Autumn's Child

Never before in his life had Calvin Ransom been in so much pain; Chase was sobbing before him, glistening droplets sprouting from her eyes and slowly slipping down her fair cheeks, and he simply could not stand the heartache it caused him. Calvin was not built to withstand such things; he had kept hold of his innocent, child-like mind, and was, therefore, tortured by the sight of the weeping angle before him. She was being torn apart, and in a way that no teenager deserved to be; her heart had been broken, Calvin could see it, as though she was holding it in her palms, and the young man was desperate to put it back together…

And so he gently began to pick up the porcelain pieces, one at a time, the glue in his other hand.

Calvin wrapped his arms around Chase, returning the hug that she had given him as she wept into the sleeve of his favorite jacket. As far as he was concerned, the vibrant piece of fabric was Chase’s; she could have anything of Calvin’s if it would make things better. “Your not alone, Chase. The rest of the world will hurt you, but I won’t. Pinky promise…” he spoke softly, resting his head near her ear, “but if you let them break your heart too many times, you won’t be able to find a glue stick good enough to do the trick. Laugh at your troubles, Chase, laugh at them until they feel like they aren’t hurting you anymore and they will give up.”

The young man’s voice had slowly begun to change as he listened to the redhead’s muffled sniffles, and felt the sobs that racked her body as he held her near; the pain had produced a single pair of tears, which fell from his eyelashes, and his voice became more nasally than usual as he attempted to calm himself. “Oh Chase…” he whispered before bringing his hands to her chin, which had been berried in his jacket, and took hold of her face gently. With as much care as one would handle a peice of glass, he rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closed tight.

He didn’t know how to fix her.

Chase heard him speak, and she tried to calm herself down enough to listen what he had to say. Laugh at her pain? She didn't laugh much anymore.. unless he was around, in fact she rarely smiled these days, of course unless it was with Calvin. He was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, a cloudy day that just kept going, and going, and going. Chase hugged him hard, feeling his arms around her, and she heard his voice change, change as though he were sad, and he sounded like the adult he actually was. Chase felt his hand on her chin, and she slowly looked up at him, seeing the tears that glistened on his face, she gasped slightly, not sure what to do. Calvin didn't cry.. it wasn't Calvin, it was horribly wrong. He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

Chase had her eyes open, staring at the tiny tears that were slowly making their way down his face. Chase slowly reached out, and wiped them away, running her fingers across his face, getting rid of the streaks that had shown up there, running her fingers across his eyelashes to get rid of the soft tears that had clung there. "You aren't supposed to cry Calvin.." She whispered, closing her eyes, her fingers still resting on his face. "I don't want you to cry... I didn't.. mean for you to cry.." She whispered, her eyes slowly opening as she looked at him again, and slowly she leaned in, touching her lips to his cheek, she held it there for a long moment. "Oh Calvin... if only you knew how happy I was to see you.." She said gently, her palms cupping his cheeks. Holding his forehead to hers, her eyes closed, her breathing slowly calming, the tears slowly stopping, as she breathed in his scent, and let her mind slowly rearrange itself into a more presentable manner.

“Yes- yes you’re right,” Calvin replied quickly, drawing in a breath as though he had only just realized he had been crying along with his beloved friend, “Must have…” he began, searching for some sort of excuse In order to make up for the tears that he had shed; he was not, after all, the cheery, innocent Calvin who cried. It was not in his blood to allow anything to drag him down as he had upon seeing Chase in pain, but apparently, the current situation was an exception to that rule. “Must have gotten a bit of your hair stuck in my eyes- you know, when I hugged you… or something,” he attempted, unaware of the fact that such a line had been over used throughout the course of history by childish beings like himself. It was right next to the homework assignment that had been violently torn apart by a young student’s dog in that mythological book of sorry excuses. Yet, it worked for Calvin, so long as he had not changed Chase’s opinion of him.

Becuase only Chase’s opinion mattered.

“Now,” Calvin spoke after sitting up straight and giving his head a shake in order to rid him of his momentary sorrowful mood, “Let’s go get some ice-cream- ice-cream is good for the soul,” he suggested, Chase’s hands held lightly within his own once more. He just had to make her smile… it would do wonders for her, as it always did him. If the sky is gray, dress in bright colors, he recalled his mother telling him once as a child.

