DANIELLE ELEN
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"Please, just let me talk to your agent. I'm sure we can figure something out."
I chased after the actor. I needed her. The fans wanted her in my next movie, so that's that.
"No. I'm not going to work with every wanna-be filmmaker teenager that comes to my doorstep." She does not even turn around to face me as she maneuvered through the maze of hallways.
"You don't understand-"
She cut me off, finally spinning around to face me. "I do, actually. And I already gave you my answer."
She turned back around and marched through a set of doors.
I looked at the sign above the doorframe. AIRING glared back at me in big bold letters, almost taunting me. I looked at the sheet on the side of the door. Just a soccer interview.
Silently, I opened the doors and stepped in, scanning the crowd for the actor.
Spotting my target in the corner, I walked over to her with confidence in my step.
"Do you ever give up?" she forcefully whispered to me.
"No." Reaching into my shoulder bag, I pulled out a business card and handed it to her.
She glanced at it briefly, getting ready to immediately throw it away, but stopped once she read my name. "Danielle Elen?" she gasps.
I raised my eyebrows at her. Finally.
"I am so sorry. I didn't know it was you. Hold on, I'll get my agent on the line right now." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing a number.
I turned around, taking in the room.
Then I saw him. He was being interviewed by three people all at once, just sitting there like he does not have a care in the world.
I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.
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ISAAC STONE
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"What about Jason McLanin? How long till he comes back? How confident are you in the team without your starting goalie?"
The questions were thrown at me all at once as I tried to answer.
"Jason McLanin's injury is not as bad as we originally thought. He should be able to come back very soon. And I have much confidence in Luke Walis as the backup to protect us in the upcoming games." I answered as I have been taught.
"What about the fight between Neil Hallon and Gabe Master?"
That took only nine minutes to reach. Reporters loved juicy topics and drama.
"They..." I prepared to answer appropriately, but trail off as something catches my eye.
A young women walked into the recording studio, chasing another women with pink hair. At first, I was confused, until the young women turned and connected eye contact with me.
What was she doing here?! I thought she lived along the south edge of the state.
I couldn't believe it.
I leaned over to one of my team mates who was sitting next to me. "Cover for me." I quickly pushed my chair back and stepped off the platform, dodging cameras and reporter as I headed to the back of the studio.
"Luke and Gabe have had their grudges in the past, but that is normal for a team under as much pressure as we are." His answer got drown out from the whispering conversations.
Where did she go?
Then I spotted her as she quickly walked around people and right out the door.
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DANIELLE ELEN
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What was he doing here?!
He was supposed to be back in Kentucky, living his perfect life, not in Las Vegas.
"Here she is." The actor started to hand me her phone, yanking me back to the present.
"You know what, how about you have her call me?" I rushed. "You have my business card. Just have her call me before Tuesday, so we can iron out all the details."
I looked back at the platform. Isaac was now standing up and walking off the stage toward me.
No!
"Um, ok?" The actor looked startled from my sudden change in demeanor.
With that settled, I hugged the strap of my shoulder bag closer to my chest as I headed to the doors.
He was getting closer!
I pushed open the door and walked briskly down the hallway, praying he will give up once he sees I left the room.
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ISAAC STONE
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She expected me to give up. But that was the last thing I would do. This is the closest I have been to her in five years. I wasn't going to just give up.
I used both hands to push open the double doors, just in time to see her disappear around the corner.
I pushed myself into a full sprint down the hallway, slowing once I reached the corner.
She looked behind her quickly seeing I was there, then started to run down another hallway.
I had to get to her before the exit or it was over.
I chased after her, suddenly remember when we used to race each other down the hallways of the church. But now we were running for different reasons.
I turned around another corner, seeing the revolving door that lead to the parking lot. With Danielle between me in the door.
Running with double energy, I caught up to her within seconds.
I always won our races. She knew that.
I clamped a hand on her shoulder, bring her to a complete stop.
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DANIELLE ELEN
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No! Please, no!
I took a deep breathe, then spun around, whacking his hand off my shoulder. But I refused to look at him and instead took great interest in the marble floor.
"What do you want?" I could barely speak.
