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Chapter 1……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 2……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 3……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 4……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 5……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 6……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 7……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 8……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 9……………………………………………………………………………Page
Chapter 10………………………………………………………………………….Page
Chapter 11………………………………………………………………………….Page
Epilogue…………………………………………………………………………….Page
Copyright 2014
Lauren Bennett, Ellie Shaw, Dacia Stewart, Tisshi Siva, Lauren Grace, Meg Larson, MeredithSchultz
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Prologue
She was beautiful. Her auburn locks and her shining blue eyes. My father disapproved of our story but
I didn’t care. She was the one for me from the start. The day I saw her I knew I would be falling for her since. I did stupid things to impress her; we were stupidly in love. I think she liked my too. The castle was our place. And no one else’s. We would grow old together no matter how rich or how happy. I was in a state of mind where no one could put me down but she could definitely bring me up.
I remember our first ‘date’. We were at a carnival on the Ferris wheel and I took her in my arms and cradled her under my chin. She fit perfectly. It was perfect.
-James
Chapter 1
The airport was cold and grey. Oskar was pressed to the window, seemingly mesmerized by the fascinating planes .He wore his blue jacket and the plaid scarf we had found at a small thrift shop near our apartment. He didn’t like wearing it. He thought it was itchy, but I refused to let my son get cold
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and sick. An elderly woman passed by. She had a soft face and an oversized floral suitcase finished with lace frilling. It reminded me of the floral drapes that hung from the window sills in my Bristol home that I’d disappear behind when Dad and I would have an argument. I missed my home. That was probably the reason I was taking my only son to the place where I felt so, contented. I was hoping he’d belong there too.
The old man next to me was passed out. At first I thought he was just asleep, but he reeked of alcohol.
Everything was silent. No one talked or made a sound. It was as if we had all been frozen in our own content worlds. It was the world between countries. The world of stillness. The static loud speaker broke the silence with five words.
“Flight QF8 ready to board.” It echoed through the lounge, and people began to gather their belongings and move towards the terminal. I grabbed my handbag and slipped my hand into Oskar’s.
I walked quickly, hoping to escape the crowd. We headed towards the terminal. The long deep tunnel that would take us to the plane.
“We’re going Oskar.” I murmured.
“Will it hurt?” He stared at me ever so innocently. For a seven year old, he challenged my ability to stick to the real world.
I chuckled under my breath.
“Of course not.” I squeezed his hand and continued walking. He stopped like a suddenly anchored boat. The floods of people continued to pass by.
“Are you sure?”
I stopped. I knelt down and looked him in the eyes. He looked at the floor, like he was in trouble. I tucked his hair behind his ear and held his chin.
“I promise you. It’ll be fine. Trust me.” I kissed him on the forehead, and took his hand once again.
It was like this a lot. Him and I against the world. It sounds cliché, but he is all I have. He is my everything. His father was the mistake I was bound to make at least once in my life. Oskar was that silver lining of that mistake, not the mistake itself.
The end of the terminal is nearing. My heart is beating faster. I could feel his hand getting sweaty.
There was one last step. Then we’d be on the plane. I looked down at Oscar, he looked up at me. We were ready.
Chapter 2
The plane was beautiful Brisbane buildings were reflection of the blessed by the though it was seemed like the us with its light. out of the window,
He didn’t look hand was grasping flying above the city. The glistening in the plane window, sun’s rays. Even winter and cold it sun still blessed
Oscar was looking his eyes entranced. happy though. His the armrest and he
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was grinding his teeth. I tried to stop worrying about him and inspected the plane. A woman was rocking her crying baby to sleep while she fed another with a bottle. A man was yelling at who appeared to be his child about how he couldn’t make friends on a plane with fifty people he didn’t know. He was cantankerous and grumpy. I thought of Oskar. His imagination was wild and it seemed that most imaginations of children were digested by critical parents.
Oskar started to breathe heavily and pressed his head into his knees. The air hostess asked us if he wanted a sick bag but I assured her that Oskar was just overreacting. He was just like I was as a child, kept to myself and unsure of the world yet somehow curious of its wonders. I didn’t expect him to be so scared though. It was his first plane flight but a boy of his age would of thought to be dazzled at the hectic thought of large mechanical cars flying in the sky. I just told him to imagine the city below was built out of Lego and that everything was going to be alright. He smiled at the thought.
After a while he settled in and started reading his favourite children’s book ‘Where the Wild Things
Are’. He had always read this book to take a load off his chest or to escape from the real world.