He had never forgotten those rules of hers, and it had been her wisdom that had allowed him to make it past his own rainy days.

As much as the young man wished to spend the rest of the Autumn evening smiling, dancing, and laughing with Chase, he knew that there was still something wrong; such child-like activities as the ones Calvin had in mind could cheer a person up, but it did not heal a wounded soul…

He would have to be his very best Calvin Ransom if he ever wanted to be such an influence.

"Oh Calvin.." She said with a small smile when he said a piece of her hair got caught in his eye. She shook her head and wiped her own eyes, hoping those wretched tears would stop and let her get a hold on reality. "Don't you ever stop being yourself okay? Do what you want to do... I love you to much for you to try and be someone you aren't." She said softly and looked up at him with a small smile, tears still leaking down her face. She hugged him again, and then looked up at him with a small amount of shock when he said something about getting ice cream. "Ice cream?" She asked with a small smile.

She held onto his hand, and then nodded. "Ice cream sounds good." She said visibly relaxing. It was like once she had gotten that out, she could suddenly relax and be herself. It was as though the Chase that was filled with the world, and all it's workings, was different then the Chase who Calvin go to see, the real Chase. The Chase she had been before the world had grabbed her in it's icy grip and destroyed her without even a second look. Now she was back out to play, finally free to let her mind wander, and know that she was safe, and not feel as though every bad thing was happening to her all at the same time.

"Ice cream.. yeah come on Calvin!" She said and grabbed his hand, pulling him off the bench, and walking off down the road, his hand still in hers, her half dragging him down the walkway, a small, almost sad smile on her face, as she let go of her pain, her tears, her sorrow, and let them all melt away like the snow. Leaving behind beautiful green grass, and flowers that had been aching to be seen all Winter long. "What kind? I like Chocolate, but they have some really cool flavours.. like superman and stuff." She said, and then chattered on about how the sky looked, and the ground, and the trees. Some of it was forced, as though forcing herself not to think of all those horrible things, but most of it was just Chase.. Chase as she had always been, been beneath that layer of snow.

OOC: This post isn’t the best, and I apologize; it may take me a while to get the hang of writing as Calvin again.

“I won’t, Chase! Honest!” Calvin replied, speaking as fast as his tongue would permit him to; he would not be the cause of her pain, not once. “Never, ever, never, ever- ever,” he added, just to prove his point. If seeing the young redhead cry had reduced him to tears as well, he could not imagine what horrible pain he would experience if he was ever the one to cause those dreadful droplets to roll down her fair cheeks- though his own emotions were not of his concern when his beloved friend was hurting.

Upon spotting the smile that had graced her lips for a second, Calvin could not contain his excitement; he had done that, hadn’t he? He had fixed her for that short moment, even when he had been so close to admitting defeat… and nothing could have made him happier. “Aha!” he exclaimed after rubbing his hands across his face twice more so to make certain that there was not a tear left, “My bestest friend – you smiled!”

Chase had told him that he was her ray of sunshine, but to be honest, when she smiled, and she laughed, he could not have been more convinced that Chase had gotten her information backwards.

“We will get the tallest ice-creams in the world!” the gentle giant agreed, uprooting himself from that chilled wooden bench to stumble along behind her. Calvin’s heart had begun to race again as he listened to Chase’s excited voice; it had been so long since he had last listened to her speak that way. That was the Chase Moor that he cared for so very much.

Calvin felt that he could not smile wide enough to suit the occasion.

“Sherbet! I love yellow sherbet, but it is hard to find sometimes- I like orange sherbet too, though, because I didn’t want to make the ice-cream man sad when he was all out of yellow, so I tried it, and it was great! It was almost better than yellow!” Calvin told Chase, speaking in a voice that made it clear that he was serious about ice-cream flavors. Combined, Chase and Calvin were a whirlwind of words, each speaking as fast and as constantly as the other. It was quite a dizzying display, for there were times when Calvin would stop short in the middle of a sentence in order to hear her speak- and as he listened his eyes grew, and he focused on only her, as though she were telling a bedtime story to a four-year-old.

So down the street they walked, Chase Moor and Calvin Ransom, each so different than the other in appearance, but so very alike in personality.