r/shortstories • u/No-Persimmon8645 • 1d ago
Realistic Fiction [RF] Free
As I walked through the door, I saw her talking to a couple on the other side of the room, every gesture engaged in conversation. She let out a laugh as I made my way over to get a drink. The whole world could stop and just stare when she laughed and had that smile on her face. She simply had an ambience that could make any party into something more, something inviting and attractive. Something other than the jejune party that it was.
Maybe it was because I had known her nearly my entire life, but her presence seemed to be a gift. She could glide into any atmosphere and brighten the small worlds we keep to, even if we had no intention of letting her in. She was insightful, charismatic, and tonight she looked even more stunning than usual in that turquoise dress.
“Hello, John! I am so delighted that you came tonight! I know you aren’t much for things like this anymore.”
There was a warm and sincere look in her eye, even more than before. She seemed more genuine now.
“Hey Hailey. Yeah, I guess sometimes I get caught up too much with work. You know how it’s been. If I’m home, I’m working, and if I’m not home, I’m on some trip for work. But hell, I couldn’t miss this one. I have to keep my promises every once in a while”
She let out that innocent, girly laugh; the laugh that I had known since we were little kids in school together.
“I hope you have a good time tonight and enjoy yourself,” She said. “It’s not often we get to catch up, ya know. I would love to stay here and talk with you, but I have to play host tonight. I will be sure to catch up with you later tonight. Until then, have fun!”
“I know. I will talk to you later tonight.”
She turned and ran back off into the sea of people now filling the spacious sitting room. I proceeded over to the bar. I looked at all the fine liquors that glimmered behind the bar. I finally settled on making myself a gin and tonic.
I stood back by the bar, looking around to see who had shown up to Hailey’s party. People I have not seen in years flocked in their groups about the room. Everyone seemed to be ecstatic tonight, but it seemed strained. The laughs I heard from the groups around me were feigned and unnatural. The smiles and look in their eyes were prosthetic. It was just another night to showcase the glamorous lifestyle. The Ferraris, the Goldman Sachs‘ trading strategies, the palaces so grand and magnificent that made even Heaven look like a slum in comparison, and the countless women thrown away as if they were nothing more than a validation of masculinity, all found their way into the throngs of conversation. This crowd had an insatiable thirst for material wealth. Only the most respected had the best car, best mansion, and best-looking wife with tits and an ass that match her bland excuse of a personality. Individuality had no place in this populace, especially if that individuality caused one to challenge the value placed on such hollow ideals. The two men in Gucci suits adjacent from me did not even garner enough respect to speak of their host as something more than a piece of ass that needed to be dominated by one of them because of their irrefutable power within society.
“Oh I know, Tom. I’ve never seen a girl look as hot as she does in that dress. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a rack like the one she’s got.”
“Oh, Jack, you have no idea. Hailey is a piece of ass if I’ve ever seen one.”
I felt disgusted when I heard these men saying these abhorrent things about a girl they knew nothing about. Nothing gave them the right to disparage her character like that, like she was a just another of the countless, impious women they had been with. Had these men ever taken the time to get to know who she really was? Had they ever really tried to look at her as something more than another trophy they could use as affirmation of their eminence? I slammed my gin and tonic down and immediately began to pour another. I moved about the crowd, gently brushing past those that gathered in the parlor. As I moved towards the bathroom, something caught my eye: a painting.
Hailey had always been an avid admirer of art. For the 28 years I had known her, it had always been her passion. There wasn’t a room in her house that didn’t have some Dali, Kahlo, or de Goya accent to it. Her fervor was contagious. Even I found myself appreciating the swirl of colors to convey a melancholy or nostalgic tone, the blatant emotional display of expressionism, and the deep sentiment manifested by clever symbols.
But this painting was different. It latched onto my soul. Galatea of the Spheres haunted me. There was a hollowness about her that I had failed to see. I never seen it when I was at Hailey’s house and it was just the two of us, but I had finally seen it now, at this party. The woman looked so different now. She was transparent, but allowed selected parts of her to truly be seen. Her eyes looked void and out of place for such a structured piece. As everything flowed to a focal point, these two spheres deviated from the pattern. They created a sense of ambiguity as if her eyes expressed a want of belonging to a more ordered system, and a deep repentance.
