Lynne

[Aardvark]

There's this girl I know, Lynne. Everyone was against her, people were out to get her, the world hated her. In her opinion, anyway. She never smiled, always looked down, quiet, shyed away from people, anti-social as hell. It showed in her appearance, too. Never wore makeup, had bags under her eyes, had long, brown hair that was more often than not, badly tangled, could've been overweight, but it was impossible to tell, because she wore dull, baggy clothes and only sexless business suits when occasions required it. Not a very good conversationalist, either. Just one on one it took effort to keep a conversation alive and in groups she went completely silent. Not that it mattered, as the only time anyone would casually converse with her would be during lunch or after work. But she was a brilliant listener. If you had something to get off your chest, she would patiently sit and take in every word. That's probably why I liked her so much.

 

It'd taken me two years of careful conversational manoeuvring to finally get her to tell me her story. Unstable family life, father died at a young age, mother was an alcoholic, lived with her grandmother 'til she died when Lynne was 12, then back with her alcoholic mother, where she lived shut away in her room, to avoid her mother or stepdad's attentions. She did well enough at school, using academics as an escape, but never got on with other students, so had few friends. Forced out of home at 17, she moved into a sharehouse, got a few retail jobs to support her through uni until she graduated, then found her current job and moved into an apartment not too far from the city.

 

Baggy clothing aside and when she'd gone to the trouble of brushing her hair, she wasn't all that unattractive. In the two years I'd known her, she'd had 3 men in her life. Two were gone within a week, one lasted a month. He'd come and gone 6 months before. For about a month after each, she would brood constantly. The first time, I tried for a month to get her over it, the rest I just accepted and waited 'til she seemed like she wanted company again.

 

Then she met a mate of mine, Thomas. Big Tom, we'd call him, because he was a large man. Not fat, not tall, just well built. Solid, but not muscley. Excellent man to have in a fight or in a doubles game of pool. He'd come to our office to collect a bit of money I'd promised him and had run into Lynne while trying to navigate the maze of cubicles. He must've caught her in good light or something, because, as he told her minutes later, he'd never seen a girl that beautiful before. Either that or he'd been rejected by the high-strung bimbos who only go for guys with incredibly large wallets again and was after someone easier. He never told me why, but he used my name to start up a conversation with her and within minutes had her talking more to him than she'd ever talked to anyone in the office over the past two years.

 

He dragged her out for dinner and a movie that Friday night. The evening before, I'd had a serious talk to him about Lynne, which consisted of "If you break her heart, I'll have no one to whinge to for a month, so you'll cop every single bad thing that happens to me for 30 days". He laughed at that and didn't reply. I didn't see either of them until the following Monday.

 

For the first time ever, Lynne came into work a few minutes late. For the first time ever, her head was up, she was smiling brightly, her hair was finely combed and she was wearing a rather smart outfit none had ever seen before. Instantly, I saw what Tom had seen right away. Some smart alec demanded to know where Lynne was. This got a few chuckles from other people, until Lynne doubled over with laughter. It was the first time any of us had heard her laugh and it was infectious. Soon, the office was in stitches.

 

Tom and Lynne were an item for several months after that, coming out together with the group to various clubs and events, sometimes disappearing for a couple of days by themselves. Even without Tom, Lynne had become more sociable, friendly and was at least attempting conversation. And she still listened patiently whenever I needed to bitch about... whatever. She was almost a changed woman. New clothes, craftily applied makeup and curly deep crimson hair. When she walked into the office with that do, my thoughts instantly went back to a centrefold Tom had up on his wall for three years straight. I chuckled, but kept the thought to myself.

 

Things went beautifully for the two for several months. Then one evening, we were out on the town. Just the three of us. Twas a beautiful spring evening and we were on our way to a club. The plan was to meet up with the rest of the group there, stay a while, then get to a midnight drunken gathering nearby. The area was busy. People going home from work mingling with people coming in from the suburb to celebrate the end of another week. It was busy and noisy and to this day, I have no idea what Tom saw that no one else did.

 

The media would later blame terrorists for the car bombing. At the time, I was still dazed. I'd been fortunate in that I'd been lagging, putting a car between me and the blast. Tom, on the otherhand...

 

I had to roll him off Lynne. He was too heavy for her. He was also in no condition to move himself. He'd taken a large chunk of metal in the back and bits of glass could be seen in his arm. Lynne was shaken and bruised from the fall, but otherwise unharmed. Tom had knocked her to the ground moments before the explosion. When she came to her senses, she saw the blood everywhere, saw Tom's ashen face and immediately wept. "No, I can't lose you, too." I heard her saying over and over again. He reached a weakened hand up to her face and stroked her cheek with a clenched fist. He then pulled her down to him and whispered something to her. She held him until he was no more, then arose and asked me to take her home.

 

I didn't ask her for his last words, but she volunteered them anyway.

 

"Don't lose this life I gave you and you won't lose me."

 

There's this girl I know, Lynne. Beautiful, intelligent, sharp wit, brilliant conversationalist, snappy dresser. I wish I'd gotten to know her better when I first met her.

[Alaeha]

Wow. Very, very good. I was a little dubious of it for about the first paragraph... but it's quite good. You might want to expand on it, though, extending it a bit. For example, what was going on in the narrator's life at that time?

 

Just an idea. I loved this though.

[Peredhil]

This is gripping.

 

Really really well done...