“Mum, I need another source of entertainment please. Any ideas?” he asked as he slowly closed his book.
“Of course,” I replied. But then I thought, what can I possibly tell him? I thought again.
“Any preferences?” I asked him and he shrugged his shoulders and turned his head to the side. I knew what to tell him. I thought that he’d be confused why we were going to and old English town in the middle of winter.
“James?” I asked him not expecting him to know.
He looked at me confused. But he smiled because he realized I had found a single word that had made me happy.
Chapter 3
Bristol was my home many memories with so town. I had shared so many people there.
Going back with Oskar scared, because though with adventure and tragedy and things I’d think it’s time I move
His name was James. I fourteen. When I first made me feel slightly my childhood was filled mishaps there was also like to forget. But I on. was twelve and he was saw him, he was in the
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orchard, climbing the apple tree; I was sitting on the bench reading To Kill A Mockingbird. Suddenly, there was a huge thump and a squeal. He had fallen out. I dropped my book and rushed over to help him. From the pile of leaves emerged a ruffled boy with brown hair and a crooked grin. I offered him a hand and he took it and leapt out of the leaf pile.
“Are you alright?” I asked curiously.
“Fine,” he replied “Just a little sore.” We walked back to the bench where my book lay, fallen.
“What’s your name?” he asked me.
“Elizabeth, but you can call me Eliza. And yours?” I asked.
“James.” he replied.
“That was that Oskar. After we met, James and I were inseparable.”
“Tell me more?” asked Oskar.
I nodded and continued.
When I was fifteen, there was a carnival in Kingswood. James and I decided we would sneak out of our houses late at night and get a train to Kingswood so we could see the fair. James had been to a carnival before but I hadn’t and he said he wanted to take me.
It was around midnight when I heard a knock on my window. James had climbed the trellis and was sitting on my window sill, the moonlight reflecting on his face.
“Come on.” He said. “We’ll miss the train.”
On the train he told me stories of his work. He told me he was an apprentice working for his dad. He was an architect. He designed houses in the suburbs and wasn’t paid much. But that didn’t worry me.
I knew we would grow old together no matter how rich or happy we were.
The carnival turned out to be only one of our many adventures to come.
I remember the carnival as clear as day. The main street of Kingswood was alight with beautiful multi-coloured lanterns and people were mulling about. There was an enormous Ferris wheel overlooking the harbour with couples lining up for a ride. James looked handsome in the colourful light of the lanterns. His jawlines were shadowed on his slim face and his green eyes were bright.
“Shall we go on?” He said with a smile, indicating the Ferris wheel with his left hand.
I nodded and he took my hand as we climbed into the Ferris wheel cage.
The carnival was beautiful from this height. So many strings of lanterns and flowers were hung delicately from the rooves of the houses. People were walking hand-in-hand with cotton candy and popcorn. James was looking at me worriedly; I must have looked frightened because he moved closer to my side.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” James whispered.
I looked at him and nodded. Both the height and James being so close left me speechless. As our car clicked into place at the top, James leaned into me and…
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Chapter 4
“Please fasten your seat belts as we go through some rough turbulenc.”
The sound of the captain’s voice drew me back into reality.
Oskar interrupted, ‘Do you still know him?’
‘Are we going to see him?’
As I was trying to explain to him, the turbulent wind roared, and he jumped with fright. I had to calm him down. He was only young and I don’t blame him for being scared. He was just like me when I
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was a child. Scared of the things that might happen, but not what will happen. After he calmed down I continued telling him the story.
“Shhhhhhh,” I said, trying to calm Oskar.
“I’ll tell you about the Wild Bull okay?”
“When we were a lot younger, we started playing at the Blaize Castle. It was still intact and most of the doors were unlocked. We had infinite adventures within the stone walls of the castle, but one day, we stumbled upon an overgrown courtyard. In the centre of an old water fountain was a beautiful copper bull.”
“It was a beautiful golden colour still, and it was the shape of a wild bull charging. James had told me that Wild Bulls symbolise strength and freedom. A bit like us . James and I planned for the future like we knew what was coming.
On days I was sure that the bull had moved but James would always wave me off saying that it was a crazy idea. I wasn’t crazy though. Perhaps naive or imaginative, but not crazy. That bull did move. I know it.
Chapter 5
James and I met at the entry of the castle the day after the fair. He said quietly in my ear “Follow.” He took my hand and whisked me away to the back of the castle where the courtyard was and also, my most favourite, Blaize Bull statue. James knew how much that meant to me. Out of nowhere, he pulled a velvet covered jewellery box out of his pocket. What was in it you ask? I had no idea.