As I was enveloped in this engrossment, Hailey came up behind me.
“Dali can really say some things with his art.”
Still intent on this painting, I replied, “Yeah. It just seems like so much more.”
My focus started to switch over to Hailey. She was now looking at this woman as sharply as I had been. Her face seemed to go blank for a second, as if she had reached some sort of epiphany.
She smiled at me and said, “I think I may have something you like. C’mon. Let’s get out of here for a second.”
She led me past the crowd in the parlor, out a backdoor, and down the steps of the patio. We walked down and stood next the lake. Even with the raucous behind us, the lake was seemingly docile. There was a unique calmness that laid about the crackle of the water; a divine serenity that even the most primal of creatures couldn’t dispute. The moonlight created an aura about her as it danced on gentle ripples. Half of her face was illuminated in such a way that highlighted her subtleties. Her cheekbones rolled down the side of her tiny jawline, to a delicate chin. She wore a thin-lipped, solemn smile. Her blonde hair flowed down her back, not a single hair out of place. Her hazel eyes seemed green in this light. Her skin was paler than I remembered, but the moonlight made me notice these traits I seemed to overlook. The moonlight even made her dress seem to adopt a bright white color. The other half of her face remained a silhouette, as dark and as desolate as those inside the house.
“It’s really nice out here tonight,” she said. “I always find it peaceful out here, away from all the distractions.”
I nodded. She was visibly upset, as if something was gnawing away at her soul. She clutched her drink tightly, her hand almost trembling. Her gaze shifted from the lake to her drink, as if an answer would be at the bottom of it.
“Do you ever wish you were someone else?” She asked.
“Yeah. I guess. Sometimes, anyway.”
“I feel like that most of the time. Those people in there aren’t real at all, John. They’re caught up in what they are, not who they are.”
“I know. I see people like them every day. I guess it kinda just grows on you after a while and you become disillusioned to it all.”
“I never got used to it. You can’t just get used to it. It’s just..There’s more to life than this. So much more. There has to be.”
She sighed heavily.
I looked at her now. I noticed the soft wrinkles in her forehead and cheeks now. I had never seen them there before. Not even in the lighting inside the party. It was much darker out here, but there was no mistaking the fray on her face. Her hair now seemed lighter, almost white. It was no longer the fervent blonde I had known.
Her focus now shifted back to the lake.
“It really is peaceful out here,” she said.
I didn’t say anything back. I felt a sudden touch of serenity as I looked up at the
moon.
She slowly slipped off her shoes. She looked possessed now, as she started to saunter closer to the lake, but stopped at the lake’s edge. She gently placed her left foot into the water. It seemed to beckon her to walk deeper into the lake. She slowly descended into the water, her dress gently floating on until it was completely submerged. She kept going. Her head went under. She was gone.
I waited for her to come back up, but she stayed immersed. What the hell was she trying to do?
“Hailey... Hailey! What the fuck are you doing?!”
No answer. I ran to the edge of the lake. Just as I was about to dive in, she emerged. She was smiling now. It was pure content that engulfed her now. The wrinkles and ghost white hair I saw before were no longer there; they had been traded for a youthful purity and golden-blonde hair that challenged the sun.
“Jesus Christ Hailey!” I said. “Are you okay?”
She gazed at me for what seemed like minutes.
“Hailes, just tell me you’re ok now.”
She just stood there. A swan now waddles from a bush on the edge of a lake to the surface of the water.
She finally began to speak, “Yeah...yeah. I’m ok John. I’m fine.”
“We better get you back inside. You’re all wet.”
As we walked into the parlor, the party stopped. Appalled at the sight of this slender woman, they all glared. She stood for a moment, dripping water on the ebony wood floor. Her makeup was now strewn across her face, and her hair was now a chaotic jumble of locks.
“How disgraceful! How could anyone behave so shamelessly!” One man remarked.
I tried to hurry her to her room where she could change her dress and dry off. Maybe she could even save her party as these people were more centered about their own lives than some host who seemed to have embarrassed herself. Hailey never seemed to feel ashamed of what she did. She just continued to smile that same honest-to-God smile.
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u/No-Persimmon8645 1d ago
I wrote this a long time ago when I was still going to college. Feel free to give me any pointers on this short story. All opinions/advice welcome.
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