The Road w/ Anna Part 6
A week later on the plane Ana sat next to her brother as they waited for their plane to land at their final destination before they took a boat over to one of the islands. To save money they decided to share a suite that looked over the bay as well as the many colorful rooftops. Jack brought along his art supplies and quickly set to work once they got everything settled.
Ana took out her worn journal and started to plan out her journey with different sites to go see while her brother went off to explore on his own with his art class. They had both agreed to meet up at the designated locations where their classes would be held through out their stay.
One night after one of their group dinners Ana felt the sudden sadness overcome her as she watched the sunset dressed in one of her new sundresses she bought that day. While everyone else was coming together for the after meal dance her brother came to her side.
“I know that look and it can only mean that you’re starting to miss him.” Jack said as he leaned up against the railing that separated them from the cliff, “Someone wise once told me that thinking of the past is the worst pain you could ever feel towards someone you cared so much about. That if you can’t move on then where else could you go from there? He’s gone, Ana. You can’t think that what happened is going to change how you feel now. You had every right to be angry with him for hurting you but here’s your chance to move on and have some fun for once.”
Ana shook her head, “I know but what am I doing here, Jack? What am I supposed to learn out of all this if I can’t stop thinking about him?”
“How to sing would one of the things that come to mind.” He said with a slight smile over at her, “You have one hell of a beautiful voice, Ana. You just need to know how to use it so that others know how good you really are.”
“I’m nothing but a writer who knows how to take up a tune with my voice.” She pointed out, “My voice is nothing without the right words. It’s nothing without him near by.”
He put am arm around her shoulders, “You’ve got me to tell you that you don’t need him and that you’re so much more. If he didn’t tell you how he felt that night then there’s nothing holding you back from following your dreams. You don’t have to hide behind all of that strength here especially if you think that you’re only doing it for me. You’re my sister, Ana, and you’re supposed to outshine me every chance you get to prove a point that you’re better than me. Don’t think about some guy who’s in another country dealing with his own problems. Do something for only you like singing your lungs out at the final performance. That’s what we’re here for after all right?” She nodded, “Then do it. I love you to death girl but you really need to start acting like the girl I know. Make me prouder than I’ve ever been and do it just for you not just for mom. She’s already proud of you as it is.”
Ana looked up at her brother with a smile, “Since when did you get to be so good at pep talks?”
He laughed before saying into her shoulder, “Since I had a sister who told me to never give up. She always did know all the right words to make me feel better even when I didn’t want to hear it.”
Ana held onto her brother tightly as they stood there overlooking the caldera as the sun finally set all the way down. For the rest of the trip she took her brothers’ advice and practiced while still in the back of her mind Dmitri was still there reminding her of what could have been.
One night she took up one of the guitars that her professor left out for anyone to use and took out her notebook that had a song written out for him. She strummed the guitar a couple of times before she got the right tune that went with the lyrics and started to softly sing.
After she finished singing she looked up from her notebook to see one of the students she had seen from her school back in the states looking down at her with a smile on his face.
“That was beautiful.” He said as he took a seat next to her with his own guitar, “Depressing as hell but still beautiful nonetheless. I’m Trent Mitchell by the way and I think we went to school together back in the states.”
Ana nodded, “Yeah you’re the captain of the soccer team. What are you doing here? I heard that you got a scholarship for some Texas university last time I was at graduation.”
He shrugged his shoulders; “I decided to take a breather before I made my way to school. Truth is I love music just as much as I love Greece. I have family here so it worked out quite well in my favor. So you’re the famous Anastasia Carter I’ve heard so much about. The one your brother always talks about during practice. I never got a chance to meet you back home. When I heard that you also got accepted into this program I wondered when we would finally run into each other.”
Ana blushed as she looked down in embarrassment at her guitar, “Yeah well Santorini’s a pretty small island so it was bound to happen sometimes. Who would have guessed I was that popular with the soccer team especially with the captain of all people. I didn’t think you ever noticed the likes of me around school. I was pretty much a group of my own.”
“Your words of wisdom saved our asses on a game or two just enough to help me get a scholarship.” He laughed as he looked down at her lyrics, “You know what would make this song even better?”
She cocked her head with a shrug, “I’m up for any suggestions right now. I’ve been working on it forever but I get the feeling something’s missing no matter how many times I look at it.”
He strummed his guitar, “Well it would work perfectly if it were made into a duet.” He took out his pencil and wrote brackets around every other sentence, “You see how it looks like there’s room for someone else to jump in? It’s almost like a conversation only you’re pouring your heart out instead.”
Ana read it over as she looked over at him with a daring idea, “Do you want to try out with me and see how it sounds?”
His eyes lit up, “Get a chance to sing with the famous Anastasia Rose? I would be utterly honored to do so. Just show me how you’re trying to make it sound and we’ll go from there.”
She strummed the first chord and he followed suit just as she started to sing out the first line.
“Far away from here
Away from everything
That ever meant something to me
There you are…
So what am I doing here?
Where did it all go wrong?
Why can’t I think of anything?
But you?
Facing all my fears
Facing everything
But the one I should be thinking of
How can I just give up?
