him as I approached his body. I fell beside him in a heap. There was a pool of red by his beautiful head. I placed my shaking hand on the side of his neck, there was a slight movement under my trembling fingers. I gasped and turned him over, placing his head in my lap. His eyes fluttered open, looking up at me. I put my hand in his.
“I did it to protect you.” He said and then he spoke no more. His hand slipped from my grip. I was overcome with sobs and tremors shook my body. I pulled him up and held him in my arms. I looked up five minutes later and saw my brother standing in the exact same place, looking down on me like an idiot. I stroked Leonard’s head, carefully setting it down on my jacket before I got up.
“YOU KILLED HIM!” I screamed at my brother.
His eyes were almost glazed, but at the sound of my scream he looked at me. “I didn’t mean to,” he whispered. “Kelsie,” he started.
“NO! YOU KILLED HIM!” I screamed at him again. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and was immediately overcome with sadness again as I saw the picture that Leonard and I took on one of our trips.
“What are you doing Kels,” Cody asked me breathlessly.
“What needs to be done.” I told him looking at him with as much malice as I could muster considering what I was about to do to my only sibling. I looked down at my phone again and dialed
9-1-1. A single tear rolled down my cheek as I looked up at where my brother had stood a minute earlier.