He always did this to me no matter how hard I tried not to let him. His presence just made me freeze up.
"'What do I want?' Seriously? I haven't seen you in five years!" He used his knuckle to force me to look at him. He did the same thing on the bridge when he-
I stopped that thought.
"So?" I looked into his beautifully dark brown eyes. "I haven't see Addy or Livi in five years. I haven't see Lynn in five years."
He looked at me with confusion. "No one's seen Lynn in five years."
"What?" I refused to think.
"Oh! You don't know!" He took a step back and ran his hands through his hair.
"Know what? Of course I don't know!" We had started to attract the attention of some people passing by.
"Lynnie is gone." He used the pet name for her we all came up with.
"What do you mean 'gone'?"
"Gone. Dead." He looked at me like he couldn't believe I don't already know this.
I took a step back and cover a gasp. "Dead?" I whispered.
"She got hit by a drunk driver. She gave herself up to save a little boy she didn't even know." He was obviously not trying to cry at the terrible memory.
Now I really couldn't breathe. Lynnie, dead.
And I didn't even say good bye.
"Wait. If you didn't know about Lynn, then do you know about Riah?" He asked, referring to his younger sister.
"What?" I am too scared to think.
He took a deep breath. "Her health failed her a year ago. We knew it was coming, but she was just so young. We didn't think it would happen that soon."
When I had left, Riah was struggling with many things pertaining to her health. Her spine. Her kidneys. Her everything.
It was almost as if God messed up when he made her.
Tears started to stream down my cheek. I took a deep breath, trying to hold myself together.
"How is Hana?" I ask him. Hana was Riah's identical twin. Her second half.
"She broken. We all are."
"How about Livi?"
"No one's heard from her in a while. Moved to Canada. Became this big business woman."
"Addy?"
"Still at Kentucky. Broken, like the rest of us. It's been some hard years for those who didn't run away."
I pressed my lips into a fine line.
"Good luck with your game." I spun on my heel and walked out the door, noticing too late of the pouring rain.
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ISAAC STONE
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I watched her leave out the doors into the rain.
I was this close to her. I wasn't going to let her go again. Not this time.
I followed her into the parking lot.
She walked down the side walk, heading to the back of the lot.
Sprinting, I ran after her again, careful not to slip on the puddles pooling up on the concrete.
Catching up to her, I stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
It was at that moment that I realized how much older she had become.
She was beautiful.
But then again, I already knew that.
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DANIELLE ELEN
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He just doesn't give up!
That was one of the things that drove me crazy as we grew up together. He just didn't know when to stop.
The rain caused some of my hair to plaster itself against my face. I pushed it back out of the way.
"What do you want?" I asked again.
"I want to know why you left." He said calmly, the rain started to flatten his hair against the top of his head.
I gritted my teeth together, staring at anything but him.
He bent over so our eyes are level with each other.
"Please, Donut."
I look right at him. "I'm not Donut anymore." And you are no longer my Tom, I thought.
Thunder clapped overhead as if to mock us both.
"Just because your life is different doesn't mean that you aren't the same person to me." He took a deep breath.
"Maybe I don't want to be anything to you."
"Is it because of what happened on the bridge? If that hurt you, just say so! I didn't think you would react like this. Running away. Permanently."
I sigh. "It wasn't just you. I...I just hurt too much to stay."
The rain had now drenched my clothes. But I didn't care.
"So you were running from memories? Not me?"
I looked up at him, willing myself not to get lost in his eyes like I did five years ago.
An alarm went off on my phone, signaling a meeting I had in less than fifteen minutes.
I silenced the phone, shielding it from the rain.
Isaac took a step closer to me as the thunder sounded again.
He put both hands on my shoulders.
"Please, stop running, Danielle."
I look at him once last time, then briskly walk around him. I opened my car door and quietly slip in, starting the engine.
Shaking the water from my hair and clothes, I pulled out of the parking spot and drove out into the street.
Leaving Tom standing in the rain.
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So yeah. Kind of a sad ending. The actually ending to the story is here- https://www.penana.com/story/110735/sentence-to-a-story/issue/1 and you can find the whole story here- https://www.penana.com/story/109376/my-love/issue/11
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Thanks for reading!
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