As he opened it I was shaking in anticipation. A glimpse of gold charm caught my eye. It felt like I was standing there, staring for ages. It was the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen in my life. It was a small golden charm of the Blaize Bull, which was standing straight in front of me, hanging off a thin golden chain.
“It’s beautiful,” I said to James.
I wore that every day, until one day I woke up I and it was no longer hanging around my neck. I panicked and jumped up out of my bed immediately.
I ran straight to the front of the Castle where James and I always meet, but he wasn’t there, I waited there in my pyjamas pacing back and forth until finally, around one hour later. I ran quickly to him, explaining how I had lost the necklace, but he reassured me that it would find its way back to me. I calmed down a bit more but for the rest of the day I worried about it, yet I did not say anything to
James.
Oskar started to doze off, but I don’t blame him. He had been through a journey I had experienced myself. I sung him a lullaby my mother had sung to me when I was younger. It always had seemed to help me to sleep.
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Chapter 6
Oskar was curled against my side, his small chest falling slowly, his eyes shut. He looked so small and so vulnerable in the dim light of the aircraft. I was left to my thoughts as the dull buzz of the plane lulled me into a daydream.
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---
Despite being the best of friends, James and I never had much to do with each other’s parents. My father was a carpenter and James never told me what his dad did. I did know that James was an apprentice architect though. He had designed some amazing places to live, from cosy cottages to elaborate mansions. I always hoped he would design a home we could live in together. It would have been so beautiful. I thought we would grow old together, look after a family and live happily after.
---
I remember the time James and I had gone swimming in the lake behind the castle. It was freezing because, naturally as teenagers, we had decided to go swimming in the middle of autumn. Leaves had fallen around the lake, turning the water a beautiful mixture of the warm colours of fall. We had stripped off to our swimmers and walked to the end of the small wooden dock. He looked into my blue eyes as I looked into his green ones.
“Ready Eliza?” he asked.
I shook my head, yet I said “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“On the count of three?” James asked.
“One,”
“Two,”
“Three!” We said in unison and plunged into the icy water. Only to scramble out of the lake seconds later, shivering.
James and I ran to the small shack beside the lake and frantically tried to make a fire to warm us up.
Once the fire was lit and smoking, James looked at me and smiled. I returned it. His grin was crooked yet perfect in the crackling heat of the fire. We talked for hours and hours on end about things that probably didn’t matter. Things like the future.
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Chapter 7
An announcement fills the plane “It’s now reaching 10:00 pm we would like to say goodnight from the crew.” It woke me for a moment. Oskar still tucked up against my body, dreaming his mind away to another world of his own. I stared through the rounded window into the darkness.
I drifted away and started dreaming. It was about that bull. The bull on the fountain. He was horribly in love with a cow that lived in the field close by. She treated him better than what he was, seeing he had been just a boring old statue in a fountain for most of his life. This particular cow made the male bull feel infinite. They spent 24/7 together planning their future and making loveable memories. The cow and the bull were best friends and no one could break their bond. One day they were hanging around the fields until the bull became quite thirsty. He decided to take a drink in the lonely lake. The land broke away beneath his feet. The bull lost his balance leaving him in the lake. He drowned. The cow waited by the lake for her bull who never returned. The cow had a calf to herself. The little calf never understood the story that his mother told him. I had always dreamed of strange things after my childhood. It spooked me but gave me some excitement into my life.
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Chapter 8
I woke to the sound of the voice coming over the loud speaker.
“Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing.”
I nudged Oskar awake and he looked at me with his dark green eyes.
“The Captain says we have to put our seatbelts on now. We’re about to land.”
Oskar nodded and put the seatbelt around his slim waist. The plane began shaking and he clutched my arm in fright. He was stressing and I had to try to calm him.
“We apologise for all the turbulence ladies and gentlemen. We will be landing in approximately half an hour. Thank you for flying with us today!”
“Mum, mum! Why is the plane shaking?! Mum can you make it stop?
“It’s okay Oskar, I’m right here. I’ll always be right here.”
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Chapter 9
James made me believe that every guy was as sweet and charming as him. But throughout my years I found out that was wrong. After James I met a boy called Matt. He made me feel like I was the most perfect girl in the world. Like James he was very handsome and just like James he had a way with words that could make a deaf person fall in love with him.