When you’re all I’m thinking of
Was it worth all this pain?
That I’ve seen and done
How could you just leave me?
Just like that
What were you thinking of?
You’re gone
So what am I doing here?
Thinking about all you’ve done
Why can’t I just let go?
When you were never to see me
I’m better than this
To just move on.
You were my everything
Until I hit the ground
It’s time to just let go
Live my life
Singing
Dancing
Everything I never did
When I was with you….”
They both looked up at one another as Trent nodded with a smile, “Now that was perfect. You really do have one hell of a voice, Anastasia.”
Ana nodded, “You know you can call me Ana right? You don’t have to keep calling me by my whole name all the time. Thanks for the compliment anyway. Jack told me that I needed to practice on it if I want to make it to the final performance though so it’s still a bit rough.”
“I don’t think that you’ll have a problem with that by any means.” He said as he patted his guitar lightly, “He just knows you better than anyone that you’ll do great as long as you keep up with it. It’s common knowledge that practice makes perfect in this business.”
“Are you sure that you’re for real?” She blurted with a nervous laugh as she looked up at him.
He leaned over his guitar at her with a sweet smile on his face, “What do you mean by that?” He asked with a raise of an eyebrow.
She set her guitar to the side as she lifted up her notebook, “You’re such a genius so why on earth have you come to the one place that’s meant for people with musical shyness when you clearly have every ability to become a rock star or even teach those of us who don’t see this kind of thing? I mean you saw what I’ve been trying to see for years in a matter of seconds even though you barely know me or what I was aiming to do with it.”
He laughed once more, “Well contrary to popular belief I’m actually a closet wannabe musician. Not even my team mates know I like to sing and play a guitar for I think if they knew I would be laughed off the team. I mean I made a reputation for myself by laughing at people who do this kind of stuff even though I’ve been doing it since I was six. Music just brings me a sense of belonging to something greater than what others had planned out for me. You may think I’m a genius at all this but if I’m such a genius then why can’t I go on stage and prove it? Doing all of this scares the hell out of me in front of a huge crowd.”
“Then why aren’t you afraid when you sing with me?” Ana pointed out for him in obvious confusion, “I understand the whole stage freight thing because to be honest I’m terrified if I go on stage and forget what I’m supposed to do. It’s a common fear to be afraid of screwing up and embarrassing yourself in front of a bunch of people who judge you with every movement you make. You think I was that confident when I spoke at graduation? Try being so nervous that I puked up half my body weight before I went on stage. It’s difficult trying to make it look like you have everything under control when you really don’t.”
He nodded once more, “Everyone puts people like us in a hole and think that it’s all we’ll ever be. That I’ll always be nothing more than a jock who’s really good at kicking balls around all day. I think that doing this with you makes me feel like I could do just about anything with this old guitar. I like having the ability to feel something like that.”
This made Ana blush even more as she looked him in the eye, “Then think of that when you play the next time you have to.” She then took up one of her lucky picks that her father had given her, “Use this and it’ll give you all the luck in the world when you play.”
He looked down at the worn pick in his hand before looking back up her with confusion, “Where did you get this from?”
She smiled as she looked down sadly before looking back up at him, “My dad used to be in a band growing up and kept every pick he had from every place he played before he decided that he would rather restore old buildings than continue with his music career. I think it was because of my mother that he stopped playing though even though I know that he would never admit to it. She used to go to every gig he was at and just dance for him while he played for luck. Before every performance she would kiss one of his picks and say a little prayer for him. After she died he stopped playing and hasn’t picked up his guitar in over twenty years since. All I know now is that since then these little things have brought me luck on more than one occasion.”
“But what I’m really asking you is why would you give me one of your most prized possessions when you barely know anything about me?” He asked curiously as he held onto the pick.
She shrugged her shoulders; “I think you could use as much of it as possible and sides if I ever want it back I know where to find you. Lets just say I consider giving you that pick as a token of our new friendship.”
“Well hopefully we can do another duet together sometime and maybe you can help me at least sing in front of someone other than my dog.” He said with hope in his eyes as she laughed with a nod.
“I should probably get to bed or my brother would wonder where I’ve been all night.” She said as they both stood, “Well it was nice to have finally met you after all this time, Trent Mitchell.” She held out her hand for him to shake.
He nodded as he said softly taking her outreached hand in his, “Same here, Ana Carter. If you want we could meet up here sometime tomorrow?”
Ana was about to turn away when she looked back at him, “I would really like that. Well goodnight then and sleep well.” She then made her way back towards her hotel room where she slowly eased the door open to find her brother fast asleep on his bed snoring loudly.
She looked at herself in the candle lit bathroom mirror to see herself smiling for the first time. She moved a strand of hair behind her ear as she sighed smiling even more as she looked down at her notebook to find that he had written his room number and cell phone underneath her lyrics. She looked back up at herself to see astonishment quickly come across her face. She quickly shook her head as she put water to her face to calm herself from all of the excitement from the night. She got ready for bed and laid down on the bed thinking over every movement that was made this caused to her slowly drift off to sleep.
