The Prelude (originally written by Nina - translated by Lella)
Part 3
Candy quickly recovered, and four days later she was discharged.
"Well, in a couple of hours, you will be free"
"Ah, Stear... I'm not in prison"
"Yes, you are... I know that you are not happy when you shut in, Candy"
"It is true... you're absolutely right..."
"Anyway, you will return to Chicago and all this will be just like a bad dream."
The girl didn't reply... She was staring at the window.
"Candy, are you alright?"
"Yes, I... I'm just... It's that... Stear... I've thought a lot, and... I would not want to go back to Chicago now..."
"Candy ..."
"Look, I know it seems crazy, but ... I want to know Boston... I want to go there and I don't dare to do it alone... and I was wondering if you... Stear... Would you like to accompany me to Boston?"
To hear such words, the stunned young man could feel how a storm of conflicting emotions was breaking out of control within him...
The sunset was a stunning orange gray. The cold wind from the ocean brushed the cheeks of the couple who was enjoying the sunset from the pier. Then Candy turned her gaze from that landscape and watched intensely Stear... The whole day he was unusually serious, and for several minutes he hadn't said a single word. The girl understood that his eyes and his thoughts were very far, lost in that infinite horizon that he was watching intensely for a good time, and a shiver ran through her body making her clutch strongly to the young man's arm, who, somewhat embarrassed, broke the silence.
"Are you alright Candy?"
The girl leaned her head on the masculine shoulder, trying to hide her tearful gaze from him.
"Yes, I am... Stear?"
"Tell me"
"Thank you very much... "
The young man looked surprised at the girl.
"But... why..."
"And you still ask? Stear... That was one of the best Christmas of my life and I hope the year that begins tonight will be as good as these weeks at your side"
To hear such words, a terrible melancholy clouded the boy's face.
"Oh Candy, I ..."
"Yes?"
"I feel the same, Candy... Thanks... for everything... It was nice to be by your side"
"Stear... Can I tell you something?"
"Sure, you know that I listen to you"
"I... That is... well... Have you written to Patty?"
The young man sighed while he gently denied with his head.
"Candy... I think all of you think that there is something between Patty and me, but believe me, we are not more than just good friends... She's a great girl and we get along, that is all"
"But... she loves you..."
"Yes, like Archie, Annie, and I hope you too"
The young man smiled when he said those words and so did the girl.
"Of course I love you! And if you dare to doubt, I'm going to... to..."
"Let's see, what would you do?"
The smile faded from the beautiful face.
"I'd cry a lot... The day you'd think that I don't love you, would be like when Anthony died, or when..."
The girl suddenly fell silent.
"It would horrible for me, Stear... really..."
"Come on, don't be like that... I know... You're the best friend I'll ever have, how could I doubt your affection if you're the only one who takes me seriously and dares to follow me in my madness and to try what I invent?"
The girl smiled softly again.
"Only when they don't explode or break..."
The young man smiled somewhat saddened.
"Good... but some of them do work, right?"
"Yes... and I thank God for that... Your music box gave me so much comfort that night... I don't know what I would have done without it... And then you came! You of all the people in New York..."
Candy stared at the boy, until her eyes fixed on his ones, and then, after hesitating some moments, Stear plunged in them... He wanted to hold her, he wanted to say that his only thought for always was only her, he wanted... Then he shuddered, as he felt suddenly that she could realize his thoughts, and with his heart racing, he averted his eyes from hers and fixed it on the ocean that gobbled up the sun.
"Let's go, Candy... It's getting late, and we must get ready for the party..."
Then the girl blinked as if she was getting out of a dream, and took a deep breath to start to move from the young man's arm, without noticing that something was shifting deep inside her...
**********