I loved Matt very much but his love for me wasn’t as strong as mine for him. I’m sure he loved me but I guess he wasn’t ready for commitment but I think that’s just something I believed to make me feel better. As his skin was covered in tattoos that will last forever. Matt was my shoulder to cry on after I lost James.
On November 11 th 1984 James and I went down to the lake near the castle. Even though it was winter we were crazy enough to go swimming, because apparently we hadn’t learnt from our previous endeavour last fall. The jetty off the bank was still there even though it had been so many months since we’d been there. The water almost looked frozen and mist hovered thickly over the meadow.
.
But then James laughing interrupted me from my thoughts and with the blink of an eye he jumped in.
I giggled and began to follow him but I realised he had not returned to the surface. I remember the worry rushing over me and the air rushing out of my lungs. My knees went weak as I screamed his name repetitively.
I ran past the castle and through the forest to the nearest house. I ran in there crying for help. The towns’ people all ran in trying to find James but all they found was a beautiful boy who wasn’t breathing.
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It was one of his strengths and weaknesses that he believed that he was a hero and that he could protect everyone but I guess he forgot about himself. I felt the bare spot where the pedant from my necklace hung. It was cold just like my hands which had been entangled with his. He was my first love and he will always be my best.
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going to hold tomorrow. I in this place hour and the already but I have to myself though James my heart need to move sake of Oskar.
I hadn’t been castle in years. changed though. It still windows, and doorway. The came flooding about James. other
Chapter 10
I’m taking castle not anymore, found it and and now there the Blaize it was still
I don’t know
Oskar to the tomorrow. It’s abandoned someone renovated it doing tours of castle. I wish undiscovered. how I am together haven’t been for even an memorise are haunting me, do this for because will part of forever, I on for the back to the
It had only slightly had only few one large memories back. Not just
There were memories too.
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I looked to my left; where there was once a table Dad and I would have picnics at. The tradition started after Mum left. One Sunday, Dad took me there to tell me Mum wasn’t coming back. That was the only time I was ever sad at that table. After that, it was where I was happiest.
I grasped Oskar’s hand more tightly. I needed his little hand. The cobblestone pathway was coming to an end, and we were nearing the jetty by the lake. It was the place I dreaded the most. I lost James here. And my childhood. I cried too much to still be innocent. That shall never happen to my son.
There never was a happy ending for us, but there shall be for Oskar.
Perhaps it was the memories that shot through me, or perhaps it was the ghosts, or perhaps it was the small boy beside me. Whatever it was, it shook me. I should have been stronger. I should have held the tears back.
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Chapter 11
I was drawn back into reality by a small, nervous hand on my shoulder. Oskar was standing behind me, worried. His eyes were full of tears, mourning the loss of a man he never even met, never even knew. He was distraught seeing me this upset about anything. I pulled the small furry bundle that was
Oskar into my arms. We seemed to have an unspoken connection him and I. I slowly stood up and we walked in silence to the Braize Bull statue. The stone courtyard looked the same as always with the
Bull Statue still standing strong and beautiful. The stone building up the fountain was beginning to crumble, however one stone on the top remained intact. It was then I noticed something glittering around the bull’s neck. A beautiful golden chain of a Wild Bull hung elegant and free. It couldn’t be real; I lost that necklace years ago! Yet here it was, hanging from the neck of a wild bull. I took it in the palm of my hand; it was as beautiful as ever. Carved into the one stone was a heart with the letters
E+J carved into the centre. James must have put it there one day. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out of here.
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James was the best friend I ever had. Not only did we share so many adventures together, but spent so many nights together under the stars, talking for hours until we couldn’t talk anymore. But now he was like the Wild Bull, strong and free.
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As I walked across the courtyard for the last time, clenching Oskar’s hand tightly, I felt James was there with me, and I was filled with eternal love.
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Epilogue
I remember when my mum took me to see Blaize Castle. She had been really upset and cried for a long time. It’s been ten years now. Mum and I moved to Sydney where we live in a small apartment.
We’re doing alright I guess. Mum met a man named Peter and they have been dating for a couple of months. Peter’s an alright bloke I guess. He’s fair to me and mum. I went back to Bristol a couple years back and had a look around the castle. There was an orchard with an old apple tree in the middle.
It was really quite beautiful. I asked mum if she wanted to come but she didn’t think she could go back without crying. I understood. She seems to think that Peter is good for her, and if that’s what she thinks, that’s what I think. Despite her ‘forgetting about’ James however, she never takes the Wild
Bull necklace off. I think it’s there to remind her of the one true love she lost, but the only true love she found.
-Oskar
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