The book of Second Chances- A.D. Duling – Weekly fictional stories of do overs…Week 1

Dear Beholder,

A written warning, use this book wisley. The feather pen to your left will be used. What is written upon a page of this book shall give you your chance. What was done will be erased, what you do in place of it will be written. Everyone deserves a second chance. What you do with yours should be for the good. If you choose to do bad with this gift, your crime shall recieve proper punishment.

R,

The Creator

 

Nicholas sat the book down and leaned back in his chair. A second chance? How many second chances had he needed in his life. To choose one from many, would be hard. Should he even do it? Would it even be worth the try? One mistake broke through to the surface of his thoughts; the one that he should have never been made. Nicholas reached over and lifted the pen from its holder within the inside cover of the book. Did it need ink?

He grabbed a paper and scribbled on it; it had its own. He flipped to the next page, which was blank and flipped to another, blank as well. He flipped through the rest of them and found them all blank. Had anyone used this before him? Was he the first? Doubt rose into his mind, but regret quickly replaced it. Caroline… he thought. Trembling he lifted the pen and placed it upon the page and wrote:

I was supposed to meet her in the park, but never went….

He had not even finished his first sentence, when the room around him faded and the park in his thoughts appeared before him.  On the bench, there she sat staring across the pond where geese,ducks and other fowl occupied. Nicholas stood up from his desk and walked around it. He walked foward to the edge of the flooring and stared down to the grass it met up with. He reached his hand out and watched it pass through without trouble. Caroline turned around and spotted him. She smiled and waved to him over.

Without further hesitation, he stepped foward and went to her. Her face young and beautiful just as he remembered it. The smile upon it bright and welcoming. He sat down next to her and she grabbed his hand. It was real, his fingers intertwined between hers as he took in every inch of her. Her skin was soft and warm. He memorized every feature of her profile as she looked out across the pond. She noticed this and looked back at him.

"What is wrong?" she asked him.

He shook his head, choking up. "Nothing…" he told her. But she knew better and reached her hand up to caress his face. It felt wonderful as her fingers tenderly touched his cheek and then reached up and ran through his hair.

"You need a haircut." she told him and he laughed.

He did, he needed a shave as well, but she said nothing about that. Her eyes looked into his and he chocked up again.

"Nicholas, what is wrong?" she asked him.

He smiled as a tear slipped past his crumbling wall.  "I love you Caroline…" he told her.

She smiled and touched his cheek again. "I love you too." she answered.

He looked out to the pond and watched the couple with their little child feed the geese. Slowly, the view before him dissolved and he quickly looked to Caroline, she looked out at the pond, giving no notice to the disappearing world around them.  He watched as she slowly dissapeared along with it and the walls of his office reappeared where they once were. He looked down to the book upon the desk, his written words no longer there. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. Was he a fool? Had he been sleeping? Had it been a dream?

"Nicholas!" a sweet voice called down to him, deep into the basement.

He sat up in his seat and looked over to the stairs leading up to the kitchen above him.

"Nicholas…lunch is ready!" The sweet voice called again; it was Caroline's.

His heart lept into his chest and he stood up. He walked over to the bottom of the small stariway and looked up at the closed door above him. He had been alone since the day he never went to her in the park. No written article, no mention or  award he recieved thereafter ever replaced what he had given up. Ambition was what he thought he had wanted then, the sacrafice he had made , he thought worth it as well. Twenty years had passed. She had never married and neither had he. It took him half that time to realize how foolish he was and the other half to get the nerve. His left hand grabbed onto the rail and he noticed a ring upon it. He smiled and climed the steps to the top. His hand turned the knob and he opened the door. His wife sat waiting for him at the kitchen table and he joined her for lunch.

As the basement door shut above, so did the book that lay on the desk below and then it disappeared.

 

I hope you enjoyed this little story of a second chance. Weekly I will add another addition to the Book of Second Chances. Everybody deserves a second chance. What would you do with yours? Have a story you would like to submit? Email yours to alishiajax (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll post it the following week! Just wanna read…follow my blog and check back weekly. I will write a new story every Wednesday…

Thank you for reading!

A.D.

www(dot) adduling (dot)com